Windows Azure team announced major updates including support for Node.js, better scalability for SQL Azure through Federation and higher individual DB Size limits (upto 150 GB), a limited preview for Hadoop and more.
At SQL PASS Summit 2011, Microsoft announced a number of upcoming improvements to SQL Azure including larger databases, Federation, improved management portal, better collation support and more; all to be available by the end of 2011.
Sync Framework Toolkit builds on the Sync Framework 2.1 and uses OData to sync with any platform or client, including Windows Phone 7, Silverlight, Windows Mobile, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android devices, and any browser using HTML5.
Microsoft has opened a free online virtual academy for students interested in learning and graduating in Microsoft Cloud Computing technologies.
Horizontal partitioning and sharding are important tools for developers working with extremely large datasets. We take a brief look at what’s available in SQL Server and what’s coming down the road.
Earlier this week Cihan Biyikoglu of Microsoft provided a preview of how developers will need to adapt their code for the upcoming SQL Azure Federations to supports its connectivity model. The intent is to provide a safe model for developers to work with federated data and/or multi-tenant applications.
Yesterday Microsoft released a new whitepaper providing guidance on sharding with SQL Azure written by Michael Heydt and Michael Thomassy. The intent of the whitepaper is to deliver guidance on how to architect an application that requires elasticity and fluidity of resources at the data layer over time.
Two weeks back Kalen Delaney published a whitepaper on SQL Azure internals focused on how SQL Azure achieves scalability and high availability. A foundation feature which differentiates SQL Azure from its competitors is the multi-tenant architecture upon which it has been built.
Microsoft has released the SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) for MySQL 1.0, and has refreshed SSMA for Oracle v4.2, SSMA for Sybase v4.2, and SSMA for Access v4.2. These toolkits helps customers migrating their MySQL/Oracle/Sybase/Access databases to SQL Server and some even to SQL Azure.
Along with partners HP, Dell, and Fujitsu, Microsoft is offering private installations of Windows Azure. The product will be offered in appliance format, meaning Microsoft will be selling the hardware and software as a bundle. While no pricing is set, the target audience is customers like eBay who can afford at least one thousand servers.
