Microsoft Azure SQL Database Reviews

My main use case for Microsoft Azure SQL Database is hosting an in-house application to serve different business streams.

The feature I like the most in Microsoft Azure SQL Database is the recovery point of time to recover the database when needed.

These features have benefited my organization by improving response time in seconds and milliseconds, and this will improve customer experience and satisfy the commercial team as well.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database can be improved by getting recent recommendations from Microsoft's side to be applied on a quarter basis, such as the latest batch update.

In a POC, I have been using Microsoft Azure SQL Database for one or two years.

What worked with Microsoft Azure SQL Database is good, but the challenge I faced is that it does not fit for a large-scale or tier-one business application.

I would evaluate customer service and technical support for Microsoft Azure SQL Database as very good.

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate service and technical support an eight because it needs improvement, especially for accelerating support or solving a problem immediately or having expertise available around the clock, because there might be a mid-tier experience from the support team, and in some cases, we need to involve an expert immediately to solve our cases.

Positive

Prior to adopting Microsoft Azure SQL Database, I was using another solution such as PostgreSQL and Oracle databases in place, and we have open sources as well in place, such as Mongo SQL or Mongo database.

I would describe my experience with deploying Microsoft Azure SQL Database as good.

I have seen a return on investment with Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

The return on investment I can share is that it improves customer experience, and improving customer experience means getting more customer base to use our products, and this is ROI for using such products.

Before selecting Microsoft Azure SQL Database, I considered other solutions such as Oracle and PostgreSQL.

I have not yet used Microsoft Azure SQL Database's intelligent performance features.

My experience with Microsoft Azure SQL Database's automatic tuning is that the database should be optimized and tuned very well, either by doing something to enhance the performance or by consulting support teams to give advice to be applied, such as the latest patch set, or to analyze queries to get optimizer feedback to be applied immediately in order to get applications tuned all the time.

I assess the effectiveness of Microsoft Azure SQL Database's security features in meeting compliance standards as compliant with our security rules.

I have not seen Azure Active Directory integration and Azure Key Vault help manage data security.

The capability with SQL Server for transitioning legacy systems to SQL Databases is important to me as we depend on a famous database technology such as Oracle, but we need to mix and match our technologies in terms of databases and SQL as well, such as Azure SQL, in order to have heterogeneous environments, not depending on one solo vendor. We are trying to move a mid-tier or a small tier to Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

My advice to other organizations considering Microsoft Azure SQL Database is to move a mid-tier or a small team to Microsoft Azure SQL Database. I give this review an overall rating of seven.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

My main use cases for Microsoft Azure SQL Database are third-party applications.

The features of Microsoft Azure SQL Database that I appreciate the most are Availability Groups.

My organization benefits from consolidation efforts with these features.

Active Directory integration and Azure Key Vault have helped manage data security.

User permissions authentication to Microsoft Azure SQL Database is something that has been helpful.

I have no comments at the moment on how Microsoft Azure SQL Database can be improved.

I have no comments on additional features that I would like to see released in the next release.

I do not have any comments at this time.

I have been using Microsoft Azure SQL Database for less than a year.

I have not used Microsoft Azure SQL Database intelligence features.

Regarding my experience with SQL Database Automatic Tuning, I have not used it yet.

I have not raised any issues regarding customer service and technical support.

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate customer service technical support a seven.

I would probably give that rating based on my previous history opening up other support cases with Microsoft.

Positive

Prior to adopting Microsoft Azure SQL Database, I was using on-premises SQL Server environments to address similar needs.

The adoption of more Azure services led me to consider a change.

I have no comments describing my experience with deploying Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

I faced no challenges, but it was seamless because I already had Microsoft Entra and Active Directory set up with seamless permissions and an established environment.

Before selecting Microsoft Azure SQL Database, I considered Postgres.

What stood out to me in my evaluation process was the ease of getting the third-party application to support SQL Server.

I am currently looking into transitioning legacy systems to Microsoft Azure SQL Database to perform an on-premises migration from SQL infrastructure to Azure SQL.

In this particular use case with Microsoft Azure SQL Database, it actually moves many of the hurdles away. Hosting these types of databases on-premises can be challenging, but if you have the ability to do it on Azure, that is beneficial, and it also removes security obstacles as well.

I have no comments on anything they can improve on, change, or any additional release I would like to see.

I would rate this review an eight overall.

On-premises

Microsoft Azure

I provision the database, perform all the necessary security checks, and then provide access to the application teams that will consume it.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is effective for availability, scalability, and security. The Software as a Service model is more effective and easier to access in terms of security, as Azure provides security at the security layer, reducing the risk of breach. Autoscaling is fantastic, automatically scaling up or down depending on usage parameters set. The database's security features depend on the pricing tiers chosen.

Pricing could be improved to make Microsoft Azure SQL Database more accessible. A reduction in price might encourage more users and bring more profit. Instead of a 20% or 30% reduction immediately, a gradual reduction could attract more users.

I have worked with Microsoft Azure SQL Database for approximately six years.

I haven't encountered any downtime issues. Changing parameters automatically scales up or down the database without any interruptions.

I have never encountered any challenges regarding stability. The database is very stable and straightforward.

The database is extremely scalable, allowing seamless scaling up or down with a simple change in parameters. It's a perfect ten out of ten in terms of scalability.

During my years of experience, I've never encountered an issue with Microsoft Azure SQL Database that I couldn't resolve, so I haven't needed to contact customer support.

Positive

The initial setup is very easy, given that all parameters and requirements from the application units are in place.

The pricing of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is not cheap, affecting user uptake. A gradual reduction in price could improve accessibility and user numbers, making it easier for users to adopt the solution.

I have previous experience with 3PAR and StoreOnce from HPE.

I advise users to adopt Microsoft Azure SQL Database, as it simplifies life for users and applications. Applications can connect from anywhere, and it reduces headaches for administrators and infrastructure teams. The disaster recovery plan and backup features are easily enabled. The overall rating is nine out of ten, considering pricing concerns.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

We primarily use Microsoft Azure SQL Database for application databases for web applications and sometimes native iOS and Android platforms. We also employ it for the backend and analytics, often migrating data over to Fabric and One Lake for Power BI analytics.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is quite impactful as we use it for most projects. 

I like that Microsoft Azure SQL Database is almost identical to an on-premise SQL Server except for a few things, like how you edit rows and some jobs that you can't run. It has some useful features and integrations, like Microsoft Fabric.

They could improve Azure SQL by adding some of the features available on-prem, such as cross-database queries and the ability to run particular jobs. We need to migrate those to something else, like a function or logic app. 

Data transformation units are also confusing to sell to our clients because they're these weird, nebulous things. Do you need five or 50? 

I have been using Microsoft Azure SQL Database since it first started in 2009.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database does not seem to have any significant latency issues and handles millions of rows well.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database scales well, allowing us to increase our compute level or add more instances as required.

The learning resources and documentation provided by Microsoft are very helpful. There are many free learning segments and videos available to guide users through various aspects of Azure SQL Database.

Positive

I worked with SQL Server since version 6.5 in the late nineties and have continued to use it through various versions. I have also used other database platforms like ADB and MongoDB, but I prefer SQL Server due to its superior tools and features. I've used Cosmos DB for a few things, and we use Azure AI Search, a cognitive search pronounced by a different name. So use that, you know, Azure AI services. 

Azure SQL and Cosmos DB are our main solutions unless the client wants to use Oracle, Postgres, or MySQL. We will use whatever they want to use. On the analytics side, we use Fabric and One Lake, and we do the analytics of Power BI.

If we use a smaller or free-sized Microsoft Azure SQL Database, it is extremely cost-effective and much cheaper than on-premise enterprise licenses, which are expensive.

Other database solutions I have used include Cosmos DB for certain AI applications, as well as Oracle, Postgres, and MySQL when clients prefer those solutions.

I started working with SQL at SQL Server six point five in the late nineties. So, I mean, I went to SQL seven, two thousand, and then, you know, just been using it ever since. I've used other platforms, like I said, with ADB and, like, even with MongoDB and DevOps. It's just kinda my favorite one. I like the tools the best. Yeah. Seeking Server Management Studio is probably the best IDE out there for databases. All the other ones, are a little bit slow and clunky. Okay. So

I would rate Microsoft Azure SQL Database a nine out of 10.

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure

My main use case for Microsoft Azure SQL Database is to connect source data for our APIs and hydrate different things for that.

I appreciate Microsoft Azure SQL Database because I enjoy SQL. It works well out of the box, and I know what I'm getting. The product functions as expected without requiring much maintenance.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database benefits my company on a day-to-day basis as it serves as an excellent place to store our database and data. I would appreciate the ability for all teams to operate on one database instead of several different systems. Microsoft Azure SQL Database is one of those solutions that helps consolidate our infrastructure, though unfortunately it is not the only solution we use.

I think Microsoft Azure SQL Database can be improved, but I do not use it frequently enough to identify significant pain points.

In my area of expertise, I have been working for about three years, and in my current position, I have been using Microsoft Azure SQL Database for only about one year.

Regarding reliability, I would generally consider Microsoft Azure SQL Database quite reliable in maintaining uptime and availability.

My impressions of Microsoft Azure SQL Database's ability to scale workloads are positive. I think it works very well with no complaints.

Microsoft's expertise in SQL Server is very good when considering cloud database options. I have not used the support myself, but the documentation is very up-to-date. If I ever need to look something up, it is quite easy to find.

Positive

We have different solutions implemented across our organization. I know that we have some relational and some non-relational options, which is probably part of the reason for having multiple systems. The main differences between those solutions and SQL would be the relational versus non-relational aspect. We use a lot of legacy software, so that probably plays into some compatibility aspect. Beyond that, I am not certain about other differences.

Other than the relational versus non-relational distinctions, I am not entirely clear on why we maintain these different solutions.

The migration and deployment process of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is quite straightforward. If I ever encounter issues, Copilot is quite helpful, as is the documentation. I would not say it is very complicated.

From my point of view, the biggest return on investment with Microsoft Azure SQL Database is that it is great to store our customer data and everything for our different products and be able to access that easily as we want to. I do not know what we put into it, so I am not certain what that looks like from an ROI perspective. However, it works smoothly, I have no complaints, and it is a good database solution.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database has probably helped reduce my company's total cost of ownership.

I have never looked at the pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

I am not considering switching away from Microsoft Azure SQL Database or conducting a proof of concept of another solution.

I would rate Microsoft Azure SQL Database as a five on a scale from one to five in terms of ease of use.

I assess Microsoft Azure SQL Database's ability to integrate with other Microsoft applications as excellent, with no complaints.

I have not had hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure SQL Database working with AI. I know that functionality exists, and part of what I am trying to focus on at Ignite this year is learning how I can integrate different AI solutions and workflows with Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

I am not using the automatic tuning feature in Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

I do not know what impact Microsoft Azure SQL Database's security features have on my data protection strategies, if any.

I am not using the data encryption feature on Microsoft Azure SQL Database, or at least not knowingly.

I have not used the backup and restore functionalities of Microsoft Azure SQL Database. Our database engineers have touched that before, but I have never used it. It seems to work as intended.

We are still using other solutions alongside Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

My advice for other companies that are considering Microsoft Azure SQL Database is to go for it, especially if you are using other Microsoft products. It seems to integrate with everything very well, and it just works.

I have rated this review a nine out of ten overall.

The primary use cases for Microsoft Azure SQL Database are to establish relational databases in the cloud and database-focused applications that are cloud-ready.

SQL has been a game changer for many of the organizations I have worked for. It is very easy to implement, manage, and offers great insights into what is happening inside the engine. 

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is integrated into other Azure capabilities and has a great foundation being on SQL Server with a long history of security, performance, and usability from a DBA perspective. 

Once you've set up a server, adding databases is easy. There's a minor challenge with having data in separate databases that you want to connect like we do on premises.

I'm looking forward to using some of these new AI-driven functions that have come out around vectorization. Having the data closer to my transactional databases or data makes it easy to augment and enhance the Database and applications I currently use.

It's great that Azure SQL now seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Fabric. It's a first-tier service in the cloud that connects to web applications and other databases. The data transformation orchestration capabilities within Database Factory and similar capabilities make it effortless to move that stuff forward.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database could improve by having better tooling in terms of connecting to other database platforms and better capabilities around programmable interfaces. There should be more fine-tuning on the storage layer. I would like to see T-SQL improvements to automatically translate features from other database platforms for easier migration, as well as some improvements around column store and native capabilities like those in Iceberg and PowerK built into the SQL Server product.

I have used Microsoft Azure SQL Database for about seven years.

The latency in the cloud is great, but it increases for hybrid applications. I hope this will improve over time, potentially due to changes in the networking stack in Azure

Microsoft Azure SQL Database scales well within paid limits, but once size restrictions and top-tier thresholds are hit, transitioning becomes difficult. It would be beneficial if it could scale without a difficult transition process.

The expertise and support from Microsoft, especially at conferences and through documentation on their website, are valuable. They have invested significantly, although there is room for more investment in training materials to ensure our people are well-trained and have information readily available for managing the solution.

It is much better than the other database platforms that we have used.

Migrating our data and that of our customers from on-premises to the cloud was seamless. Azure Hybrid Benefit helped make the transition straightforward, particularly in like-to-like scenarios.

We had some trouble with SQL Agent and maintenance capabilities. It was difficult to transition those into the cloud, so we had to reinvent a couple of things because they weren't available in the cloud. There was a cost, and there was some confusion a number of times about what the expectation should be when it goes into the cloud.

SQL Server has helped to significantly reduce the total cost of ownership. In one company that I led, we reduced costs from $20 million to about $5 million per year.

Azure Hybrid Benefit reduced costs by facilitating an easy transition of on-premises databases to the cloud. Licensing discussions were straightforward, minimizing the challenges of moving data to the cloud.

I would rate the overall solution between eight and nine, as it covers the majority of our needs and competes better than most other databases we use.

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft Azure

Currently, SQL is our main database repository within the bank. All of our client data is stored on the SQL database, and it's the main database we use in the field. Most of our critical systems are on SQL databases.

Our migration to Azure for most databases has increased our organization's efficiency and reduced the maintenance required to manage on-premises infrastructure. With on-premises infrastructure, you have to build and maintain your setup. It has reduced our downtime. We've improved our productivity because we can automate database deployments and script execution within the database.

SQL is easy to use and easily integrates with many systems. There aren't many code changes needed when you're using SQL databases. Integrating Azure SQL with other Microsoft applications is instant because they're all Microsoft solutions. 

There isn't any new improvement that I can think of at the moment. We have different deployment choices, such as running SQL on an Azure VM or deploying SQL-managed instances. The managed instance is a significant improvement over running SQL in an Azure VM.

I have used Azure SQL for about four years.

Initially, we had latency issues with SQL databases because we hadn't optimized the platform. Over time, we overcame these challenges with support, and now we no longer experience latency issues. We can't tell the difference between running on-prem or Azure because we no longer have those latency issues.

Azure SQL databases allow easy scaling. Microsoft manages the underlying infrastructure in a managed instance environment, so all you consume is the database. Resources like storage automatically scale up without any manual intervention.

We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft, which provides us with excellent support. Microsoft played a significant role, even from a training perspective, and provided resources that directed us toward the right deployment path.

Positive

Deploying Azure SQL is straightforward. We had a few challenges, but Microsoft offers an excellent training program. They ensured we got the training to understand the deployment. For example, we wanted to deploy the traditional framework clusters, but Microsoft pointed us in the right direction to raise our resources.

It's hard to quantify because we didn't calculate the costs when we were on-premises, but it may have lowered the total cost of ownership because you only purchase the storage you need and pay for what you're using. If you're managing your own data center, you always have to overprovision your systems and pay for storage space you're not using. I think it's cost-efficient.

I would rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft Azure

Our primary use case for Microsoft Azure SQL Database is to bring up our products and run them on Azure as we have our own TCX products. We have been using AWS in the back end, but we are now expanding to Microsoft Azure.

The native SQL runs great on Microsoft, and the integration with Microsoft applications like Office makes it seamless.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database significantly reduces our operational overhead, freeing us from backup worries and allowing us to focus on other priorities. Additionally, SQL Managed Instance provides clear usage visibility and enables on-demand scaling to meet our evolving needs.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database is our go-to database for our products, such as SQL or Oracle. The usability, ease of use, and fine-tuning are beneficial, especially for our IO-intensive application. It empowers us by running our availability through the product side.

Provisioning the instance, connecting to it, and deploying full-stack applications end-to-end on Azure is much easier than AWS. 

Azure SQL provides built-in security and useful troubleshooting tools for identifying and taking action whenever issues arise.

We need improvement in the latency between availability zones. The managed SQL MI does not allow us to control the zone it runs in, which affects latency. It's crucial for us that customers should not be concerned about which availability zone it's running as long as the response time and latency are consistent.

I've been using Microsoft Azure SQL Database for approximately three months.

We experience some latency issues.

We are working on a scalability performance test for SQL MI and comparing it with AWS.

We are expanding our cloud infrastructure from AWS to include Microsoft Azure. Azure's managed database services eliminate the operational overhead of running our own database, allowing us to quickly deploy and connect to pre-configured instances without manual tuning or backups.

The setup is straightforward, being a managed service, so operational overhead is minimized.

We anticipate seeing savings as we start using Microsoft Azure SQL more extensively.

I would rate Microsoft Azure SQL Database eight out of ten. Our experience has been good overall, except for the latency issue. If latency issues are resolved in future releases, I would rate it higher.

Microsoft's expertise in SQL Server is a significant advantage. Their resources are beneficial, and a primary reason for choosing SQL MI is the reduced operational overhead. By eliminating the need for a dedicated database administration team, we can avoid the costs and complexities associated with managing and distributing the database. This is a crucial factor in our decision-making process.

We use nearly all of Azure's services, including virtual machines, application gateways, firewalls, load balancers, and SQL Managed Instances. Our projects involve a comprehensive engagement with the Azure platform.

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft Azure