Data in Azure

Editor's Notes

• #6: Slide Objectives: Show Microsoft’ continuous Private to Public Cloud Offering, but this presentation will focus on Microsoft’s relational database PaaS offering. Transition: Microsoft provides a continuous solution from private cloud to the public cloud. No matter where you are on your technology roadmap we have a solution to fit your needs. We are a trusted advisor and platform in the traditional enterprise and ISV space with new IaaS offerings that making it easier to bring this same level of trust and ease of use to the public cloud. However, Windows Azure SQL Database extends SQL Server capabilities to the cloud by offering SQL Server as a relational database service. Speaking Points: Announced New IaaS offering in June SQL Database provides SQL Server as a relational service. Notes:
• #7: Slide Objectives: Understand that while there are physical SQL Server boxes behind the scenes, when connecting to SQL Database, you are not connecting to a physical server, but to a TDS endpoint. Transition: The key to understanding SQL Database is understanding while SQL Database is SQL Server, we do not interact with them in the same physical manner. Speaking Points: In an on-premises environment, we typically have physical access to the actual SQL Server server. In Windows Azure, we do not have physical access to the actual server. Notes: It is important that the attendee understands that it IS INDEED SQL Server at the platform layer. There are physical boxes running SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition. However, due to the nature of the Azure environment to provide the high-availability and scalability necessary, access to the physical boxes is currently not supported.
• #8: Slide Objectives: Understand the overall concepts and benefits of SQL Database Transition: Let’s clear up any confusion and look at the basics of what SQL Database really is and some of its benefits. Speaking Points: The same great SQL Server database technology that you know, love, and use on-premises provided as a service Enterprise-ready Automatic support for High-Availability Designed to scale on-demand to provide the same great elasticity Notes: High-availability – 3 copies of the database free for the cost of the one database. Always in sync. The cost to do this on-premises isn’t cheap. This is FREE in SQL Database. Scalability using SQL Federation (discussed later in the presentation).
• #9: Slide Objectives: Show the different methods of provisioning a SQL Database server along with how easy it is. Plus, help the attendees understand what a SQL Database “server” really is. Transition: Provisioning an on-premises SQL Server box can be time consuming, costly, and at times, a challenge. With SQL Database, provisioning a “server” is painless, quick, and provisioned in a matter of seconds. Speaking Points: Provision servers interactively using the Management Portal Automate server provisioning using the Windows Azure Management API or PowerShell. Notes: While the “server” is technically a TDS endpoint, much of the SQL Server process is similar. Administration login credentials are still needed for security, and more importantly defining service access is essential, and required, for maintaining the integrity of your server through firewall rules.
• #10: Slide Objectives: Highlight what’s new in the latest SQL Database service update. Transition: In late September a service update was deployed to Windows Azure SQL Database that included new functionality. Speaking Points: Linked Server – This is a new component for database hybrid solutions spanning on-premises corporate networks and the Windows Azure cloud. Recursive Trigger – Just like SQL Server 2012, the option can be configured via ALTER DATABASE dbname SET RECURSIVE_TRIGGERS ON|OFF DBCC – The query optimizer uses statistics to estimate the cardinality or number of rows in the query result, which enables the query optimizer to create a high quality query plan. Firewall Rules – different rules for different databases hosted on the same logical SQL Database server Notes:
• #12: Slide Objectives Understand the hierarchy of Blob storage Speaker Notes The Blob service provides storage for entities, such as binary files and text files. The REST API for the Blob service exposes two resources: Containers Blobs. A container is a set of blobs; every blob must belong to a container. The Blob service defines two types of blobs: Block blobs, which are optimized for streaming. Page blobs, which are optimized for random read/write operations and which provide the ability to write to a range of bytes in a blob. Blobs can be read by calling the Get Blob operation. A client may read the entire blob, or an arbitrary range of bytes. Block blobs less than or equal to 64 MB in size can be uploaded by calling the Put Blob operation. Block blobs larger than 64 MB must be uploaded as a set of blocks, each of which must be less than or equal to 4 MB in size.  Page blobs are created and initialized with a maximum size with a call to Put Blob. To write content to a page blob, you call the Put Page operation. The maximum size currently supported for a page blob is 1 TB. Notes http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd573356.aspx Using the REST API for the Blob service, developers can create a hierarchical namespace similar to a file system. Blob names may encode a hierarchy by using a configurable path separator. For example, the blob names MyGroup/MyBlob1 and MyGroup/MyBlob2 imply a virtual level of organization for blobs. The enumeration operation for blobs supports traversing the virtual hierarchy in a manner similar to that of a file system, so that you can return a set of blobs that are organized beneath a group. For example, you can enumerate all blobs organized under MyGroup/.
• #13: Slide Objective Understand different blob types Speaker Notes Block blobs are comprised of blocks, each of which is identified by a block ID. You create or modify a block blob by uploading a set of blocks and committing them by their block IDs. If you are uploading a block blob that is no more than 64 MB in size, you can also upload it in its entirety with a single Put Blob operation. When you upload a block to Windows Azure using the Put Block operation, it is associated with the specified block blob, but it does not become part of the blob until you call the Put Block List operation and include the block's ID. The block remains in an uncommitted state until it is specifically committed. Writing to a block blob is thus always a two-step process. Each block can be a maximum of 4 MB in size. The maximum size for a block blob in version 2009-09-19 is 200 GB, or up to 50,000 blocks. Page blobs are a collection of pages. A page is a range of data that is identified by its offset from the start of the blob. To create a page blob, you initialize the page blob by calling Put Blob and specifying its maximum size. To add content to or update a page blob, you call the Put Page operation to modify a page or range of pages by specifying an offset and range. All pages must align 512-byte page boundaries. Unlike writes to block blobs, writes to page blobs happen in-place and are immediately committed to the blob. The maximum size for a page blob is 1 TB. A page written to a page blob may be up to 1 TB in size but will typically be much smaller Notes http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd135734.aspx
• #14: Slide Objective Understand Ad-Hoc Shared Access signatures Speaker Notes Ad-hocUse for very short dated single use scenarios Include all permissions and expiry in the signed URL Can only revoke by deleting the blob or waiting for expiry Use very short dated URLs Notes http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee395415.aspx
• #15: Slide Objective Understand Ad-Hoc Shared Access signatures Speaker Notes Policy Based Points to a Container level policy User where want a longer dated permission with ability to revoke Include all permissions and expiry in the signed URL Can only revoke by deleting the blob or waiting for expiry Use very short dated URLs Notes http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee395415.aspx
• #18: First of all, the queue length directly reflects how well the backend processing nodes are catching up with the overall workload. Second, the use of queues decouples different parts of the application, making it easier to scale different parts of the application independently. Third, the use of queues allows the flexibility of efficient resource usage within an application, allowing the application to scale more efficiently. That is, separate queues can be used for work items of different priorities and/or different weights, and separate pools of backend servers can process these different queues. Queues provide buffering to absorb traffic bursts and reduce the impact of individual component failures.
• #20: Slide Objectives Understand Tables Speaker Notes The Table service provides structured storage in the form of tables. The Table service supports a REST API that is compliant with the ADO.NET Data Services REST API. Developers may also use the .NET Client Library for ADO.NET Data Services to access the Table service. Notes http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd573356.aspx
• #21: Slide Objectives Understand Tables Speaker Notes Within a storage account, a developer may create named tables. Tables store data as entities. An entity is a collection of named properties and their values, similar to a row. Tables are partitioned to support load balancing across storage nodes. Each table has as its first property a partition key that specifies the partition an entity belongs to. The second property is a row key that identifies an entity within a given partition. The combination of the partition key and the row key forms a primary key that identifies each entity uniquely within the table. The Table service does not enforce any schema. A developer may choose to implement and enforce a schema on the client side Notes http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd573356.aspx
• #22: Slide Objectives Understand Tables and Entities Speaker Notes Tables store data as entities. An entity is a collection of named properties and their values, similar to a row- not an RDBMS though Tables are partitioned to support load balancing across storage nodes. Each table has as its first property a partition key that specifies the partition an entity belongs to. The second property is a row key that identifies an entity within a given partition. The combination of the partition key and the row key forms a primary key that identifies each entity uniquely within the table. The Table service does not enforce any schema. A developer may choose to implement and enforce a schema on the client side Notes http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd573356.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd179338.aspx
• #23: Slide Objectives Understand Flexible Entities Speaker Notes Tables store data as entities. A table can contain entities of any shape There is no fixed schema There is no schema checking There is no strong typing- not that Birthdate is stored as both a datetime value and as a string Not that we can add additional columns Notes http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd573356.aspx
• #24: Slide Objectives Understand The Basic Query Syntax Speaker Notes Tables store data as entities. Querying is per the ADO.NET Data Services spechttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc668784.aspx Should endeavour to always include the Partition key to limit scope of query- partitions always served by a single storage node Notes http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd573356.aspx
• #25: Slide Objectives Understand The Partition Key Speaker Notes Tables are partitioned to support load balancing across storage nodes. A table's entities are organized by partition. A partition is a consecutive range of entities possessing the same partition key value. The partition key is a unique identifier for the partition within a given table, specified by the PartitionKey property. The partition key forms the first part of an entity's unique identifier within the table. The partition key may be a string value up to 1 KB in size. You must include the PartitionKey property in every insert, update, and delete operation. Notes http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd573356.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazurestorage/archive/2010/05/07/understanding-the-scalability-availability-durability-and-billing-of-windows-azure-storage.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazurestorage/archive/2010/05/10/windows-azure-storage-abstractions-and-their-scalability-targets.aspx
• #26: Slide Objectives Understand Partition Ranges Speaker Notes DON’T use unique PartionKey values for your entities – each entity will then belong to its own partition Range partitions group entities that have sequentially, unique PartitionKey values to improve the performance of range queries. Without range partitions, a range query will need to cross partition boundaries or server boundaries, which can decrease the performance of the query. Notes