OakLeaf Systems: SQL Azure Sessions at the PASS Summit 2011

Monday, October 10, 2011

SQL Azure Sessions at the PASS Summit 2011

Following are the sessions in the SQL Azure track at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) Summit to be held Tuesday 10/11 through Friday 10/14/2011. From the SQL Azure track’s description:

Focus on your application. Not the infrastructure. Designed for developers and IT Professionals looking to leverage the cloud to run applications and/or store data. This track focuses on Microsoft® SQL Azure™, which is a highly available and scalable cloud database service built on SQL Server technologies.

With SQL Azure, developers do not have to install, setup, patch, or manage any software. High availability and fault tolerance is built-in and no physical administration is required. Additionally, developers can get productive on SQL Azure quickly by using the same familiar T-SQL based relational model and the same powerful development and management tools used for on-premises databases.

The track will also cover SQL Azure Data Sync and SQL Azure Reporting. Microsoft® SQL Azure Data Sync, currently in CTP (Community Technology Preview) is a cloud-based data synchronization service providing bi-directional data synchronization and data management capabilities allowing data to be easily shared between multiple SQL Azure databases and between on-premises and SQL Azure databases. Finally, Microsoft SQL Azure Reporting allows the use of familiar on-premises tools you’re comfortable with to develop and deploy operational reports to the cloud.

Regular Sessions

Beyond the Hype - Hybrid Solutions for On-Premise and In-Cloud Database Applications (AZ-202-M)
Buck Woody (Microsoft)

Despite all the hype, it’s rare for a business to actually “move” an application directly to the cloud. The cost, risk and effort aren’t usually worth the benefit of what you gain. Security considerations, performance, and control are just a few of the reasons that many applications need to stay in your datacenter. But there are times when including a function from the cloud makes a ton of business sense, either to extend part of your internal applications to remote workers, customers or partners, or to act as a HA/DR solution.

In this session, Buck Woody (Microsoft Senior Technology Specialist on Distributed Computing) will talk about how you can embrace Cloud on Your Terms through SQL Server Code Name "Denali" and Windows and SQL Azure architectures, and the considerations for creating a hybrid architecture across on-premise databases and cloud technologies. You’ll learn:

How to create a decision matrix for which elements can be extended to the cloud

A Windows and SQL Azure technology overview, code name Juneau, and DAC Fx

Component options for hybrid solutions, including:
• SharePoint,
• Biztalk
• .NET applications
• Non-Microsoft languages and technologies
• Other RDBMS’s

Everything Your Developer Won’t Tell You About SQL Azure (AZ-200)
Arie Jones (Perpetual Technologies,Inc.)

Cloud computing is being hailed by some as the future silver bullet to everyone’s data availability woes and as such SQL Azure is Microsoft’s cloud based data platform. However, the platform is much different from simply a SQL Server that sits in the cloud and needs to be approached in an intelligent manner. In this fast paced session, we will be going well beyond the simple “hello world” scenario to show you how to leverage the cloud architecture for data storage as well as educate you in how the cloud works differently than your local database instance. We’ll give you all of the powers and perils that exist in the architecture to ensure that your first flight into the cloud is a successful one. This session is going to be an eye opener for sure and will have many of you dreaming of your data sitting in the cloud.

Getting your Mind Wrapped Around SQL Azure (AZ-301-C)
Evan Basalik (Microsoft CSS)

We will explore the basics of SQL Azure and then dig into the similarities and differences between SQL Azure and SQL Server. We will also discuss ways to configure SQL Server so that you can mimicking SQL Azure, thus allowing you to come closer to matching your Development and Production environments. Lastly, we will touch on how to transfer your existing troubleshooting skills from SQL Server to SQL Azure.

How to migrate your databases to SQL Azure (and what's new) (AZ-300)
Nabeel Derhem (MOHE)

Moving your data to the cloud can be challenging as SQL Azure environment and rules are somewhat different than your typical SQL Server.
If you are thinking about migrating your database from any RDBMS (SQL Server, Oracle, MySql, etc.) to SQL Azure, then you've come to the right place. In this session, Nabeel will discuss the challenges you should be prepared for, and the techniques and tools you can use to move your schema and data to the cloud such as DAC, SSIS, and BCP, etc.. , plus what are the latest SQL Azure updates and features (Federations, Data Sync, etc.).

Migrating Large Scale Application[s] to the Cloud with SQL Azure Federations (AZ-400-M)
Cihan Biyikoglu (Microsoft)

SQL Azure Federations provide best of breed scalability for large database workloads in the cloud. Applications can break through single database limits in SQL Azure, improve their support for multi-tenant DB tiers and gain great elasticity and price-performance through the use of federations. To take advantage of federations, application need to design for scalability through decentralization of applications workload and partitioning their data.

This talk covers the considerations for moving to federations technology and types of changes needed to move application and data to federations for new and existing applications.

SQL Azure - Where We Are Today and Microsoft's Cloud Data Strategy (AZ-201-M)
Gregory Leake (Microsoft), Lynn Langit (Microsoft)

In this session we'll provide an overview of SQL Azure, Microsoft's cloud relational database service. We will share the latest on the capabilities of the SQL Azure services for developer productivity across a wide range of application scenarios, including Web applications, Business Intelligence, and as a backing data store for mobile applications. We will also discuss hybrid cloud scenarios, such as synchronizing SQL Azure with on-premises databases, and utilizing on-premises SQL Server databases in conjunction with Windows Azure-deployed application logic.

SQL Azure Sharding with the Open Source Enzo Library (AZ-100)
Herve Roggero (Blue Syntax Consulting LLC)

This session introduces you to the need for scalability in the cloud, and presents various aspects of data partitioning in SQL Azure by offering a tour of SQL Azure Data Federation and an introduction to the popular open-source Enzo Framework available on CodePlex. This session will provide sufficient information to give you the tools necessary to decide whether or not sharding may be appropriate for your applications, what are some of the challenges related to data federation and how to deal with them, and will give you a solid understanding of how sharding can improve overall application performance and scalability.

SQLCAT: What are the Largest Azure Projects in the World and how do they Scale (AZ-302-A)
Kevin Cox (Microsoft), Michael Thomassy (Microsoft Corp.)

Presenting the architecture behind the largest Azure (both Windows and SQL Azure) projects in the world.

This Ain't Your Father's Cloud (AZ-101)
Buck Woody (Microsoft)
Kevin Kline (Quest Software)

We won't lie to you. Some of the technical professionals at PASS have been doing this a LONG time. They've seen trends come and go. (SOA, anyone? N-tier architectures? "i-" or "e-" everything?) At least one professional, Former PASS director Kevin Kline, has been around the block a time or two and has seen fads come and go. Buck Woody, Microsoft's Senior (in every sense of the word) Technical Specialist on Windows and SQL Azure doesn't think "Cloud" is a fad. In fact, he thinks he can prove to Kevin it isn't, and if you're not careful, you might learn something in the process.

This ain't your father's presentation, kids. OK, maybe it is, but it promises to be useful, funny and informational. Grab your prune-juice and stake out your Lazy-Boy lounger early. We have to get out of here in time for these guys to get back to the home before dark.

All sessions in the SQL Azure track are regular (75-minute) sessions. You must be a registered PASS Summit 2011 attendee to download slide decks and sample code from the description pages.