Another “be what’s next” moment

In yet another instance of getting real, I just swapped out the backend database for SnowstormLife.com to a SQL Azure Database. (The website itself is still on a 3rd party host, not on Windows Azure yet.)

It wasn’t that difficult. I simply needed to

1. Create a SQL Azure Database (I already had an account)
2. Create the Transact-SQL script for the table schema and data
3. Run that script against the new SQL Azure database.

Don’t have an Azure account? Microsoft currently has a free trial available: https://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/free-trial/

For steps 2 & 3, you can find step-by-step instructions with a sample here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee621790.aspx

I needed to add one piece to the script generated in step 2: the creation of a clustered primary key, which I discovered is a requirement in SQL Azure. (I didn’t have any primary keys defined in the old database.) It only took a couple of additional lines:

For more information about SQL Azure, head on over to the MSDN library: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg619386(BTS.70).aspx

Another helpful resource is the SQL Azure FAQ: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/sql-azure-faq.aspx

Enjoy.

-- bliz