Marcin Policht

Deployment of cloud-based technologies introduces a wide range of challenges; however, few of them are scrutinized to the same extent as security. When analyzing security-related challenges, it is important to note that they encompass several distinct but interrelated technologies, including authentication and authorization, network isolation, as well as data integrity and confidentiality. In addition, when […]

Microsoft currently offers two built-in methods of running production SQL Server databases in Azure. The first of them relies on the ability of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Azure virtual machines to host a variety of on-premises workloads, including SQL Server instances. The second one leverages Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)-based Azure SQL Database. With the introduction of Azure SQL Managed […]

Azure Cosmos DB offers features that facilitate data availability and resiliency. However, there is also a different, very important aspect of facilitating access to distributed data sources in the most optimal manner, which focuses on access control mechanisms. Specifics of this aspect applicable to Azure Cosmos DB will be the subject of this article. From […]

One of the most important design decisions that must be made when planning deployment of Azure Cosmos DB involves logical partitioning of data that will populate target collections, graphs, or tables. Selecting the optimal partitioning model has both performance and pricing implications. In this article, we will explore the rationale behind these implications and review […]

The majority of traditional database management systems are responsible for making sure that any changes to their data are consistently reflected in the results of subsequent queries. This behavior exemplifies strong consistency, which implies that multiple, concurrent processes will always have the same view of database content. While such assurances are frequently desirable, they involve […]

In our previous article published on this forum, we described main characteristics of two new features known as Virtual Network service endpoints and Azure SQL Database virtual network rules. Their purpose is to restrict inbound traffic targeting an Azure SQL Database server to individual Azure virtual network subnets, according to your specifications. This not only […]

One of the most commonly requested Azure SQL Database features has been support for more granular control of server-level firewall settings. While it is possible to restrict their scope down to individual IP addresses for traffic routed via public Internet, the mechanism to manage it for traffic originating from Azure-resident services was implemented simply as […]

Azure SQL Database provides a number of benefits that leverage resiliency and redundancy built into the underlying cloud infrastructure. You can take advantage of this functionality in order to perform backup, restore, and failover tasks, which help you recover from human errors, service outages, or even regional disasters. We have already described some of the […]

As we pointed out in our article recently published on this forum, implementing SQL Server Failover Clustering in Azure virtual machines differs in several aspects from its on-premises implementations. These differences reflect some of the unique characteristics of the storage and network infrastructure services in the Microsoft cloud environment. In this article, we will focus […]

Deploying Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solutions in Microsoft Azure offers a number of benefits that leverage agility, resiliency, and scalability built into the underlying platform. However, when dealing with business-critical workloads, customers typically want to also provide high-availability and disaster recovery capabilities in a manner that they can control. Trying to implement this approach […]

In a recent article published on this forum, we described main characteristics of Azure SQL Data Sync. This service, which has been lingering in the Preview mode since its introduction seven years ago, had been until recently one of few offerings that still required the use of the Azure classic portal. Fortunately, this is no […]

The majority of Azure SQL Database related features reach their General Availability (GA) stage relatively quickly (even when measured in the Azure hyper-accelerated terms). There are however, some exceptions. The most prominent example in this category is likely Azure SQL Data Sync, which has remained in Preview since its introduction 7 years ago. Fortunately, there […]