Upcoming features for SQL Azure

Some amazing news has been announced recently at SQL PASS conference.

Key announcements on SQL Azure included the availability of new CTPs for SQL Azure Reporting and SQL Azure Data Sync (now publicly available), as well as a look at the upcoming Q4 2011 Service Release for SQL Azure. 

According the post from Windows Azure Team, the SQL Azure Q4 2011 Service Release will be available by end of 2011 and is aimed at simplifying elastic scale out needs.

Key features include:

• The maximum database size for individual SQL Azure databases will be expanded 3x from 50 GB to 150 GB.
• Federation. With SQL Azure Federation, databases can be elastically scaled out using the sharding database pattern based on database size and the application workload.  This new feature will make it dramatically easier to set up sharding, automate the process of adding new shards, and provide significant new functionality for easily managing database shards.
• New SQL Azure Management Portal capabilities.  The service release will include an enhanced management portal with significant new features including the ability to more easily monitor databases, drill-down into schemas, query plans, spatial data, indexes/keys, and query performance statistics.
• Expanded support for user-controlled collations.

Read more details here and here (SQL Azure Reporting CTP) or watch the Keynote from the conference.