Database Reference
In-Depth Information
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sys.views
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sys.databases
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sys.columns
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sys.objects
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Heap tables
. SQL Azure doesn't allow the use of heap tables. All tables must have a
primary |key.
Miscellaneous
In addition to the limitations outlined so far, additional components and options offered by SQL Server
aren't available in SQL Azure. For the most part, these limitations shouldn't affect your application
designs, but they're good to keep in mind:
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Maximum number of databases
. You can create no more than four user
databases.
•
Distributed transactions.
Although SQL transactions are supported, distributed
transactions aren't supported across SQL Azure databases.
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Collation.
SQL Azure only supports collation at the column level, or using an
expression at execution time. Server- and database-level collations can't be
changed and are set to
SQL_LATIN1_GENERAL_CP1_CI_AS
.
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English language
. SQL Azure only supports the English language.
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Database size
. You can only create databases of specific sizes, as outlined
previously.
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Database file placement
. You can't choose how the database files are deployed
physically; you can't control filegroups, either. This is handled automatically by
the Microsoft data center for optimum performance.
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Trace flags
. Trace flags aren't available.
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SQL Server configuration options
. None of the general SQL Server options are
available, including CPU and I/O affinity.
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Service Broker
. The Service Broker isn't available.
•
Global temporary tables
. The global temporary tables aren't available. However,
you can use local temporary tables.
•
SQL Server Agent
. The SQL Server Agent isn't available.
Drivers and Protocols
You should also know that accessing SQL Azure can only be performed using specific libraries. This may
be relevant if you don't use ADO.NET in your programming stack. For example, older versions of Delphi
can't connect to SQL Azure. Here is a summary of the supported data libraries:
