Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
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Export/Import data.
You can perform these operations using the Import and Export feature.
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Restore.
You can use the Point in Time Restore feature.
Objects
Certain objects available in SQL Server aren't available in SQL Database. If your applications depend heavily on
these features, you may have difficulty using SQL Database, and you may need to rethink your application design to
accommodate these limitations. The following are some of the limitations that currently apply to SQL Database:
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CLR.
The.NET CLR isn't available in SQL Database. As a result, you can't create extended
stored procedures or extended functions.
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System functions.
SQL Database supports many system functions, including Aggregate
functions and Ranking functions. However, SQL Database doesn't support RowSet functions,
including these:
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OPENQUERY
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OPENXML
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OPENROWSET
OPENDATASOURCE
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System stored procedures.
Only a small subset of system stored procedures are available in
SQL Database, in the following categories:
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Catalog stored procedures
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Database engine stored procedures
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Security stored procedures
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System tables.
None of the system tables are available.
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System views.
A subset of system views is available; you can access some of them from the
master database and others from user databases. The following are some of the system views
available (for a complete list, refer to the online MSDN library for SQL Database):
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sys.sql_logins
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sys.views
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sys.databases
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sys.columns
sys.objects
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Heap tables.
SQL Database doesn't allow the use of heap tables. All tables must have a
clustered index.
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Miscellaneous
In addition to the limitations outlined so far, additional components and options offered by SQL Server aren't
available in SQL Database. For the most part, these limitations shouldn't affect your application designs, but they're
good to keep in mind:
