Hi, 

I'm new to Azure so please bear with me. 

The maximum size of an Azure database when exposed as a direct service is 500GB.  What is the limit if I create a new Windows server then create a new SQL instance and database(s) inside that?  I understand there are drawbacks with this approach, licensing for one, however does this allow the database size to be greater? 

We are looking at moving all our 1500 SQL databases into a cloud solution and some of them are much bigger than 500GB. 

Thanks 

Hi ,

You  can look at the pricing details where premium tier can support to 1 TB

http://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/pricing/details/sql-database/.

Hope this information is helpful while migrating your DB on Azure.

Thanks

Abhishek

You  can look at the pricing details where premium tier can support to 1 TB

http://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/pricing/details/sql-database/.

Thanks for the response.  Do you think that also means databases created inside a VM, seems to be the same cost to me but I'm not sure. 

We have a number of databases (mostly SharePoint) that are over 1TB in size, might have to do some re-engineering.

  

As you mention already there are several different things to consider when choosing a SQL Server hosting option on Azure. You can find a good article here https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/data-management-azure-sql-database-and-sql-server-iaas/ that helps you in making a choice.

As far as your question on the 500 GB size limit you can consider splitting your database to scale out using the SQL Database Elastic Database features, but this will involve changes in applications data-layer. When hosting a SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machine your database can be much bigger, you can attach several data disks (currently  up to 64 on a G-series VM)

Yes ,

There is some work which need to be done from your infra structure side . I hope it will go fine while you move your DB'S to azure .

SQL Database supports data sets up to terabytes in size. Individual SQL Database databases can be up to 500GB in size. Data sets larger than 500GB can be partitioned across multiple Azure databases using SQL Database Federations and other industry standard approaches. Federations will be retired with Web and Business service tiers in September 2015, you can consider using the Elastic Database tools for Azure SQL Database to build a sharded, scale-out solution for your data tier. To try it, see Get Started with Azure SQL Database Elastic Database tools.

It is also important to note that the 500GB limit per database does not include additional copies of data that are automatically maintained for higher availability, the transaction log or system level tables.

In addition to the suggestions above, I also want to point you to today's announcement of Premium tier P11 that can support databases upto 1 TB in size.

However, as you have databases exceeding 1 TB in size, you may need to shard those databases and use Elastic database tools as suggested in the post above.

-- Srini

• Edited by srini acharya[MSFT] 13 hours 35 minutes ago

In addition to the suggestions above, I also want to point you to today's announcement of Premium tier P11 that can support databases upto 1 TB in size.

However, as you have databases exceeding 1 TB in size, you may need to shard those databases and use Elastic database tools as suggested in the post above.

-- Srini

• Edited by srini acharya[MSFT] 13 hours 26 minutes ago

Just adding to what other experts have just mentioned - If your databases are bigger than 500 GB then you can go for Sharding ( SQL Azure DB (PaaS). Otherwise , you can create SQL on Azure VM (IaaS) and host your databases.

There are pros and cons for both the scenario ->

For PaaS -> you can get auto scale up/down scenario along with Scale out through Sharding. Microsoft will manage lots of your operations e.g. backups / SQL health / SQL Availability etc. as mentioned under the posts under http://dbcouncil.net/sql-azure-db-paas-for-a-dba/

But here , you may need to invest little bit on application code change/development as well.

For IaaS  -> You will get the same environment as you get in on-premise SQL server. You will need to manage SQL end to end e.g. Backups/HA/upgrades etc. The database which can create can far bigger because you can also use storage spaces to make bigger LUNS and create your DB there.

For information on SQL PaaS , you can visit this series  - http://dbcouncil.net/sql-azure-db-paas-for-a-dba/

In addition to the suggestions above, I also want to point you to today's announcement of Premium tier P11 that can support databases upto 1 TB in size.

However, as you have databases exceeding 1 TB in size, you may need to shard those databases and use Elastic database tools as suggested in the post above.

-- Srini

• Edited by srini acharya[MSFT] Thursday, August 27, 2015 5:41 PM

In addition to the suggestions above, I also want to point you to today's announcement of Premium tier P11 that can support databases upto 1 TB in size.

However, as you have databases exceeding 1 TB in size, you may need to shard those databases and use Elastic database tools as suggested in the post above.

-- Srini

• Edited by srini acharya[MSFT] Thursday, August 27, 2015 5:41 PM
• Proposed as answer by Casey KarstMicrosoft employee, Moderator 15 hours 22 minutes ago

In addition to the suggestions above, I also want to point you to today's announcement of Premium tier P11 that can support databases upto 1 TB in size.

However, as you have databases exceeding 1 TB in size, you may need to shard those databases and use Elastic database tools as suggested in the post above.

-- Srini

• Edited by srini acharya[MSFT] Thursday, August 27, 2015 5:41 PM
• Proposed as answer by Casey KarstMicrosoft employee, Moderator Wednesday, September 02, 2015 3:47 PM

Got a good news for you - Now MAX DB limit is 1 TB - check this out http://blogs.technet.com/b/dataplatforminsider/archive/2015/08/27/new-azure-sql-database-offerings-add-capabilities-to-scale-data-up-and-out.aspx?wt.mc_id=WW_ABG_MAPPS_OO_SCL_TW