Windows Azure Virtual Machines now available

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Now available - Windows Azure Infrastructure Services, which includes Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks to keep your Windows Azure connected to your on-premises infrastructure and applications.

Windows Azure Infrastructure Services provide the robust cloud infrastructure that is needed to run SQL Server and many of the applications that rely on SQL Server. With Windows Azure Virtual Machines, Virtual Networks, Data Sync services and full SQL Server compatibility you can now enable the following scenarios:

  • Develop & Test SQL Server Applications in Windows Azure
  • Move your Existing On-Premises SQL Server Applications - use Azure tools, or if you have the latest version of System Center, you can use that as well to upload to Azure. Again, with full SQL Server compatibility you can utilize features like Transparent Data Encryption for database security, Full Text Search and AlwaysOn for high availability of your databases running in Virtual Machines.
  • Backup & Restore on-premises SQL Server Databases - Using a combination of Windows Azure Storage and Virtual Machines, you can create a cost effective way to backup and restore your on-premises SQL Server databases. With the recent SQL Server 2012 SP1 CU2 update, you can now backup and restore directly to a Windows Azure Storage URL, making it a one step process to backup and restore to Azure.
  • Unlock Hybrid SQL Server Scenarios
  • Create Multi-Tiered Cloud Applications

Go to the Infrastructure Services page on WindowAzure.com to try these SQL Server scenarios today. You can also reference best practice documentation on MSDN for implementing the SQL Server scenarios in Windows Azure Virtual Machines.

For pricing information see - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/ and you will also be surprised to find VM that can be sized at even 4cores with 28GB or RAM or 8cores with 56GB of RAM.

Happy SQL'ing in the cloud.