Being primarily a developer, I would prefer not having to manage infrastructure. With SQL Database I don’t have too. SQL Database provides most of the features I need when working with a relational database. If SQL Database doesn’t suit your needs, you can have SQL Server running in a VM within Windows Azure. Though again I don’t want to deal with infrastructure as a developer. If all you need is a relational database what features is SQL Database missing.
I understand everyone has different opinions, below are a few features I would like to see in SQL Database. I understand there is different considerations (performance, security, etc.) to make these features available.
- SQL Agent or Job Scheduler of some sort. I know there is workarounds for this.
- Additional Common Language Runtime (CLR) support. I know the CLR functionality exists to some extent already, with spatial data-type support in SQL Database. Why can’t we get additional CLR functionality for other things? Bring us some of the .NET libraries Regex, Math, Date, String to use in SQL Database.
- JSON support. JSON appears to be the preferred standard for sending data to the client in today’s applications. SQL Database already supports XML why not JSON in a similar fashion.
- Having a feature similar to FILESTREAM, that would allow you to persist blobs to a storage account.
I invite you to add your suggestions/needs to the list.
By the way, if you need a Windows Azure subscription, here is the link for a free trial.