UPDATED 22:41 EDT / MAY 15 2016

NEWS

Microsoft launches Azure Elastic Pools to boost SQL capabilities

Microsoft has added a new Azure SQL option called Elastic Pools which automatically scales cloud databases up or down as conditions dictate.

Azure SQL Database elastic pools were first announced during last year’s Microsoft Build conference, and finally hit general availability late last week. The feature is targeted at enterprises, and aims to help them reduce the excessive costs that arise from over-provisioning of resources when anticipating spikes in application usage. In addition, elastic pools can help boost application performance at times when they may suffer from not having enough database resources available during peak times.

“Each elastic database in the pool gets the resources it needs when it needs it, and eliminates the complexity of managing the performance of individual databases,” wrote Tracy Daugherty, partner group program manager at Microsoft Azure SQL.

Daugherty explained that elastic pools provide auto-scaling options that can be configured to the customer’s liking.

“You can control the performance assigned to a pool, add or remove elastic databases on demand, and define performance of elastic databases without affecting the overall cost of the pool,” Daugherty wrote. “This means you don’t have to worry about managing the usage of individual databases.”

Also last week, Microsoft said it’s expanding the reach of its streaming customers with the launch of Azure CDN from Akamai, which has been in preview since the second half of last year. Microsoft said Akamai operates a content delivery network (CDN) that consists of 200,000+ servers in 120 countries. More than 90 percent of the world’s Internet users are but a single network hop away from one of Akamai’s CDN servers, Microsoft said.

Microsoft previously released a Premium Azure CDN tier tied to Verizon’s infrastructure last year. But “now, by joining forces with both Verizon and Akamai, Azure CDN creates new opportunities for our customers to achieve more with the power of the cloud – enabling them to select the right CDN for the regions in which they operate, as well as load balance across CDNs,” said Sudheer Sirivara, partner director at Microsoft Azure Media and Azure CDN Services.

In other news from last week, Microsoft also launched its new Recovery Services resource vault for its Azure Resource Manager infrastructure management solution, which allows admins to deploy, monitor and manage cloud resources collectively, rather than individually. Recovery Services can be used to both automate and unify cloud and on-premises backups, Microsoft said.

Last but not least, Microsoft said last week that its new Azure Test Drives service is now live, offering pre-configured images that let customers evaluate Azure Marketplace offerings from third-party vendors in a secure, sandboxed environment, entirely free. Azure Test Drives lets users test solutions without needing to supply test data or configure an Azure virtual machine. Currently, there are 12 test drives available, including Deep Security SaaS from Trend Micro, AltaVault from NetApp and Cloud NAS from SoftNAS, with more to come in future, Microsoft said.

Image credit: shouplade via pixabay.com

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