In the previous article about SQL Data Services (SDS) I mentioned one of the most exciting technologies coming out from Microsoft this year: Data Hub, “an aggregation of enterprise, partner, desktop and device data within SQL Data Services”. It is a service, hosted in the Azure data centers along with SQL Data Services you can use to synchronize your on-premises database with the database in the cloud. This service is completely based on the Microsoft Sync Framework technology.

What you can do with it, is you can take an existing database on your premises, and sync-enable it, mainly you can specify tables, rows, which should be published to the cloud. Continue reading…

One thing in the Microsoft cloud I find really interesting is SQL Data Services and Huron/Data Hub - SQL cloud sync service, one of the “cloud” offerings I believe has lots of potential and will really make sharing of data in the cloud so much easier.

I had the pleasure to sit down and talk about this subject with Liam Cavanagh, Sr. Program Manager at Microsoft, with the SDS/Huron team, and get some insights about the current state and the future of this remarkable new technology. In this article I’ll talk about SQL Data Services, and I’ll follow up with one about Data Hub/Huron.

SQL Data Services is at the core, nothing more than a (Microsoft SQL) database-as-a-service offering from Microsoft, part of the Azure Services Platform. First thing you’ll find about SQL Data Services is that “is just SQL” (at least that’s how Microsoft is advertising it). And it is. Continue reading…

In case you missed it, here’s an update on Project “Huron”.  For those new to it, this is an incubation project built by Microsoft to provide database “friction free” (this is a one of those Microsoft terms that basically means simple to setup) synchronization capabilities to the Cloud (SQL Data Services) via a hosted Sync Service sitting within the Azure data centers. The goal is to remove the typical complexities (configuration, scalability, security, etc) involved with sharing database information between local databases such as SQL Server and SQL Compact and provide simple UI tools for configuration and sync components developers can embed in existing applications.

Do you want to participate? Continue reading…

One of the more active “azure groups” inside Microsoft is the SQL Services team.  They have the so called “SQL Services Labs” where they keep the incubations and innovations, giving us an early look at what they’re working on. One of the things it got our attention (besides Data Mining In The Cloud which we covered here) is “Huron” - the new Desktop Database Sharing - a solution for enabling sharing of desktop and device databases with business partners, mobile users and other desktops. It is using the Microsoft Sync Framework which Microsoft is pushing hard to developers for adoption.

“Huron” provides synchronization capabilities within SQL Data Services to enable occasionally connected applications to easily and efficiently enable content flow through the data hub. It consists of: 
Continue reading…