SQL Azure Database Service Update 1 is Live

[This article was contributed by the SQL Azure team.]

Two short weeks have passed since the general availability of SQL Azure and the Windows Azure platform and our first Service Update (SU1) is live. Thank you for continuing to provide feedback; we are already incorporating some of it. In addition to a few bug fixes, we have added the following new features:

Troubleshooting and Supportability DMVs

Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) return state information that can be used to monitor the health of a database, diagnose problems, and tune performance. These views are similar to the ones that already exist in the on-premises edition of SQL Server.

The DMVs we have added are as follows:

· sys.dm_exec_connections – This view returns information about the connections established to your database.

· sys.dm_exec_requests – This view returns information about each request that executes within your database

· sys.dm_exec_sessions – This view shows information about all active user connections and internal tasks.

· sys.dm_tran_database_transactions – This view returns information about transactions at the database level.

· sys.dm_tran_active_transactions – This view returns information about transactions for your current logical database.

· sys.dm_db_partition_stats – This view returns page and row-count information for every partition in the current database.

Ability to move between editions

One of the most requested features was the ability to move up and down between a Web or Business edition database.   This provides you greater flexibility and if you approach the upper limits of the Web edition database, you can easily upgrade with a single command. You can also downgrade if your database is below the allowed size limit.

You can now do that using the following syntax:

ALTER DATABASE database_name

{

    MODIFY (MAXSIZE = {1 | 10} GB)

}

Idle session timeouts

We have increased the idle connection timeout from 5 to 30 minutes. This will improve your experience while using connection pooling and other interactive tools

Long running transactions

Based on customer feedback, we have improved our algorithm for terminating long running transactions. These changes will substantially increase the quality of service and allow you to import and export much larger amounts of data without having to resort to breaking your data down into chunks.

We value and act upon the feedback that you provide to us, so please keep it coming and we will keep the updates coming