Whitepaper : Databases on Cloud Virtual Machines versus Managed Cloud Databases

You will need to make a couple of major decisions right off the bat if you want to move your SQL Server database to the cloud. First of all, you need to select a cloud platform, with Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) being the two leading choices at this time. Next, you will need to decide if you want to run your own SQL Server database on the platform’s cloud-based virtual machines (VMs) or use the platform’s managed SQL Server database. These two choices result in the following four options: Microsoft Azure VM, Microsoft Azure SQL Database, Amazon EC2, and Amazon RDS for SQL Server.

Running your database on cloud VMs has greater flexibility on configuration, but it also requires more expertise to administer. On the other hand, a managed cloud database may be a better choice if you do not have the resources for a dedicated DBA, especially if you are developing a new database rather than migrating an existing one. Azure generally has more features than AWS, especially for deploying and scaling databases. However, AWS is more favorable for open-source development, which is often the deciding factor for Linux shops. Cost and performance are more difficult to compare due to the variety of packages available for both Azure and AWS.

This whitepaper presents the problem statement, Microsoft Azure VM, Microsoft Azure SQL Database, Amazon EC2, and Amazon RDS for SQL Server, their similarities, and their differences.

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