Is it possible to run a desktop application against a cloud-based SQL Server?

Question

Currently our windows desktop applications run against a SQL Server instance that resides on our network. I'd like to remove the local instance and seamlessly assess the data from a remote SQL Server instance such as Azure. I could write a middle tier, such as WCF, but I'd rather not. It would be easiest just gain direct access to the SQL server. Can this be done?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes. - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ee336282.aspx

You'll need to ensure that the Azure SQL Database firewall rules are set up to allow traffic from your IP.

If you are running full SQL Server on a Windows Azure Virtual Machine you can open the port to the SQL Server. Be aware that you'd likely want to ACL the endpoints on a VM to restrict access to your IPs.

Answer 2

Remote SQL Server and Azure could be very different things.

First difference that you will found is the Connection String form. Azure SQL connection strings looks like: Server=tcp:xxxxxxxx.database.windows.net;Database=xxxxxxxx;User ID=xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx;Password=xxxxxxxxxx;Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;