Azure database services overview

Introduction

The current post attempts to present an overview of the Azure database services, as of late May 2022. Azure database services mainly cover the conventional database administration side of things (with SQL and NoSQL databases) but can conceptually expand to cover a full range of Analytics and Data Engineering and Analysis services (for example Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse Analytics). This broader view of data-related services essentially constitutes the Azure Data Platform. Given the dynamic nature of public clouds, this list will most likely change soon in the near future but nevertheless acts as a general point of reference when discussing Azure database services.

You find an overview of all Azure service categories at https://cloudcomputing.help/blog/azure-service-categories/.

Database services

Azure allows you to support rapid growth and innovate faster with secure, enterprise-grade, and fully managed database services.

Azure Cache for Redis

Accelerate apps with high-throughput, low-latency data caching

Azure Cosmos DB

Build or modernize scalable, high-performance apps

Azure Data Factory

Hybrid data integration at enterprise scale, made easy

Azure Database for MariaDB

Deploy applications to the cloud with enterprise-ready, fully managed community MariaDB

Azure Database for MySQL

Fully managed, scalable MySQL Database

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Fully managed, intelligent, and scalable PostgreSQL

Azure Database Migration Service

Accelerate your data migration to Azure

Azure SQL

Modern SQL family for migration and app modernization

Azure SQL Database

Managed, intelligent SQL in the cloud

Azure SQL Edge

Consume Services privately on Azure Platform

Azure SQL Managed Instance

Managed, always up-to-date SQL instance in the cloud

SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines

Migrate SQL Server workloads to the cloud at lower total cost of ownership (TCO)

Table Storage

NoSQL key-value store using semi-structured datasets

Azure Managed Instance for Apache Cassandra

Modernize Cassandra data clusters with a managed instance in the cloud

Azure confidential ledger Preview

Tamperproof, unstructured data store hosted in trusted execution environments (TEEs) and backed by cryptographically verifiable evidence

Becoming Azure-certified database engineer and data scientist/analyst

As per the Microsoft official certification poster (https://aka.ms/TrainCertPoster), there are four available certifications in the fields of Azure database services engineering and data science/analysis.

  • Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate. Candidates for the Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate certification should have subject matter expertise in designing, creating, and deploying enterprise-scale data analytics solutions. Associated certification exam is DP-500.
  • Azure Database Administrator Associate. The Azure database administrator implements and manages the operational aspects of cloud-native and hybrid data platform solutions built with Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Azure Data Services. The Azure database administrator uses a variety of methods and tools to perform day-to-day operations, including applying knowledge of using T-SQL for administrative management purposes. Associated certification exam is DP-300.
  • Azure Data Engineer Associate. A candidate for the Azure Data Engineer Associate certification should have subject matter expertise integrating, transforming, and consolidating data from various structured and unstructured data systems into structures that are suitable for building analytics solutions. Associated certification exam is DP-203.
  • Azure Data Scientist Associate. Candidates for the Azure Data Scientist Associate certification should have subject matter expertise applying data science and machine learning to implement and run machine learning workloads on Azure. Associated certification exam is DP-100.

The foundational certification which covers all basic aspects of database administration and data engineering/analysis is related to the DP-900 exam: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals.

References

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/product-categories/databases/

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