Free SQL Help for Devs, DBAs, and the Curious

In the world of databases, SQL Server has long been a go-to solution for many organizations. With the release of SQL Server 2019, Microsoft introduced a slew of new features, including big data clusters and data virtualization. Alongside these, Azure SQL and Azure Synapse offer two unique models for handling your data workloads: Dedicated SQL pools and Serverless computing. This blog post will explore the differences between these two models, discuss their benefits, and help you decide which might be the best fit for your organization.

Dedicated SQL pools, previously known as SQL Data Warehouse, is a massively parallel processing (MPP) cloud-based, scale-out, relational database capable of processing massive volumes of data. This model is designed for high performance analytics. It leverages the power of the Azure Synapse platform to provide unparalleled analytics performance. You can control the number of compute nodes and storage to meet your performance and cost requirements.

-- T-SQL code to create a table in Azure SQL Dedicated Pool
CREATE TABLE SalesLT.Product
(
    ProductID int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED,
    Name nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
    ProductNumber nvarchar(25) NOT NULL,
    Color nvarchar(15) NULL
);

On the other hand, Serverless computing is a compute tier for single databases in Azure SQL Database that automatically pauses during inactive periods when only storage is billed and automatically resumes when activity returns. This model is ideal for scenarios with intermittent, unpredictable usage, as you only pay for the compute resources you use. The serverless compute tier also automatically scales compute based on workload demand and bills for the amount of compute used per second.

Making a choice between Dedicated SQL Pools and Serverless depends largely on your specific use case. If you're dealing with massive volumes of data and require high performance analytics, Dedicated SQL Pools might be the better choice. Organizations that need to manage large amounts of data, such as MySQL 8.0 or DB2 11.5 databases, will find the scale-out architecture of Dedicated SQL Pools especially useful. On the other hand, if you're dealing with variable workloads or have intermittent usage, Serverless could save you money as you only pay for the compute resources you use.

-- MySQL code to create a table in Azure SQL Serverless
CREATE TABLE employees (
    EmployeeID INT NOT NULL,
    LastName VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    FirstName VARCHAR(255),
    Address VARCHAR(255),
    City VARCHAR(255)
);

In conclusion, both Dedicated SQL Pools and Serverless in Azure Synapse offer flexible, scalable solutions for managing your data in the cloud. The choice between the two will depend on your specific needs and use case. As always, it's best to test out both options in a non-production environment before making a decision.