Alternative to Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Manage SQL Server with Azure Data Studio
Azure Data Studio allows you to manage SQL databases based on Microsoft Azure or Microsoft SQL Server. The tool is available for free for Windows, Linux and macOS.
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SQL databases can be managed through Azure Data Studio.
Microsoft Azure Date Studio (formerly SQL Operations Studio) can be used on Windows, Linux, and macOS machines to manage SQL databases in Azure and on Microsoft SQL servers. SQL Server Big Data Clusters can also be connected to the system.
Getting Started with Azure Data Studio
Azure Data Studio also supports IntelliSense in a much more modern form than Management Studio for queries. Basically, Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and Azure Data Studio can be used in parallel. Azure Data Studio has its advantages especially in queries and notebooks.
Azure Data Studio offers functions for managing SQL servers, but also enables the integration of Jupyter notebooks. Azure Data Studio can not only be used to manage resources in Microsoft Azure, but also supports the management of local SQL servers. With the tool, the connection to Azure is possible, but not necessary.
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When installing the tool on Windows, there is also the option to download the installation file for the user context. This allows database administrators on Windows 10 PCs to perform the installation and use the tool even without admin rights on the PC. In addition, Microsoft also provides a portable version that does not need to be installed.
Manage SQL Server with Azure Data Studio
After installing Azure Data Studio, a new connection to a database server can be established from the New connection tab. The connection is the same as connecting a new server to the SQL Server Management Studio. Already at the login, you can select which files the tool should be connected to.
In general, however, all databases for which the corresponding user account has access rights are available on the server in a connection. The last connections can be found at the top of “Recent Connections” and “Saved Connections”.
However, Azure Data Studio does not focus on the connections to the database server and the subsequent administration. Already when connecting to a database server, new queries can be created. New notebooks can also be created with Azure Data Studio. This makes the tool particularly interesting in the field of data analysis. The various connections and notebooks are displayed in the Azure Data Studio at the top as separate tabs.
Manage Azure resources in Azure Data Studio
In Azure Data Studio, administrators or developers can use a central window to manage SQL resources on local servers and in Microsoft Azure. After logging in to Microsoft Azure, the Connections resources are available below Servers on Azure. After logging in to Azure, the various resources are available in Azure.
Manage, backup and restore databases
From the context menu of databases, new queries, notebooks or a data backup can be performed in Azure Data Studio. Database recovery is also possible with Azure Data Studio. The backup can be done through the graphical interface in Azure Data Studio, but the tool also displays the SQL commands that can also be used to create backups as a query.
Compression and encryption can also be carried out as part of the backup. Azure Data Studio displays the options for this when selecting the backup options. Backups can be encrypted with AES 128/192/256 and with Triple DES. The result of the backup shows Azure Data Studio at the bottom of the window.
In the lower area of the administration window, a PowerShell session can also be created within Azure Data Studio using the “Terminal” menu item. With some rework, other shells can also be connected at this point.
Install Extensions-Extend features of Azure Data Studio
After starting the Azure Data Studio, extensions for Azure Data Studio can be installed via the extension icon on the left side at the bottom. The extensions enable more features in Azure Data Studio.
For example, PostgreSQL databases can also be managed with extensions. For the extensions, Microsoft goes the same way in Azure Data Studio as in Visual Studio.
Important functions such as SQL Server Agent are also available with the extensions. These can be used to plan tasks with the Azure Data Studio, for example, the execution of notebooks.
Notebooks with Azure Data Studio
Azure Data Studio can also be used to create notebooks based on different kernels. In addition to SQL, this also includes PySpark, Scala, R, Python and the PowerShell. On the basis of the languages, the documents are created, which can contain various statements, for example, queries. The advantage of the notebooks is that the results of the queries can be constantly updated.
The Azure Data Studio is particularly interesting with regard to notebooks due to the Python support. This makes it possible to create Jupyter notebooks. The notebooks can be backed up as JSON files. In general, Azure Data Studio also saves the last query result with the notebook.
Deployments with Azure Data Studio
With Azure Data Studio, resources can also be deployed through deployments. Here are options for deploying Azure SQL Database, SQL Servers, SQL Server Container Image, SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machine, and SQL Server Big Data Cluster. Azure Arc and Azure SQL Edge can also be deployed through the deployments in Azure Studio.
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