Hands-On LabSQL Azure Tips and TricksLab version: 2.0.0

Last updated: 5/6/2023

CONTENTS

OVERVIEW................................................................................................................................................. 3

EXERCISE 1: MANIPULATING THE SQL AZURE FIREWALL VIA CMDLETS.......................................5Task 1 – Creating Firewall Rules Via the SQL Azure Portal...................................................................5

Task 2 – Retrieving Firewall Rules Using Windows Azure Cmdlets......................................................9

Task 3 – Adding Firewall Rules Using Windows Azure Cmdlets.........................................................10

Task 4 – Deleting Firewall Rules Using Cmdlets.................................................................................12

EXERCISE 2: MANAGING CONNECTIONS – LOGGING SESSIONIDS................................................15Task 1 – Implementing a SessionId Class...........................................................................................15

Task 2 – Printing the Session ID to the Console.................................................................................20

EXERCISE 3: SUPPORTABILITY – USAGE METRICS..........................................................................23Task 1 – Establishing a Connection to SQL Azure...............................................................................23

Task 2 – Calculating SQL Azure Bandwidth Costs...............................................................................28

Task 3 – Calculating SQL Azure Database Costs.................................................................................32

SUMMARY................................................................................................................................................ 40

Overview

SQL Azure Database is SQL Server technology delivered as a service on Windows Azure. Working with SQL Azure should be a familiar experience for most developers because, for the most part, it supports the same tooling and development practices currently used for on-premises SQL Server applications.

The long term goal for SQL Server and SQL Azure is for symmetry and parity in both features and capabilities, however there are currently differences in architecture and implementation that need to be addressed when developing solutions.

This hands-on lab will walk through a series of tips and tricks that are important for working with SQL Azure, such as managing connections and querying the metrics views.

Objectives

In this hands-on lab, you will learn about:

Manipulating the SQL Azure firewall via APIs using Cmdlets

Managing connections and logging session IDs

Supportability

Prerequisites

The following is required to complete this hands-on lab:

Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010

Windows Azure SDK 1.6

Setup

In order to execute the exercises in this hands-on lab you need to set up your environment.

1. Open a Windows Explorer window and browse to the lab’s Source folder.

2. Double-click the Setup.cmd file in this folder to launch the setup process that will configure your environment and install the Visual Studio code snippets for this lab.

3. If the User Account Control dialog is shown, confirm the action to proceed.

4. When prompted to create a certificate press Y to generate a new certificate or N if you have a certificate installed in your local machine and have it uploaded as a management certificate in the management portal.

5. If you choose to generate a new certificate, the script will pause to let you upload the generated certificate to the management portal. Upload the certificate to the management portal in the management certificates section and take note of its thumbprint.

Note: Make sure you have checked all the dependencies for this lab before running the setup.

Using the Code Snippets

Throughout the lab document, you will be instructed to insert code blocks. For your convenience, most of that code is provided as Visual Studio Code Snippets, which you can use from within Visual Studio 2010 to avoid having to add it manually.

If you are not familiar with the Visual Studio Code Snippets, and want to learn how to use them, you can refer to the Setup.docx document in the Assets folder of the training kit, which contains a section describing how to use them.

Exercises

This hands-on lab includes the following exercises:

1. Manipulating the SQL Azure firewall via Cmdlets

2. Managing Connections – Logging Session IDs

3. Supportability – Usage Metrics

Estimated time to complete this lab: 60 minutes.

Note: When you first start Visual Studio, you must select one of the predefined settings collections. Every predefined collection is designed to match a particular development style and determines window layouts, editor behavior, IntelliSense code snippets, and dialog box options. The procedures in this lab describe the actions necessary to accomplish a given task in Visual Studio when using the General Development Settings collection. If you choose a different settings collection for your development environment, there may be differences in these procedures that you need to take into account.

Exercise 1: Manipulating the SQL Azure firewall via Cmdlets

The new firewall feature will deny all connections by default, thereby addressing a major security concern of storing data in the cloud. The new firewall features allows you to specify an allow list of IP addresses that can access your SQL Azure Server. New connections can be added interactively via the Windows Azure Management portal, and in an automated fashion using PowerShell scripts, which are based upon the SQL Azure Management REST API.

In this exercise, you will learn how to use the PowerShell Cmdlets to retrieve, create and delete firewall rules for your SQL Azure database.

Note: This exercise requires you to have a SQL Azure database. If you do not have one, please refer to the Introduction to SQL Azure lab to set one up.

To learn more about SQL Azure Firewall refer to the MSDN article:

SQL Azure Firewall:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee621782.aspx

How to: Configure the SQL Azure Firewall:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee621783.aspx

Task 1 – Creating Firewall Rules Via the SQL Azure Portal

SQL Azure allows users to add firewall rules via the SQL Azure portal. In this task, you add some sample firewall rules.

1. Go to the website https://windows.azure.com.

2. Sign in with your Windows Live account.

Figure 1Signing into the Azure Services Portal

3. In the Windows Azure Management portal UI, select the Database option

4. Locate the subscription list from the left pane, expand your subscription and select the SQL Azure Server you wish to work with.

Figure 2SQL Azure portal showing your SQL Azure Server

5. Press the Firewall Rules button.

Figure 3SQL Azure portal showing your list of subscriptions

6. Click Add.

Figure 4Adding an exception to the firewall

7. In the Add Firewall Rule dialog, set the name of the rule to “Allowed Host 1”, copy your own IP address, which is provided for you in the dialog, into the start and end fields of the IP Range, and then click Submit.

Figure 5Adding an exception to the firewall

Note: You can specify an IP range or just a single IP address by entering the same value in both fields. By specifying your IP address now, it allows you to connect programmatically to this SQL Azure project later in this lab.

8. Repeat step 7 and 8 for the following values.

Name Start IP Address End IP Address

Allowed Range 1 192.168.0.0 192.168.0.255

Allowed Range 2 192.168.1.0 192.168.1.255

Note: These IP addresses are for demonstration purposes only. You will later retrieve these firewall rules programmatically. They have no real effect on your SQL Azure server, as they are private IP addresses.

Your firewall settings should look like the following:

Figure 6Firewall settings

Task 2 – Retrieving Firewall Rules Using Windows Azure Cmdlets

SQL Azure allows you to retrieve firewall rules using Windows Azure PowerShell Cmdlets. The Cmdlets are a set of tools that uses Powershell to access to Windows Azure Services. In this task, you retrieve the firewall rules that you entered via the SQL Azure portal in Task 1.

1. Open a Windows PowerShell command prompt. In the Start menu, open All Programs | Accessories | Windows PowerShell, and then select Windows PowerShell.

2. In order to obtain the Firewall Rules, you need to add support for the Azure services Management Cmdlets in the Powershell console. To do this, enter the following command.

PowerShell Console

Add-PSSnapin WAPPSCmdlets

3. Now you will get the current Firewall Rules your SQL Azure Server has. To do this, in the PowerShell console, enter the following command. Remember to update the placeholders with your account information.

PowerShell Console

Get-SqlAzureFirewallRules [YOUR-SERVER-NAME] -SubscriptionId [YOUR-SUBSCRIPTION-ID] -Certificate (Get-Item cert:\\LocalMachine\My\[YOUR-CERTIFICATE-THUMBPRINT]) | Format-Table

Note: With the Get-SqlAzurefirewallRules command, you can list all the current Firewall Rules a specific SQL Azure Server has. These are the parameters we used:

Server Name: This is the SQL Azure Server name (without the trailing database.windows.net).

Subscription Id: This is your Windows Azure subscription id.

Certificate Thumbprint: This is the thumbprint of the Management Certificate uploaded to Windows Azure.

For more information about this Cmdlet you can run this line in the PowerShell Console:

Get-Help Get-SqlAzureFirewallRules –full

4. Press Enter to run the command. In the PowerShell window, you will see the following table showing the Firewall Rules you created in the previous task.

Figure 7Obtaining Firewall Rules

Note: These are the same firewall rules that you specified for this SQL Azure server via the SQL Azure portal.

Task 3 – Adding Firewall Rules Using Windows Azure Cmdlets

Previously, you defined several firewall rules via the SQL Azure portal. In this task, you create an additional firewall rule using the Windows Azure Cmdlets.

1. If not already opened, open a Windows PowerShell command prompt. In the Start menu, open All Programs | Accessories | Windows PowerShell, and then select Windows PowerShell. Run the following command to add support for the Azure Services Management Cmdlets.

PowerShell Console

Add-PSSnapin WAPPSCmdlets

2. Create a new Firewall Rule in your SQL Azure Server for the IP address range “10.0.0.0” to “10.0.0.255”. To do this, in the PowerShell console, enter the following command. Remember to update the placeholders with your account information.

PowerShell Console

New-SqlAzureFirewallRule -ServerName [YOUR-SERVERNAME] -RuleName “IP Example 1” –StartIpAddress “10.0.0.0” -EndIpAddress “10.0.0.255” -SubscriptionId [YOUR-SUBSCRIPTION-ID] -Certificate (Get-Item cert:\\LocalMachine\My\[YOUR-CERT-THUMBPRINT]) | Format-Table

Note: With the New-SqlAzureFirewallRule command, you can create Firewall Rules without using the Management Portal. These are the parameters we used:

Server Name: This is the SQL Azure Server name (without the trailing database.windows.net).

Subscription Id: This is your Windows Azure subscription id.

Certificate Thumbprint: This is the thumbprint of the Management Certificate uploaded to Windows Azure.

Rule Name: Specify the name of the rule you are about to create.

Start IP Address/End IP Address: Specify the IP Range you want to give access to your SQL Azure Server.

For more information about this Cmdlet you can run this line in the PowerShell Console:

Get-Help New- SqlAzureFirewallRule –full

3. Press Enter to run the command. In the PowerShell window, you will see the following message showing that the new rule has been created.

Figure 8

Creating Firewall Rules

4. Repeat the Task 2 - Retrieving Firewall Rules using Windows Azure Cmdlets in order to verify that the new firewall rule was created and it is shown in the table.

Figure 9Retrieving Firewall Rules

5. You can also confirm that the firewall rule has been added successfully via the SQL Azure portal. If the rule is not displayed, just refresh the page.

Figure 10SQL Azure portal UI showing the updated firewall settings

Task 4 – Deleting Firewall Rules Using Cmdlets

SQL Azure server firewall rules can be deleted via the SQL Azure Portal. In this task, you are going to look at how to do this using the Cmdlets.

1. If not already opened, open a Windows PowerShell command prompt. In the Start menu, open All Programs | Accessories | Windows PowerShell, and then select Windows PowerShell. Run the following command to add support for the Azure services Management Cmdlets.

PowerShell Console

Add-PSSnapin WAPPSCmdlets

2. Delete an existing firewall rule in your SQL Azure Server. To do this, in the PowerShell console, enter the following command. Remember to update the placeholders with your account information.

PowerShell Console

Remove-SqlAzureFirewallRule -ServerName [YOUR-SERVERNAME] -RuleName “IP Example 1” -SubscriptionId [YOUR-SUBSCRIPTION-ID] -Certificate (Get-Item cert:\\LocalMachine\My\[YOUR-CERT-THUMBPRINT]) | Format-Table

Note: With the Remove-SqlAzureFirewallRule command, you can create Firewall Rules without using the Management Portal. These are the parameters we used:

Server Name: This is the SQL Azure Server name (without the trailing database.windows.net).

Subscription Id: This is your Windows Azure subscription id.

Certificate Thumbprint: This is the thumbprint of the Management Certificate uploaded to Windows Azure.

Rule Name: Specify the name of the rule you want to remove.

For more information about this Cmdlet you can run this line in the PowerShell Console:

Get-Help Remove - SqlAzureFirewallRule –full

3. Press Enter to run the command. In the PowerShell window, you will see the following message showing that the rule has been removed.

Figure 11Deleting Firewall Rules

4. Repeat the Task 2 - Retrieving Firewall Rules using Windows Azure Cmdlets, in order to verify that the “IP Example 1” rule you created in the previous task is no longer in the list of Firewall Rules.

Figure 12Retrieving Firewall Rules

5. You can also confirm that the firewall rule was deleted correctly via the SQL Azure portal. If the rule is displayed, just refresh the page.

Figure 13SQL Azure Portal showing that the IP Example 1 rule was deleted

Exercise 2: Managing Connections – Logging SessionIds

Much like on-premises SQL Servers, SQL Azure supports the function CONTEXT_INFO() as well. It contains the session ID value assigned when a connection to SQL Azure is established. Session IDs are critical to debugging errors, especially when dealing with Microsoft support. Therefore, developers should get in the habit of logging them.

In a scenario where a front-end website is hosted in Windows Azure, developers can very easily leverage Windows Azure Diagnostics to log messages and raise alerts.

In this exercise, you will walk through the simple steps required to retrieve a session ID programmatically.

Note: To learn more about context information in SQL Server and Windows Azure Diagnostics, refer to the following MSDN articles and their related links:

Using Session Context Information:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189252.aspx

CONTEXT_INFO (Transact-SQL):

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms180125.aspx

Windows Azure Diagnostics:

Collecting Logging Data by Using Windows Azure Diagnostics

Task 1 – Implementing a SessionId Class

When a client application connects to SQL Azure, a CONTEXT_INFO (Transact-SQL) is set with a unique session specific GUID value automatically. In this task, you implement a class that will create a SQL connection to the master database in SQL Azure and then retrieve the session ID for this connection.

1. Open Visual Studio from Start | All Programs | Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.

2. In the File menu, choose Open and then Project/Solution. In the Open Project dialog, browse to Ex2-LoggingConnectionSessionId\begin in the Source folder of this lab, select ConnectionLoggingSessionId.sln in the folder for the language of your preference (Visual C# or Visual Basic) and click Open.

3. In Visual Studio, open Solution Explorer from View | Solution Explorer.

Figure 14Solution Explorer showing the ConnectionLogginSessionId project on C#

Figure 15Solution Explorer showing the ConnectionLogginSessionId project on VB

Note: ConnectionLoggingSessionId is a standard console application.

4. Add a new class to the project. To do this, right-click ConnectionLoggingSessionId in Solution Explorer, point to Add and then select Class. In the Add New Item dialog, set the name to SessionId.cs (for Visual C# projects) or SessionId.vb (for Visual Basic projects) and then click Add.

5. In the SessionId.cs file (for Visual C# projects) or SessionId.vb file (for Visual Basic projects), insert the following namespace directive at the top of the file.

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex2 Namespace directives – C#)

C#

using System.Data.SqlClient;

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex2 Namespace directives – VB)

Visual Basic

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

6. Replace the SessionId class with the following (highlighted) code snippet.

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex2 SessionId class – C#)

C#

namespace SqlAzureTipsAndTricks.ConnectionLoggingSessionId{ /// <summary> /// A simple class that is used to illustrate how session IDs can be stored and later retrieved /// in SQL Azure. /// </summary> class SessionId { // Domain base address of the SQL Azure service endpoint private const string DomainBaseAddress = "database.windows.net";

// Server to which a connection is established. private string _server;

// Login that has access to the master database on the server private string _login;

// Password for server login private string _password;

/// <summary> /// Creates a new instance of the class for the provided server and credentials. /// </summary> public SessionId(string server, string login, string password) { this._server = server; this._login = login; this._password = password; } }}

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex2 SessionId class – VB)

Visual Basic

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

''' <summary>''' A simple class that is used to illustrate how session ids can be stored and later retrieved in SQL Azure.

''' </summary>Public Class SessionId

''' <summary>Domain base address of the SQL Azure service endpoint.</summary> Private Const DomainBaseAddress As String = "database.windows.net"

''' <summary>Login that has access to the master database on the server.</summary> Private _login As String

''' <summary>Password for server login.</summary> Private _password As String

''' <summary>Creates a new instance of the class for the provided server and credentials.</summary> Private _server As String

''' <summary> ''' Creates a new instance of the class for the provided server and credentials. ''' </summary> Public Sub New(ByVal server As String, ByVal login As String, ByVal password As String) Me._server = server Me._login = login Me._password = password End Sub

End Class

Note: Here, you define a class named SessionId with class member variables that are later used to build a connection string to SQL Azure. You also define a simple constructor that takes the SQL Azure server name, login and password for the server.

7. Insert the following method immediately after the SessionId class constructor:

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex2 CreateSqlConnectionToMaster method – C#)

C#

class SessionId{ ... /// <summary> /// Establishes a SQL connection to the master database and retrieves a session ID for the connection.

/// </summary> public SqlConnection CreateSqlConnectionToMaster(out Guid sessionId) { sessionId = Guid.Empty;

SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder(); builder.DataSource = string.Format("tcp:{0}.{1},1433", this._server, SessionId.DomainBaseAddress); builder.InitialCatalog = "master"; builder.UserID = this._login; builder.Password = this._password; builder.Pooling = true;

SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(builder.ToString()); conn.Open();

using (SqlCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand()) { cmd.CommandText = "SELECT CONVERT(NVARCHAR(36), CONTEXT_INFO())"; string contextInfo = (string)cmd.ExecuteScalar(); sessionId = new Guid(contextInfo); }

return conn; }}

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex2 CreateSqlConnectionToMaster method – VB)

Visual Basic

Public Class SessionId ... ''' <summary> ''' Establishes a SQL connection to the master database and retrieves a session ID for the connection. ''' </summary> Public Function CreateSqlConnectionToMaster(ByRef sessionId As Guid) As SqlConnection sessionId = Guid.Empty

Dim builder As New SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder.DataSource = String.Format("tcp:{0}.{1},1433", Me._server, DomainBaseAddress) builder.InitialCatalog = "master" builder.UserID = Me._login builder.Password = Me._password builder.Pooling = True

Dim conn As New SqlConnection(builder.ToString()) conn.Open()

Using cmd As SqlCommand = conn.CreateCommand() cmd.CommandText = "SELECT CONVERT(NVARCHAR(36), CONTEXT_INFO())" Dim contextInfo As String = CStr(cmd.ExecuteScalar()) sessionId = New Guid(contextInfo) End Using

Return conn End Function

End Class

Note: Here you define a method named CreateSqlConnectionToMaster that constructs a SQL connection string with the correct DataSource, InitialCatalog, UserID, Password and Pooling values set.

Note that just like a default SQL Server on-premises deployment, SQL Azure server runs on TCP port 1433.

Next, the method establishes a connection to the SQL Azure server with this connection string, executes the T-SQL script to retrieve a CONTEXT_INFO() and then returns it as a session ID via an output parameter on the method.

Task 2 – Printing the Session ID to the Console

In your applications that use a SQL Azure server backend, you should record session IDs with your application specific logging mechanism; for instance, in the Windows Azure scenario, you can use the System.Diagnostics tracing features to log a session ID. This is important when raising a support call with the Microsoft SQL Azure support team.

In this task, you simply output the session ID to the console for demonstration purposes.

1. In Solution Explorer, double-click Program.cs (for C# projects) or Module1.vb (for Visual Basic projects) to open this file.

2. Insert the following (highlighted) code snippet inside the body of method Main and replace the value of the variables serverName, username, and password values with your own SQL Azure server settings.

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex2 Main method– C#)

C#

class Program

{ static void Main(string[] args) { var serverName = "REPLACE_WITH_SERVERNAME"; var userName = "REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME"; var password = "REPLACE_WITH_PASSWORD"; var sessionId = new SessionId(serverName, userName, password);

Guid sqlSessionId; sessionId.CreateSqlConnectionToMaster(out sqlSessionId); Console.WriteLine("SQL Server connection session ID: {0}", sqlSessionId);

Console.ReadKey(true); }}

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex2 Main method – VB)

Visual Basic

Sub Main()

Dim serverName As String = "REPLACE_WITH_SERVERNAME" Dim userName As String = "REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME" Dim password As String = "REPLACE_WITH_PASSWORD" Dim sessionId = New SessionId(serverName, userName, password)

Dim sqlSessionId As Guid sessionId.CreateSqlConnectionToMaster(sqlSessionId) Console.WriteLine("SQL Server connection session ID: {0}", sqlSessionId)

Console.ReadKey(True)

End Sub

Note: Here, you initialize the variables serverName (without the trailing database.windows.net), username and password of your SQL Azure Server administrator account and then create a session ID instance based on these values. Please remember to replace these values with your own SQL Azure server settings.

Next, you use the CreateSqlConnectionToMaster method defined in the previous task to establish a connection to the SQL Azure server and return a session ID.

Finally, you write this session ID to the console.

3. From Visual Studio, select Debug | Start Debugging, or just press F5 on your keyboard to start debugging. You should see a GUID value written to the console.

Figure 16Program output showing the current session ID

Exercise 3: Supportability – Usage Metrics

For the commercial offering of Windows Azure, the following simple consumption-based pricing model applies:

There are two basic editions of SQL Azure databases: Web Edition with a 1 GB data cap is offered at USD $9.99 per month; Business Edition with a 10 GB data cap is offered at USD $99.99 per month.

Bandwidth across Windows Azure, SQL Azure and .NET Services will be charged at $0.15 / GB for egress data if you are from North America or Europe regions. In case you are from Asia Pacific Region, the Bandwidth for egress data will be charged at $0.20 / GB. The ingress data is now free.

Note: For more information on the Microsoft Windows Azure cloud computing pricing model refer to:

Windows Azure Pricing:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/pricing/

Accounts and Billing in SQL Azure:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee621788.aspx

In this exercise, you explore mechanisms for programmatically calculating bandwidth and database costs.

Task 1 – Establishing a Connection to SQL Azure

In this task, you implement a class named Metrics and create a SQL connection to a SQL Azure database.

1. Open Visual Studio from Start | All Programs | Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.

2. In the File menu, choose Open and then Project/Solution. In the Open Project dialog, browse to Ex3-Metrics\begin in the Source folder of this lab, select Metrics.sln in the folder for the language of your preference (Visual C# or Visual Basic) and click Open.

3. In Visual Studio, open Solution Explorer from View | Solution Explorer.

Figure 17Solution Explorer showing the Metrics project (C#)

Figure 18Solution Explorer showing the Metrics project (VB)

Note: Metrics is a standard console application.

4. Add a new class to the project. To do this, right-click Metrics in Solution Explorer, point to Add and then select Class. In the Add New Item dialog, set the name to Metrics.cs (for Visual C# projects) or Metrics.vb (for Visual Basic projects) and then click Add.

5. In the Metrics.cs file (for Visual C# projects) or Metrics.vb file (for Visual Basic projects), insert the following namespace directive at the top of the file.

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 Namespace directives – C#)

C#

using System.Data;using System.Data.SqlClient;

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 Namespace directives – VB)

Visual Basic

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

6. Replace the Metrics class with the following (highlighted) code snippet.

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 Metrics class – C#)

C#

namespace SqlAzureTipsAndTricks.Metrics{ /// <summary> /// Simple class that provides methods to interact with metrics data in SQL Azure. /// </summary> public class Metrics { /// <summary>Cost per GB of Peak Egress traffic in dollars.</summary> public const decimal EgressCost = 0.15M;

/// <summary>Monthly cost of Business SKU.</summary> public const decimal BusinessSkuCost = 99.99M;

/// <summary>Monthly cost of Web SKU.</summary> public const decimal WebSkuCost = 9.99M;

// Server that is being manipulated private string _server;

// Login that has access to the master database on the server private string _login;

// Password for server login private string _password;

// Connection string that is used to connect to master database on server private string _masterConnectionString; }}

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 Metrics class – VB)

Visual Basic

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

''' <summary>''' Simple class that provides methods to interact with metrics data in SQL Azure.''' </summary>

Public Class Metrics

''' <summary>Cost per GB of Peak Egress traffic in dollars.</summary> Public Const EgressCost As Decimal = 0.15D

''' <summary>Monthly cost of Business SKU.</summary> Public Const BusinessSkuCost As Decimal = 99.99D

''' <summary>Monthly cost of Web SKU.</summary> Public Shared ReadOnly WebSkuCost As Decimal = 9.99D

' Server that is being manipulated Private _server As String

' Login that has access to the master database on the server. Private _login As String

' Password for server login. Private _password As String

' Connection string that is used to connect to master database on server. Private _masterConnectionString As String

End Class

Note: Here, you define a few parameters that represent pricings for SQL Azure.

EgressCost is the outgoing bandwidth cost per GB in US dollars.

BusinessSkuCost is the cost for the SQL Azure Business SKU per month in US dollars.

WebSkuCost is the cost for the SQL Azure Web SKU per month in US dollars.

_server, _login, _password are connection settings that you will use to establish a connection to SQL Azure.

Note that the cost of data transfers for certain regions differs and you may need to adjust some of these parameters accordingly.

7. Insert the following constructor immediately after the _masterConnectionString variable definition.

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 Metrics constructor – C#)

C#

public class Metrics{

... /// <summary> /// Creates a new instance of the metrics class for the provided server and credentials. /// </summary> public Metrics(string server, string login, string password) { this._server = server; this._login = login; this._password = password;

SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder(); builder.DataSource = string.Format("tcp:{0}.database.windows.net,1433", this._server); builder.InitialCatalog = "master"; builder.UserID = this._login; builder.Password = this._password; builder.Pooling = true; this._masterConnectionString = builder.ToString(); }}

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 Metrics constructor – VB)

Visual Basic

Public Class Metrics ... ''' <summary> ''' Creates a new instance of the metrics class for the provided server and credentials. ''' </summary> Public Sub New(ByVal server As String, ByVal login As String, ByVal password As String) Me._server = server Me._login = login Me._password = password

Dim builder As New SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder.DataSource = String.Format("tcp:{0}.database.windows.net,1433", Me._server) builder.InitialCatalog = "master" builder.UserID = Me._login builder.Password = Me._password builder.Pooling = True Me._masterConnectionString = builder.ToString() End Sub

End Class

Note: Here you define a class constructor that takes the server name, login and password for the SQL Azure server as parameters. Within the constructor, you build a connection string connecting to the master database in the given SQL Azure server.

Task 2 – Calculating SQL Azure Bandwidth Costs

SQL Azure server bandwidth usage is monetized against each database that resides in the SQL Azure server, from the minute that the database is provisioned until the database is dropped. Bandwidth usage metrics are logged to a system database table called “sys.bandwidth_usage” in the master database. This table includes the following column schema:

Column name Details

time The time stamp when the bandwidth usage took place.

database_name The name of the database the bandwidth is used on

direction Only takes two values; Ingress or Egress meaning incoming or outgoing traffic

class Only takes two values; External or Internal; meaning external or internal traffic.

quantity The amount of bandwidth used in KB.

In this task, you calculate the bandwidth usage cost programmatically for the designated SQL Azure server during the current month.

1. Directly under the code you inserted in the last step, insert the following (highlighted) code snippet.

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 GetBandwidthCost method – C#)

C#

public class Metrics{ ... /// <summary> /// Computes the accumulated cost of bandwidth for the current month. /// </summary> public decimal GetBandwidthCost() { decimal cost = 0;

using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(this._masterConnectionString))

using (SqlCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand()) { // Only external traffic is billed conn.Open(); cmd.CommandText = "SELECT direction, sum(quantity) / (1024 * 1024) AS quantity " + "FROM sys.bandwidth_usage " + "WHERE time >= @monthStart AND class = 'External' " + "GROUP BY direction";

DateTime monthStartDate = new DateTime(DateTime.UtcNow.Year, DateTime.UtcNow.Month, 1); cmd.Parameters.Add("@monthStart", SqlDbType.DateTime).Value = monthStartDate;

using (SqlDataReader reader = cmd.ExecuteReader()) { while (reader.Read()) { if ((string)reader["direction"] == "Egress") { cost += (decimal)reader["quantity"] * EgressCost; } } } }

return cost; }}

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 GetBandwidthCost method – VB)

Visual Basic

Public Class Metrics ... ''' <summary> ''' Computes the accumulated cost of bandwidth for the current month. ''' </summary> Public Function GetBandwidthCost() As Decimal

Dim cost As Decimal = 0

Using conn As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection(Me._masterConnectionString) Using cmd As SqlCommand = conn.CreateCommand() ' Only external traffic is billed

conn.Open() cmd.CommandText = "SELECT direction, sum(quantity) / (1024 * 1024) AS quantity FROM sys.bandwidth_usage WHERE time >= @monthStart AND class = 'External' GROUP BY direction" Dim monthStartDate As New DateTime(DateTime.UtcNow.Year, DateTime.UtcNow.Month, 1) cmd.Parameters.Add("@monthStart", SqlDbType.DateTime).Value = monthStartDate

Using reader As SqlDataReader = cmd.ExecuteReader() Do While reader.Read() If (CStr(reader.Item("direction")) = "Egress") Then cost = (cost + (CDec(reader.Item("quantity")) * EgressCost)) End If Loop End Using End Using End Using

Return cost

End Function

End Class

Note: Here you define a method that calculates the bandwidth costs for a SQL Azure server. Because Ingress has no charge, you need to filter only the Egress data to obtain quantity data by Egress only.

First, open a connection to the master database and then execute a SQL command to retrieve the sum of quantity Egressed data in GB. Since you are only interested in the current month’s data charge, you need to filter the result set by passing a DateTime parameter representing the start of the current month.

Lastly, you apply the charge rate to Egress data retrieved, aggregate these costs and return the total.

2. Open the Program.cs file (for C# projects) or the Module1.vb file (for Visual Basic projects) by double clicking the file in Solution Explorer.

3. Replace the body of method Main with the following code snippet. Remember to replace the value of the serverName, logon and password variables with your SQL Azure account details.

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 Main method – C#)

C#

class Program{ static void Main(string[] args) { var serverName = "REPLACE_WITH_SERVERNAME"; var userName = "REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME"; var password = "REPLACE_WITH_PASSWORD";

var metrics = new Metrics(serverName, userName, password);

Console.WriteLine("Total bandwidth cost USD$: {0:c4}", metrics.GetBandwidthCost());

Console.ReadKey(true); }}

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 Main method – VB)

Visual Basic

Module Module1

Sub Main()

Dim serverName As String = "REPLACE_WITH_SERVERNAME" Dim userName As String = "REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME" Dim password As String = "REPLACE_WITH_PASSWORD"

Dim metrics As New Metrics(serverName, userName, password)

Console.WriteLine("Total bandwidth cost USD$: {0:c4}", metrics.GetBandwidthCost)

Console.ReadKey(True)

End Sub

End Module

Note: Here, you declare and initialize variables for SQL Azure server name (without the trailing database.windows.net), login and password of your SQL Azure Server administrator account and then create an instance of the Metrics object with this information. Remember to replace the value of these variables with your SQL Azure account details. Next, you invoke the GetBandwitdthCost method on the Metrics instance defined earlier in this task.

4. To start debugging, select Debug | Start Debugging, or alternatively, just press F5 on your keyboard.

5. You should see a console window open with the following output:

Figure 19Program output showing the total bandwidth cost in USD$

Note: The program outputs the cost in USD$ on the designated SQL Azure server.

Task 3 – Calculating SQL Azure Database Costs

The SQL Azure server database charges on a database per month model. The table that holds database usage data is “sys.database_usage” in the master database. This table keeps track of how many databases there are for each SKU and when this number was changed.

Every time a new database is provisioned or an existing database is deleted, an entry is created in this table. The table includes the following column schema:

Column name Details

Time The date on which an existing database was deleted or new database is provisioned.

SKU Business or Web

Quantity The maximum number of databases of an SKU type that existed during that day

In this task, you calculate the database costs for SQL Azure server programmatically.

1. Double-click Metrics.cs (for C# projects) or Metrics.vb (for Visual Basic projects) file in Solution Explorer to open this file.

2. Insert the following (highlighted) code snippet immediately after the GetBandwidthCost method.

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 GetDatabaseCost – C#)

C#

public class Metrics{ ... /// <summary> /// Computes the accumulated cost of databases for the current month. /// </summary> public decimal GetDatabaseCost(string sku) { decimal cost = 0;

DateTime startTime = new DateTime(DateTime.UtcNow.Year, DateTime.UtcNow.Month, 1); DateTime cutoffTime = DateTime.UtcNow;

using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(this._masterConnectionString)) { conn.Open(); decimal lastKnownQuantity = 0;

using (SqlCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand()) { // Query for the last known database count on a day that is less than the start date or the first // date when a database was created in the system. This will be used as the value for database count // on all days between the start of the month and the first date for which a database count change // is noticed. cmd.CommandText = "SELECT TOP(1) time, quantity " + "FROM " + "(" + " SELECT TOP(1) time, quantity FROM sys.database_usage WHERE time <= @start_time AND sku = @sku ORDER BY time DESC " + " UNION ALL " + " SELECT TOP(1) time, quantity FROM sys.database_usage WHERE time >= @start_time AND sku = @sku ORDER BY time ASC " + ")T " + "ORDER BY T.time ASC ";

cmd.Parameters.Add("@start_time", SqlDbType.DateTime).Value = startTime; cmd.Parameters.Add("@sku", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 50).Value = sku;

using (SqlDataReader reader = cmd.ExecuteReader()) { while (reader.Read())

{ lastKnownQuantity = (decimal)reader["quantity"]; DateTime lowDate = (DateTime)reader["time"]; if (lowDate > startTime) { startTime = lowDate; } } } } }

return cost; }}

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 GetDatabaseCost – VB)

Visual Basic

Public Class Metrics ... ''' <summary> ''' Computes the accumulated cost of databases for the current month. ''' </summary> Public Function GetDatabaseCost(ByVal sku As String) As Decimal Dim cost As Decimal = 0

Dim startTime As New DateTime(DateTime.UtcNow.Year, DateTime.UtcNow.Month, 1) Dim cutoffTime As DateTime = DateTime.UtcNow

Using conn As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection(Me._masterConnectionString) conn.Open() Dim lastKnownQuantity As Decimal = 0

Using cmd As SqlCommand = conn.CreateCommand()

' Query for the last known database count on a day that is less than the start date or the first ' date when a database was created in the system. This will be used as the value for database count ' on all days between the start of the month and the first date for which a database count change ' is noticed. cmd.CommandText = "SELECT TOP(1) time, quantity FROM ( SELECT TOP(1) time, quantity FROM sys.database_usage WHERE time <= @start_time AND sku = @sku ORDER BY time DESC UNION ALL SELECT TOP(1) time,

quantity FROM sys.database_usage WHERE time >= @start_time AND sku = @sku ORDER BY time ASC )T ORDER BY T.time ASC" cmd.Parameters.Add("@start_time", SqlDbType.DateTime).Value = startTime cmd.Parameters.Add("@sku", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 50).Value = sku

Using reader As SqlDataReader = cmd.ExecuteReader() Do While reader.Read() lastKnownQuantity = CDec(reader.Item("quantity")) Dim lowDate As DateTime = CDate(reader.Item("time")) If (lowDate > startTime) Then startTime = lowDate End If Loop End Using End Using End Using

Return cost End Function

End Class

Note: Here, you define a method that takes a SKU as a parameter and then calculates the database cost for the current month for the given SKU.

To do this, it creates a query for the last known database count on a day that is less than the start date or the first date when a database was created in SQL Azure server. This will be used as the value for database count on all days between the start of the month and the first date for which a database count change is noticed.

3. Next, insert the following (highlighted) code snippet inside the body of the GetDatabaseCost method. Place the code directly under:

a. C#: closing bracket of the using statement using (SqlCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand())

b. VB: the ‘End Using’ line, at the end of the statement Using cmd As SqlCommand = conn.CreateCommand

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 GetBandwidthCost 2– C#)

C#

public class Metrics{

... public decimal GetDatabaseCost(string sku) { ... using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(this._masterConnectionString)) { conn.Open(); decimal lastKnownQuantity = 0;

using (SqlCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand()) { ... }

if (lastKnownQuantity == 0) { // There is no work to be done return 0; }

// Query for database usage on each day to compute cost DateTime currentDate = startTime; while (currentDate <= cutoffTime) { using (SqlCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand()) { cmd.CommandText = "SELECT quantity " + "FROM sys.database_usage " + "WHERE time = @time AND sku = @sku";

cmd.Parameters.Add("@time", SqlDbType.DateTime).Value = currentDate; cmd.Parameters.Add("@sku", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 50).Value = sku;

decimal costForDay = 0; object quantity = cmd.ExecuteScalar(); if (quantity != null) { costForDay = lastKnownQuantity = (decimal)quantity; } else { costForDay = lastKnownQuantity; }

costForDay = costForDay * (sku == "Web" ? WebSkuCost :

BusinessSkuCost) / DateTime.DaysInMonth(currentDate.Year, currentDate.Month);

Console.WriteLine(" {0:yyyy-MM-dd} - {1:c4}", currentDate, costForDay); cost += costForDay;

currentDate = currentDate.AddDays(1); } } }

return cost; }}

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 GetBandwidthCost 2– VB)

Visual Basic

Public Class Metrics ... Public Function GetDatabaseCost(ByVal sku As String) As Decimal ... Using conn As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection(Me._masterConnectionString) conn.Open() Dim lastKnownQuantity As Decimal = 0

Using cmd As SqlCommand = conn.CreateCommand() ... End Using

If (lastKnownQuantity = 0) Then ' There is no work to be done Return 0 End If

' Query for database usage on each day to compute cost Dim currentDate As DateTime = startTime Do While (currentDate <= cutoffTime) Using cmd = conn.CreateCommand() cmd.CommandText = "SELECT quantity FROM sys.database_usage WHERE time = @time AND sku = @sku" cmd.Parameters.Add("@time", SqlDbType.DateTime).Value = currentDate cmd.Parameters.Add("@sku", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 50).Value = sku

Dim costForDay As Decimal = 0 Dim quantity As Object = cmd.ExecuteScalar() If (Not quantity Is Nothing) Then lastKnownQuantity = CDec(quantity) costForDay = lastKnownQuantity Else costForDay = lastKnownQuantity End If

costForDay = ((costForDay * IIf((sku = "Web"), WebSkuCost, BusinessSkuCost)) / DateTime.DaysInMonth(currentDate.Year, currentDate.Month))

Console.WriteLine(" {0:yyyy-MM-dd} - {1:c4}", currentDate, costForDay) cost = (cost + costForDay)

currentDate = currentDate.AddDays(1) End Using Loop End Using

Return cost End Function

End Class

Note: From the lastKnownQuantity and the respective date derived from the last code snippet, you iterate through each day forward to today’s date, calculating the charges for each database using the respective SKU rates, and then return the aggregated charges.

4. Open the Program.cs file (for C# projects) or the Module1.vb file (for Visual Basic projects) by double clicking the file in Solution Explorer.

5. Insert the following code snippet inside method Main directly above the line Console.ReadKey.

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 Call GetDatabaseCost – C#)

C#

static void Main(string[] args){ var serverName = "REPLACE_WITH_SERVERNAME"; var userName = "REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME"; var password = "REPLACE_WITH_PASSWORD";

var metrics = new Metrics(serverName, userName, password);

Console.WriteLine("Total bandwidth cost USD$: {0:c4}", metrics.GetBandwidthCost()); Console.WriteLine(); Console.WriteLine("'Web Edition' SKU database daily cost"); Console.WriteLine("'Web Edition' total database cost for current month USD$: {0:c2}", metrics.GetDatabaseCost("Web")); Console.WriteLine(); Console.WriteLine("'Business Edition' SKU database daily cost"); Console.WriteLine("'Business Edition' total database cost for current month USD$: {0:c2}", metrics.GetDatabaseCost("Business"));

Console.ReadKey(true);}

(Code Snippet – SQL Azure Tips and Tricks - Ex3 Call GetDatabaseCost – VB)

Visual Basic

Sub Main()

Dim serverName As String = "REPLACE_WITH_SERVERNAME" Dim userName As String = "REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME" Dim password As String = "REPLACE_WITH_PASSWORD"

Dim metrics As New Metrics(serverName, userName, password)

Console.WriteLine("Total bandwidth cost USD$: {0:c4}", metrics.GetBandwidthCost()) Console.WriteLine() Console.WriteLine("'Web Edition' SKU database daily cost") Console.WriteLine("'Web Edition' total database cost for current month USD$: {0:c2}", metrics.GetDatabaseCost("Web")) Console.WriteLine() Console.WriteLine("'Business Edition' SKU database daily cost") Console.WriteLine("'Business Edition' total database cost for current month USD$: {0:c2}", metrics.GetDatabaseCost("Business"))

Console.ReadKey(True)

End Sub

Note: Here, you declare and initialize variables for SQL Azure server name (without the trailing database.windows.net), login and password of your SQL Azure Server administrator account and then create an instance of the Metrics object with this information. Remember to replace the value of these variables with your SQL Azure account details. Next, you invoke the GetDatabaseCost method on the Metrics instance defined earlier in this task.

6. To start debugging, select Debug | Start Debugging, or alternatively, just press F5 on your keyboard.

7. You should see a console window open with output similar to that shown below:

Figure 20Program output showing daily database costs and monthly aggregate

Note: You should see the cost for each database under each SKU as well as an aggregated cost value as well.

Summary

In this lab you looked at:

How to create, retrieve, and delete firewall rules in SQL Azure using Cmdlets.

How to retrieve the session ID for a SQL Azure connection using programmatically.

How to calculate bandwidth and database costs for SQL Azure programmatically.