eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
In its January release of Azure Data Studio, formerly known as SQL Operations Studio, Microsoft has included a wide range of updates and improvements, from Azure Active Directory Authentication support to the inclusion of a Data-Tier Application Wizard.
The new features were announced by Alan Yu, program manager for SQL Server, in a recent post on the Microsoft SQL Server Blog. The January release of the application,a data management tool that enables developers to work with SQL Server, Azure SQL database and SQL Data Warehouse, is now available on GitHub. Azure Data Studio is a cross-platform desktop environment that works with on-premises and cloud data platforms on Windows, MacOS and Linux.
One of the most requested updates from users for Azure Data Studio was Azure Active Directory (AAD) authentication support, which is now included starting with the January release, wrote Yu.
“Thanks to feedback from our user community from testing our insider builds, we have made it easier for you to connect with AAD,” he wrote. “For Azure SQL Database and SQL Data Warehouse users who require AAD, you can now get started with using Azure Data Studio. We challenge you to make a connection with AAD and try our Quickstarts for
Azure SQL Database
and
Azure SQL Data Warehouse.
If there are feature gaps, you can file an issue on our
Issues page.”
The feature release was made possible when dependencies in .NET Core were available. That work was accomplished through the user community who prioritized it through Twitter, GitHub, the sqlcommunity Slack channel and at conferences, wrote Yu.
Wizard Support
Also included in the latest release is preview support for the Data-Tier Application Wizard used in SQL Server Management Studio, wrote Yu. The wizard support was among the top 10 most requested features in AAD. These wizards make it easier for users to manage .dacpac and .bacpac files, simplifying the development, deployment and management of data-tier elements that support an application.
The wizard combines the four separate wizards from SSMS into one wizard where users can choose which action they need to take, including the deployment of .dacpac to a SQL Server instance, extracting a SQL Server instance to a .dacpac, creating a database from a .bacpac or exporting schema and data to .bacpac, according to Yu.
IDERA SQL DM Performance Insights, an Azure Data Studio extension that displays key performance metrics for SQL Server, is also included as a preview feature in the January release, wrote Yu. The IDERA feature is a diagnostic manager that provides performance monitoring, alerting and a diagnostics component for SQL Server that notifies administrators about health, performance or availability problems via a desktop console, web console add-on or mobile device. This extension is a free add-in for Azure Data Studio.
“As part of the roadmap for Azure Data Studio, we’re finding ways to empower our partners to build extensions with our extensibility model,” wrote Yu. “To show the progress we’re making on our extensibility, we are excited to announce the new IDERA extension.”
New improvements for the SQL Server 2019 extension, including updates for Azure Data Studio Notebooks and the Create External Data Wizard, are also part of the January updates, wrote Yu. The Notebook view UI has moved into Azure Data Studio core, improving performance when loading and updating a notebook, while the PROSE python package has been updated to Version 1.2.1 and includes bug fixes.