Practical BI on the cloud:

Leveraging reporting for

Data Analytics

Vineet Arora (@VinniArora)

WinWire CTO & Microsoft vTSP

(@WinWire)

What am I am going to talk about and demo (Level 200):

– SQL Azure as the cloud based data platform

– Development and deployment of SQL Azure reporting

– Scenarios for cloud based data analytics

What am I not going to cover today:

– Code level details of creating or using SQL reports

– Advance features of SQL Azure like data setup,

deployment or Federated databases

Session Objectives and Takeaways

Key Takeaway

• How many of you already build SQL

reporting solutions using:

– SSRS in native or SharePoint Integrated mode?

– SQL Azure DB service?

– SQL Azure Reporting?

• How many hours you took to setup your

first SSRS server (and really made it work!)?

To achieve a baseline…

Lets break it down…

• SQL Azure – quick recap

– Demo: SQL Azure Management portal

• Data Analytics in the cloud

– SQL Azure Reporting overview

– Usage scenarios

– SSRS vs. SQL Azure Reporting

– SQL Azure Reporting Limitations

• More demos

– Managing SQL Azure reporting services

– Developing and Deploying SQL Azure reports

SQL Azure – quick recap

6

SQL Server vs. SQL Azure

Symmetry with Traditional RDBMS

Enterprise-class “scale-up” data platform

Multiple hardware platforms and deployment options

Deploy as dedicated server in customer datacenter, VM or 3rd party

Typically licensed per-server or per processor

Distributed “scale-out” database service

Abstracts OS and hardware management

Easy provisioning, multi-tenant

Automatic high-availability and data replication

Pay-as-you-go and commitment offers

Familiar T-SQL relational model

Support existing code libraries and protocols

Ecosystem of familiar development and management tools

7

SQL Azure components

Data Sync Database Reporting

• SQL Azure account portal – Provision logical servers and databases which includes a

lightweight web-based database manager

– Data sync configurations

• SQL Server Management Studio – an integrated environment with graphics tools for accessing and

configuring SQL Server and SQL Azure databases

• MS-Excel and PowerPivot as clients – Connect to SQL Azure like you will connect to any other data

source

• Visual Studio integration – supports building applications with data connections to SQL Azure

SQL Azure Management & Dev Tools

9

DEMO: SQL Azure Management

Data Analytics in the cloud

using SQL Azure Reporting

11

Web Role

SQL Azure Reporting overview

Based on SQL Server

Reporting Services

o Interactive and tabular reporting

o Data visualizations: charts,

graphs, mapping, gauges

Uses SQL Azure Database as

data sources

Utilizes BI Developer Studio to

author reports

Export to Excel, PDF, CSV

formats

Integrated into Windows

Azure Management Portal

Reporting

12

DEMO: SQL Azure Reporting

Management

• Integrated with Windows Azure management

• SSRS server easy to provision

• Provision the service

– Select geo-location

• Manage additional users

– Assigning them to default roles of SSRS

• Browse and manage items

– Reports – upload or publish from Visual Studio

– Data sources definition for cloud data sources

DEMO Summary: SQL Azure

Reporting Management

SQL Azure Reporting Usage

SQL Azure Reporting

SQL Azure

Database

Windows Azure

Application

Operational

Reports

Embedded

Reports

RDL

File

BI

Developer

Studio

Operational reporting

on SQL Azure data

Embed reports into

Windows Azure or on-

premises applications

Scenarios: Data Analytics using SQL Azure

and SQL Azure Reporting

SQL Azure

SSRS / Excel / PowerPivot

/ Custom applications

On-premise BI

apps/tools connecting

to SQL Azure DB

any web

app

Windows

Azure

Service consumer

apps / Browser

Embedded

Reports

Custom

BI App

SQL Azure

Windows Azure

SQL Azure

Reporting

Windows Azure

based custom BI

applications

SQL Azure

Reporting

SQL Azure

D

ata

Syn

c

Operational reports

using SQL Azure

reporting

any web

app

Windows

Azure

SSRS vs. SQL Azure Reporting

Reporting Services SQL Azure Reporting

Development

Tools

- Business Intelligence Design

Studio (BIDS)

- Report Builder

- Business Intelligence Design

Studio (BIDS)

- Report Builder*

Supported data

sources

Diverse data sources SQL Azure databases

Report

Management

Report Manager or

SharePoint

- display reports

- rendering to multiple

formats

- subscriptions

- scheduled delivery

Windows Azure Portal

URL browsing

Developer

Extensibility

Custom data sources,

assemblies, report items,

authentication, etc.

Extensibility is not yet

enabled

Security Model Windows Authentication SQL Azure

Username/password

*Authoring only - deployment to SQL Azure Reporting through BIDS

Development

• Creating reports from Report Builder 1.0, Report Builder 2.0, and

Report Builder 3.0 is not supported.

• No support custom assemblies and custom extensions

• Only SQL Azure as a data source is supported (for now!)

• Reporting Services Configuration manager is not available

• Links to external images is not supported

Features

• SharePoint integrated mode is not supported. Only native mode is

supported.

• No Report Manager! Yes really.

• No support for subscriptions and scheduling functions!

SQL Azure Reporting ’Limitations’

18

SQL Azure sample database

(http://bit.ly/d0apaC)

19

Migration tool – http://sqlazuremw.codeplex.com/

• SQL Azure is a powerful relational database as a

service available on Azure platform

• SQL Azure reporting provides various capabilities

for data-tier applications

– Extend & scale your data analytics solutions

– Ease of management and deployment

– Familiar tools for management and development

• Limitations will go away! – it is just version 1.0

• SQL Azure Reporting Resources:

http://bit.ly/xceWps

Wrap Up

Thank You!

Raffle: Win a XBOX Kinect bundle at our

booth

Vineet Arora (@VinniArora)

WinWire CTO & Microsoft vTSP

(@WinWire)