Manage your SQL Azure database from your browser

Yesterday, I noticed on Twitter that the SQL Azure - Project “Houston” CTP 1 has been released online. For those who do not know Houston, this is a lightweight and easy to use database management tool for SQL Azure databases built in Silverlight. Translation: you can now easily manage your SQL Azure database using any browser. It’s not a replacement for SSMS, but it’s a viable, quick solution into connecting to your cloudy database.

A quick look around

After connecting to your SQL Azure database through http://manage.sqlazurelabs.com, you’ll see a quick overview of your database elements (tables, views, stored procedures) as well as a fancy, three-dimensional cube displaying your database details.

Let’s create a new table… After clicking the “New table” toolbar item on top, a simple table designer pops up:

You can now easily design a table (in a limited fashion), click the “Save” button and go enter some data:

Stored procedures? Those are also supported:

Even running stored procedures:

Conclusion

As you can probably see from the screenshots, project “Houston” is currently quite limited. Basic operations are supported, but for example dropping a table should be done using a custom, hand-crafted query instead of a simple box.

What I would love to see is that the tool gets a bit more of the basic database operations and a Windows Phone 7 port? That would allow me to quickly do some trivial SQL Azure tasks both from my browser as well as from my (future :-)) smartphone.

This is an imported post. It was imported from my old blog using an automated tool and may contain formatting errors and/or broken images.