OData Service for SQL Azure
Thank you for your interest in the OData Service for SQL Azure previewed on SqlAzureLabs. At this time we are not accepting new registrations for this lab.
Existing registered SQL Azure OData services will continue to be supported through the end of March, 2012. Existing users can continue to configure their SQL Azure OData endpoints by logging in with their previously registered Windows Live ID at https://www.sqlazurelabs.com/ConfigOData.aspx.
We gathered great feedback from this lab and are continuing to evaluate the inclusion of this functionality for SQL Azure. If you have any additional comments or feedback, please let us know at http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlazurelabssupport/threads.
For information on deploying a custom OData Service over your SQL Azure database, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/gg192994.
SQL Azure OData Lab Q&A
Q: How does this impact Microsoft’s commitment to OData?
A: Microsoft’s commitment to the OData Protocol is stronger than ever. OData has a broad and growing ecosystem, providing a web-friendly way to work with data regardless of where and how it’s stored. OData V3 adds many new features to address common requests from the community, and Microsoft recently announced a new CTP that implements new OData V3 features such as Actions, Vocabularies, and support for Spatial Data. The OData Service for SQL Azure was simply an investigation into how we might provide a point and click experience for exposing OData over SQL Azure; one of many possible sources of data. For SQL Azure users there are already alternate solutions using production components to expose a more customized OData Service over your SQL Azure Database, such as described in http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/gg192994.
Q: Why is Microsoft Discontinuing this Lab?
A: The very nature of SqlAzureLabs is that it provides an opportunity to try new ideas, learn from the experience, and then end the lab. Some labs eventually make it into a product in some form or another, but the main goal of the labs is to gather your feedback early in the process of creating a new experience. The OData Service for SQL Azure has been in labs for almost 2 years, and has reached diminishing returns in terms of what we can learn from it. We have gotten feedback that customers would like a point-and-click way to expose OData as part of the SQL Azure offering, and we are prioritizing that feature request with other requested SQL Azure functionality. In the meantime, we are making it easier to build and host a custom OData Service over SQL Azure as described in http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/gg192994.
Q: Will the ability to expose OData eventually become a built-in part of the SQL Azure product offering?
A: We have gotten feedback that customers would like a point-and-click way to expose OData as part of the SQL Azure offering, and the SQL Azure OData Service lab has helped us understand what that might look like. At this point it’s simply a matter of prioritizing that feature request with other requested SQL Azure features. You can vote for your favorite SQL Azure features at this feature voting forum. In the meantime, we are making it easier to build and host a custom OData Service over SQL Azure as described in http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/gg192994.
Q: How can I use OData to expose my SQL Azure data?
A: See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/gg192994 for information on how to host a custom OData Service over your SQL Azure data.
