Azure Adventures

If you are going to be using Azure, make sure your SQL Server instance isn't on a compressed drive. Also, running in Windows Advanced Server is much easier than trying to juggle all these pieces on Vista. If, like me, you already have an instance of SQL Server you need to use the DSINIT tool to get storage initialized before trying to run anything. It's not a big deal just use dsinit /sqlinstance:. from the azure sdk bin directory. One trick is to use the period for an unnamed instance. If, like me, you are running Advanced Server, you need to also run Visual Studio in elevated-mode if you plan to debug at all. And who's kidding, you have to debug right? I've been playing with the SQL Azure CTP as well and I see some good things in store. I'll post some more useful learnings as I port more code into the cloud.