SQL Azure for extremely large databases

Question

In a scenario with a database containing hundreds of millions of rows and reaching sizes of 500GB with maybe ~20 users. Mostly it's data storage for aggregated data to be reported on later.

Would SQL Azure be able to handle this scenario? If so, does it make sense to go that route? Compared to purchasing and housing 2+ high end servers ($15k-$20k each) in a co-location facility + all maintenance and backups.

Answer 1

Did you consider using the Azure Table storage? Azure Tables do not have referential integrity, but if you are simply storing many rows, is that an option for you? You could use SQL Azure for your transactional needs, and use Azure Tables for those tables that do not fit in SQL Azure. Also, Azure Tables will be cheaper.

Answer 2

SQL Azure databases are limited to 50Gb (at the moment)

As described in the General Guidelines and Limitations