Azure SQL Database Receives Security and Scaling Updates

Azure SQL Database moves several features from preview to production that will primarily benefit customers who need granular security and better performance and cost management controls. New row-level security (RLS) capabilities are built into the database engine to provide stronger controls over access to sensitive data in shared databases. New high-end performance levels extend the upper range of the service and fill a gap in the middle, which should help customers scale between performance levels more logically. Cost management features, primarily for Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors, allow computing resources to be shared among databases.

For an overview of the service, see “Azure SQL Database Overview“.

Granular Row-Level Security

New RLS features fill an important security feature gap, as compared to competitors, and they will benefit enterprises with sensitive data and customers with multitenant databases. With RLS, organizations can create fine-grained security policies that limit access by users who share the same tables.