#About service tiers and versions

##Azure SQL Database Benchmark test result references Azure SQL Database Benchmark is a database benchmark designed by Microsoft to facilitate quantitative improvements for translating cloud computing resource allocation into higher database performance. This benchmark includes virtually all basic operations that occur within the OLTP workload. The design of the benchmark is based on cloud computing. However, the database schema and data population and transactions represent a wide range of basic elements commonly used in OLTP workloads.

##Features of Azure SQL Database Benchmark The basic features of Azure SQL Database Benchmark include:

• The database used for Azure SQL Database Benchmark uses six tables. Two of these tables are fixed-size tables, which means the number of rows doesn’t change. Three of these tables are scaling tables, which means the performance achieved by the database is proportional to the number of lines in the tables. The final table is a growing table, the size of which is subject to data insertions and deletions performed while the benchmark is running.

• The schema of the tables is composed of a mixture of data types, including integer, numeral, character, and date/time. It also includes primary and secondary keys. It does not include any foreign keys. For example, there are no referential integrity constraints among the tables.

• The maximum performance is proportional to the size of the database and the concurrent connections. For example, a database with 100 concurrent connections can achieve a maximum transaction rate of 100 transactions per second (TPS). The benchmark application has pacing control to ensure that every connection on average completes no more than a maximum of one TPS. More concurrent connections and a larger database are required to facilitate a higher TPS rate.

• Azure SQL Database Benchmark includes nine different types of transaction. Each transaction type is focused on a specific set of system characteristics in the database engine and system hardware. The different transaction types are focused on different areas. The transactions use four SQL data manipulation language (DML) operations (select, update, insert, and delete) to test the database engine and basic hardware resources such as CPU, memory, I/O, and networks.

For more information on Azure SQL Database Benchmark, see Overview of the Azure SQL Database Benchmark.

##Benchmark test results from Azure SQL Database Benchmark

The following table shows the level of stable performance that can be maintained by each version that uses the Azure SQL Database Benchmark, as well as the corresponding number of concurrent connections. Each test was run for an hour or more under stable conditions.