Free SQL Server in Azure

Question

I'm creating a MVC 5 web application with EF 6 Code first. Now it creates a database in the App_Data folder. I want to publish the website to an Azure website. Because this is only the test version of the website, I don't want to pay for it. It will only visited a couple of times a month until it is in production.

Is it possible to run the database something like an access database file? I thought that some kind of functionality existed. I thought the name was SQL Server Compact Edition? But how does it works?

I also thought that you could create a free 20MB sql server database. See this link of the pricing page. Search for 20 in your browser. http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/web-sites/ I don't see that option.

Any ideas would be welcome!

Answer 1

Solution for free SQL Server in Azure:

Install two nuget: EntityFrame.SqlServerCompact & Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition

Put your SQL database file (.sdf/.mdf) in APP_Data folder

Now put the connection string just like below, to use it:

<add name ="DefaultConnection" connectionString ="Data Source=|DataDirectory|CompactDB.sdf" providerName ="System.Data.SqlServerCe.4.0" />

Now, publish your whole project and include the above SQL database file to AzureWebsites.

This shall start working and it's totally free.