Recently, one of my customers asked me that question: “Based on the updated SQL Azure plans, the maximum database size is now 50GB. What if my DB requires more storage?

The first recommendation could be: try to measure how your DB is growing, and (if possible) try to have there only the most relevant information – SSIS is a great option to download all that historic data to your on-premises servers. Another option is Data Sync. Some good articles on measuring your DB size are:

How to Tell If You Are Out of Room – SQL Azure Team Blog – Site Home – MSDN Blogs

CalculatingTheSizeOfYourSQLAzureDatabase

Well, according to Microsoft 50GB is the maximum size, and if you need more space you will need to partition your data (either horizontally or vertically). Unfortunately, SQL Azure won’t help you much with this, and you will need to make some changes in your app logic to handle this. This should be done in your Data Access Layer, and it will not be an easy process to implement, let me warn you. Following articles could give you some insight on the details and limitations of this process:

SQL Azure Horizontal Partitioning- Part 2 – SQL Azure Team Blog – Site Home – MSDN Blogs

Scaling out with SQL Azure – TechNet Articles – Home – TechNet Wiki