Azure SQL Database (SQL DB) has increased its max database size from 1TB to 4TB at no additional cost.
Customers using P11 and P15 premium performance levels can use up to 4 TB of included storage at no additional charge. This 4 TB option is currently in public preview in the following regions: US East 2, West US, West Europe, South East Asia, Japan East, Australia East, Canada Central, and Canada East.
When creating a P11/P15, the default storage option of 1TB is pre-selected. For databases located in one of the supported regions, you can increase the storage maximum to 4TB. For all other regions, the storage slider cannot be changed. The price does not change when you select 4 TB of included storage.
For existing P11 and P15 databases located in one of the supported regions, you can increase the maxsize storage to 4 TB. This can be done in the Azure Portal, in PowerShell or with Transact-SQL.
The 4 TB database maxsize cannot be changed to 1 TB even if the actual storage used is below 1 TB.
Also, available now in preview is a new service tier for Azure SQL Database, called Premium RS, which is designed for IO-intensive workloads where a limited durability guarantee and lower SLA is acceptable in exchange for a cheaper cost. Target scenarios for Premium RS are developments using in-memory technology, testing high performance workloads, and production analytic workloads. Premium RS is available for singleton databases and elastic database pools.
More info:
Announcing Azure SQL Database Premium RS, 4TB storage options, and enhanced portal experience
SQL Database options and performance: Understand what’s available in each service tier
