SQL Azure and Full-Text Catalogs, Indexes and Sear

Question

Does SQL Azure supports Full-Text catalogs and indexes?

Answer 1

As of August 2014, Microsoft is offering a Search-as-a-Service named Azure Search:

Azure Search is a search-as-a-service solution that allows developers and cloud architects to embed a sophisticated search experience into web and mobile applications without having to worry about the complexities of full-text search and without having to deploy, maintain, or manage any infrastructure.

With Azure Search, a developer can enable the power of searching data in their application, reduce the complexity around managing and tuning a search index, and get up and running quickly using familiar interfaces and a consistent platform.

See http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/search

Update:

As of April 30, 2015 - Full Text Search is available in Preview for SQL Azure. See http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2015/04/30/full-text-search-is-now-available-for-preview-in-azure-sql-database/

Answer 2

The feature is not in preview anymore and is generally available. More here.

Answer 3

Looks like they recently added the feature:

http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2015/04/30/full-text-search-is-now-available-for-preview-in-azure-sql-database/

Answer 4

SQL Azure Database does not currently (January 2014) support Full Text Search. Many requiring this functionality have opted to use Lucene.NET instead. There's a useful overview of Lucene.NET plus code samples below:

Lucene.NET Overview and Code Samples

EDIT - October 2015:

Full-Text Search is now available in Azure SQL Database (GA)