Azure and SQL Server: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server - sql-server

Question

Using Azure with SQL Server. In 30% of the cases where the SimpleRoleProvider is implicitly called we get an error: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server. The error occurs frequently but is not reproducible. It looks like a timeout..
[Authorize(Roles = "Administrator")]
public class AdminController : Controller
{
...
}
The stack trace looks like:
[Win32Exception (0x80004005): Access is denied]
[SqlException (0x80131904): A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)]
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action1 wrapCloseInAction) +5296071
System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean callerHasConnectionLock, Boolean asyncClose) +558
System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Connect(ServerInfo serverInfo, SqlInternalConnectionTds connHandler, Boolean ignoreSniOpenTimeout, Int64 timerExpire, Boolean encrypt, Boolean trustServerCert, Boolean integratedSecurity, Boolean withFailover) +5308555
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.AttemptOneLogin(ServerInfo serverInfo, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean ignoreSniOpenTimeout, TimeoutTimer timeout, Boolean withFailover) +145
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.LoginNoFailover(ServerInfo serverInfo, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, SqlCredential credential, TimeoutTimer timeout) +889
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.OpenLoginEnlist(TimeoutTimer timeout, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, SqlCredential credential, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance) +307
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds..ctor(DbConnectionPoolIdentity identity, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, SqlCredential credential, Object providerInfo, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance, SqlConnectionString userConnectionOptions) +434
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.CreateConnection(DbConnectionOptions options, DbConnectionPoolKey poolKey, Object poolGroupProviderInfo, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +225
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreatePooledConnection(DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnectionOptions options, DbConnectionPoolKey poolKey, DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +37
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.CreateObject(DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +558
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.UserCreateRequest(DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +67
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningObject, UInt32 waitForMultipleObjectsTimeout, Boolean allowCreate, Boolean onlyOneCheckConnection, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection) +1052
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningObject, TaskCompletionSource1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection) +78
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, TaskCompletionSource1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection) +167
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.TryOpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory, TaskCompletionSource1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +143
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.TryOpen(TaskCompletionSource`1 retry) +83
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open() +96
System.Web.DataAccess.SqlConnectionHolder.Open(HttpContext context, Boolean revertImpersonate) +88
System.Web.DataAccess.SqlConnectionHelper.GetConnection(String connectionString, Boolean revertImpersonation) +239
System.Web.Security.SqlRoleProvider.GetRolesForUser(String username) +762
WebMatrix.WebData.SimpleRoleProvider.GetRolesForUser(String username) +54
System.Web.Security.RolePrincipal.IsInRole(String role) +9461104
We don't have this problem on our own server. Is this a configuration issue? We are using the free trail version of Azure yet.
--- ADDITION ---
The bad thing is that the MVC-framework "handles" the request, in the example given (Role
Management). The use of the framework is to add an abstraction layer to handle "domain request" conveniently. So what to do in this case?
Thanks in advance for any help!

Answer 1

I assume by Azure and SQL Server you mean the SAAS Azure SQL Database (the names change faster than I can keep track), not the IAAS SQL Server on Windows Azure. First thing ou need to determine wether your application is being throttled, see Connection Constraints and give this article a good, thorrough read: Causes of Connection Termination. If your application is being throttled then you need to revisit your design and address the specific reason why you're being throttled.

Answer 2

It's expected on SQL Azure. It should happen on about 0.5% of the time, not 30%.
Here's a previous question that addressed this topic
Connection failures in SQL Azure are common. This is because your
application will create a connection pool but while your side thinks
these connections are over, Azure could terminate them at their end
and you will never know about it.
You should implement a retry logic on your code in case one of these timeouts occur. Microsoft already has a library for this: the Transient Fault Handling Application Block