SQL Server 2025

In November 2024, we announced the next major release of SQL Server: SQL Server 2025.

SQL Server 2025, now in private preview, includes capabilities to build AI applications including vector and AI model management, on-premises or in the cloud. We continue to invest in security, performance, and availability. Another exciting area of investment in SQL Server 2025 are developer features such as a JSON type, RegEx, Change Event Streaming, and REST API support. Sign-up to work with us for the next release. I look forward in 2025 as we ship a public preview and the general availability of this exciting major release.

Here are a few resources where you can learn more about SQL Server 2025:

• Announcing SQL Server 2025.
• SQL Server 2025: an enterprise AI-ready database platform.
• DBA Virtual User Group presentation on SQL Server 2025.

SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc

Azure Arc could be one of the most underused capabilities associated with SQL Server. The concept is amazingly simple. Instead of running SQL Server in Azure (that would be SQL Server in Azure Virtual Machine), you connect your existing SQL Server to Azure, whether it is running on-premises or another public cloud. Imagine using the Azure Portal to find out answers to questions like “What dbcompat levels are used across all my SQL Server instances?” Azure Arc has many other capabilities to help you manage your SQL Server instances, but a few I think you should look at are Microsoft Entra Authentication, Azure Migration, PAYG licensing, and ESU updates. Learn how to get started with Azure Arc.

Azure SQL

It is incredible to think that Azure SQL Database was launched almost 15 years ago as SQL Azure. Today Azure SQL is a brand that offers you the ability to run SQL Server in a Virtual Machine, a managed SQL instance, or a contained database. Each of these deployment options has continued innovations to accelerate development, deployment, and performance. SQL Server in Azure Virtual Machine continues to be a great option to lift and shift SQL Server, keep up to date with it here, but let’s look further at other Azure SQL options.

Azure SQL Managed Instance

The biggest new capability is Next-generation General Purpose service tier. This new deployment option offers a higher level of resources, better price/performance, more granular control of input/output (I/O) performance, and 500 databases per instance. I look forward in the future to seeing this become generally available. Keep up to date with all the latest announcements.

Azure SQL Database

We announced so many great new capabilities throughout 2024 including but not limited to:

• Hyperscale Serverless and Elastic Pools.
• Hyperscale performance and availability enhancements.
• New developer features like a JSON data type (which is also available in all flavors of SQL).

It might be time for you to rethink Hyperscale. With its new pricing model, Serverless and replica capabilities, this can be a great option to start a new database deployment and have it autoscale per your needs. And do not forget to try out Azure SQL Database for free (not a trial). Keep up to date with all the latest announcements.

SQL database in Fabric

Microsoft Fabric is a unified data platform. Up until now, most of the capabilities in Fabric were more centered around analytics. Now there is an operational database built within the Fabric, and it uses SQL Server!

SQL database in Fabric brings the power of Azure SQL Database deeply integrated into the Fabric ecosystem. Using the same database engine as SQL Server and Azure SQL, SQL database in Fabric is both familiar and innovative. Deploy a database in seconds, build a new AI application easily within the Fabric platform with CI/CD and GraphQL built-in. And all are integrated within the Fabric user experience and platform.

• Check out our Ignite presentation.
• Watch the Data Exposed series.
• We have excellent documentation to get you started. I especially like this SQL feature comparison and decision guides for SQL and Fabric data stores.
• Learn more in our Microsoft Mechanics video.

There is much more coming in this calendar year for SQL database in Fabric. Give it a spin today with a free Fabric trial capacity.

Tools and Copilots

We made big investments in 2024 in our tools and will continue to do more in this calendar year, but the most significant announcements were the revival of SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and new AI-assisted experiences.

SQL Server Management Studio

We accelerated the future investment of SSMS with enhancements to the latest release, SSMS 20. Proving that SSMS is back, we also announced a significant new preview release SSMS 21 which includes:

• A new shell based on the latest Visual Studio.
• New installer and update experience.
• Dark theme.
• 64bit support.
• Git support.

There is more to come in 2025 as we iterate on the current preview. Try out the new SSMS. In addition, we have a preview for a Copilot in SSMS.

AI-assistance in Azure SQL and SQL database in Fabric

We introduced an AI-assisted experience in the framework of Microsoft Copilot in Azure. Using your database context in the Azure Portal, you can type in prompts like, “my database is slow” and get fast and guided advice on performance troubleshooting scenarios. Try this out yourself. SQL Database in Fabric offers AI-assisted capabilities in the Query Editor and as a sidecar chat experience.

We believe AI-assisted capabilities can help both developers and administrators for SQL ground to cloud to fabric so we will continue to invest and innovate everywhere SQL exists in the future.

AI applications

The future of data-driven applications is to use AI. We believe the future is now, so we want to invest in capabilities inside the database engine to power your new AI applications, whether you are building retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) applications, chat-based applications, or AI agents. We also have a great solution outside of the SQL engine using Azure AI Search with SQL.

We believe SQL makes a compelling solution because you can build operational RAG applications using the security and scalability of the database engine using the familiarity of the T-SQL language. This includes access to AI models in Azure OpenAI, a new vector type, vector functions, and soon to be in the future vector search using vector indexes, built on the popular Microsoft vector indexing technology, DiskANN. SQL Server 2025 will include access to AI models on-premises or in the cloud. We also have solutions well integrated with frameworks like LangChain and Semantic Kernel.

Check out our demo at Microsoft Ignite to show AI applications for SQL everywhere they exist. Keep up with the latest for our AI application capabilities at intelligent applications, SQL AI samples, and this SQL AI workshop.

Fabric Mirroring

We have seen the rising popularity of Microsoft Fabric as a unified data platform. We want to be sure you can easily integrate your SQL data, wherever it exists, into Fabric. Therefore, we introduced the concept of Fabric Mirroring of Azure SQL Database. This provides a zero-ETL method to access your data separate from the operational database for near-real time analytics. This includes automatic changes fed into Fabric as you modify your source database and free Mirroring storage for replicas tiered to Fabric capacity. You can get started today for Azure SQL Database.

To ensure you can mirror any SQL database, we announced public preview for mirroring for Azure SQL Managed Instance and a private preview for SQL Server. You can also sign-up for the preview here.

Learn more at upcoming events

As you plan out the first few months of the year, consider these events where Microsoft and others from the community will teach you all of these new innovations.

VS Live Las Vegas 2025

This is one of the premier events focused on developers. Use the discount code WARD and register today.

Fabric Community Conference 2025

For the first time, the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference is putting SQL Server center stage. Join us at this incredible community event for a deep dive into SQL Databases in Fabric and get a preview of SQL Server 2025. The SQL Dream Team will be there. Shireesh Thota, Erin Stellato, Joe Sack, Muazma Zahid, Davide Mauri and I will be leading sessions. As well as SQL Community Legends – Denny Cherry, Grant Fritchey, Monica Rathbun, Anthony Nocentino, John Morehouse, Joey D’Antoni and more! Register with code MSCUST and get $150 off. Workshops sell out weeks in advance so save your spot now.

And we will be at more events in the upcoming calendar year. Here is to all our customers and community for a successful and momentous year in 2025 for SQL Server, from ground to cloud to fabric.

The post The year ahead for SQL Server: Ground to cloud to fabric appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

Azure SQL and SQL Server support building new generative AI experiences that become supercharged when combined with your data. In addition, SQL brings AI assistance to a new level with copilot experiences for both self-help and natural language to SQL capabilities.

In this blog post, I’ll share how you can get started with these new AI experiences—Azure SQL and SQL Server. First, check out our latest story on Microsoft Mechanics:

Responsible AI

Many conversations about AI starts with a statement on responsible AI. Microsoft has established a set of policies, research, engineering efforts, and principles to ensure AI technologies are adopted, implemented, and used in a responsible manner.

These principles include fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability. Your data is your data. One promise for Microsoft is that private data of any user, including prompts and responses, are never used to fine tune a model that Microsoft hosts or implements.

Generative AI applications with your data

One of the motivations for generative AI applications is to become more productive, creative, and efficient through the generation of content in all forms: text, audio, and video. Many of today’s examples for generative AI applications involve the user of a natural language prompt and the interaction with a language model. Many of you have probably at some point used an application like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot which are great examples of generative AI applications.

Get smarter with your data

While these are great applications, they don’t know about your data. The combination of a generative AI application with your data, for example, stored in a database, can be quite powerful. Generative AI provides methods for smarter searching on your data. A common application pattern is to use language models with a prompt application to “chat with your data.” Using the concept of vector embeddings, language models allow you to get more precision on questions about your data. In addition, responses to questions are more tailored to your users and searches can often be faster because language models allow you to use the power of natural language. Generative AI applications with your data provide unique intelligence in an interactive manner, including conversations. Language models are trained to provide more context on your search, often giving you more (hence generated) content than you might normally get using common searching techniques within a database engine with a language like SQL.

Prompt engineering, Retrieval Augmented Generation fundamentals, and hybrid search

As you investigate how you can take advantage of generative AI with language models, there are two important concepts to understand:

Prompt engineering is the discipline of using high quality and descriptive prompts when interacting with a language model. The concept is simple. The better the prompt, the likelihood of a better response from the model. For example, let’s say you use Microsoft Copilot and type in a prompt like “What are the best steak restaurants in Fort Worth, Texas?” You will get a good list of steak houses in Fort Worth, Texas based on a search by Copilot of rankings across a broad set of searches. But what if you are on a bit of a tight budget? Instead of looking at the results from the prompt and trying to figure out what prices you can afford you could instead ask “I’m on a tight budget but want to eat at a good steakhouse in Fort Worth, Texas.” Now your results are more tailored for what you really want. And since you are interacting with a language model, it understands the phrase “tight budget” means you need choices that are good but affordable.

While this technique can be great if you are interacting with a model that is trained to help you search the internet, what about your own data? One prompt engineering technique to get smarter with your data is called Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). The concept of RAG is to search for information from a source of data and use those results to augment the prompt to the model. For Azure SQL and SQL Server, this could mean using standard SQL techniques to search for data using Transact-SQL (T-SQL), taking these results, and sending them along with the original prompt to the language model. This technique is simple and can be an effective way to get smarter with your data, and this can work with almost any type of data you search, not just SQL databases.

For Azure SQL and SQL Server, a more sophisticated technique is called hybrid search. With hybrid search, you can use the power of vector search combined with the query capabilities of your SQL data. Vector embeddings are numerical representations of data that capture semantic meaning and similarities. The key to embeddings with language models is that the model can generate embeddings based on data like text. This means you can take text data inside your SQL database and use a model to generate embeddings and then store these embeddings in your database. Now anytime you want to search for data inside the database, you can send a prompt to a language model which will generate embeddings for the prompt. And then you can use vector search techniques to compare the embeddings from the prompt with the embeddings stored in your database. You can then combine the vector search with other techniques you would normally use in T-SQL to find data in your database: a hybrid search.

There are methods today to use hybrid search completely inside the engine using T-SQL and outside the engine using Microsoft Azure AI Services or frameworks like LangChain or Semantic Kernel.

Get started quickly with Azure AI Services

One approach to get started quickly with no code required is to index your SQL database using Azure AI Search and then use Azure OpenAI Service to build a simple prompt app and “chat with your data” using a hybrid search technique.

You can use Azure AI Search to build an index based on a table in your SQL Server or Azure SQL database. When you build the index, you can apply a skillset to generate embeddings based on your data and store the result in the index. Now you can use Azure OpenAI with a prompt application to perform hybrid searches on your data. One example prompt application to perform simple testing is to use Azure AI Studio. In addition, as you change your SQL data, the index is automatically updated including the embeddings. The figure below shows the basic flow:

You can see this in action from the latest Microsoft Mechanics video or download a deck with demo recordings. One of the interesting aspects of this example is the method of changing the system message to direct the language model to respond in a unique way using the same data. This is also a great example of prompt engineering.

Learn more about Azure SQL in Azure AI Search.

Use hybrid search inside the engine with T-SQL

Let’s say instead of using a separate index, you would like to build generative AI capabilities for your application all inside the engine using T-SQL. You can do this in a very powerful way for Azure SQL Database today using a combination of vector embeddings, vector search, and other T-SQL search methods. This is a true hybrid search because you are using all the power of the SQL query processor together with a vector search. An example my colleague Davide Mauri has developed uses these techniques to help him find the best restaurant for one of this favorite Italian foods, focaccia bread.

Davide built an application that stores reviews from restaurants in the form of vector embeddings using Azure OpenAI Service with Azure SQL Database Representational State Transfer (REST) API inside the engine. With this in place, he can take any prompt to search for the best focaccia bread and use the same technique to generate embeddings for the prompt. Then, he can use a new T-SQL vector_distance function to perform a similarity search. The true power of SQL is possible because Davide built queries to combine this vector search with other criteria from spatial types, the new JSON data type, and the new Regular Expression (RegEx) T-SQL capabilities.

You can see a diagram of how these techniques are combined together below:

You can see this demo in action in our Microsoft Mechanics video or download a deck with demo recordings. You can learn more about the new JSON data type (preview). You can also sign-up to preview the new vector search capabilities and RegEx in Azure SQL Database.

Building generative AI applications using frameworks

There are other methods to build generative AI applications with Azure SQL and SQL Server using frameworks such as:

• LangChain:
  LangChain is an open-source framework to orchestrate AI applications with language models. You can use programming languages such as Python and JavaScript to build your own generative AI application. LangChain supports the SQL Agent Toolkit which allows you to interact with a SQL database using natural language prompts. The toolkit integrates the connection to your database with a language model to generate SQL queries based on natural language prompts. You can see an example of this in the blog post “Building your own DB Copilot for Azure SQL with Azure OpenAI GPT-4.”
• Semantic Kernel:
  Semantic Kernel is an open-source SDK to allow you to build AI applications in C#, Python, and Java, interfacing with many common models in the industry such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, and Hugging Face. A library has been built to allow a Semantic Kernel application to interact with Azure SQL Database (and use the new vector search capability) called the SQL Connector.

See a full range of SQL and generative AI examples.

The age of copilots

Microsoft has transformed the industry and how we work and live with a new set of AI assisted experiences called Microsoft Copilot. Copilots are AI companions that work everywhere you do and intelligently adapt to your needs.

Use Copilots where you live

I realize there seem to be copilots everywhere. It is hard to keep track. Microsoft is investing in Copilot experiences in almost every product or service. Use the product or service you normally do and see what Copilot can offer. For example, if you have Microsoft 365, use Copilot for Microsoft 365 naturally within Microsoft Teams or any Office product or service. I personally use Microsoft Copilot in my Edge browser or on the app on my phone for any search experience I need today—web or work related.

Microsoft Copilot in Azure

The primary resource to manage and explore Microsoft Azure is the Azure portal. You can now use Microsoft Copilot in Azure within the Azure portal to manage, deploy, and troubleshoot Azure resources. Azure SQL Database is one of the most popular Azure resources in the world, so we have built two distinct experiences within the Copilot in Azure framework using natural language for self-guided assistance and T-SQL query authoring:

Microsoft Copilot in Azure integration

One of the strengths of SQL Server is the deep built-in telemetry within the engine all accessible through T-SQL. This includes Dynamic Management Views (DMV) and Query Store. These rich, traditional capabilities shine through now in Copilot. For example, you can prompt with Copilot a general statement like “My database is slow” and Copilot, based on your permissions, will access real-time diagnostic data, in the context of your database, to help you quickly navigate difficult, and often vague, performance problems. Here is an example:

You can then continue a conversation with Copilot to tune the query causing the problem. There are many different skills that Copilot can help you all in the context of your database. Learn about all the possibilities of Copilot skills in Azure SQL Database (preview).

Natural language to SQL

The T-SQL query language has so many great capabilities and possibilities. But the open nature of T-SQL also leads to difficulties in crafting queries to meet the need of your application. Along comes a copilot experience to allow you to “chat” with your database using natural language in the context of your database and schema: table, columns, and key relationships. A simple example is being able use a natural language statement to generate a query that typically requires several joins over multiple tables like the following:

Learn more how to use natural language to SQL.

You can see both experiences in action in our Microsoft Mechanics video or download a deck with demo recordings.

Innovations moving forward

We are just beginning with SQL and AI. We have innovations for the future planned for enhancements with AI services, enhancements for deep integration for vector search, and enhanced Copilot experiences for SQL Server. Stay tuned for future blog posts showing all of these innovations.

Learn more today

Here are more resources for you to learn more about SQL and AI:

• Explore the capabilities of Azure SQL Database.
• Keep track of SQL and AI at our one-stop documentation hub.
• Keep track of all of our SQL and AI examples.
• Showcase your own demos using our decks with demo recordings built-in.
• Read our team’s blog on developer experiences for SQL including the latest AI examples at Azure SQL Devs’ Corner.
• To see all this in action, check out our new Microsoft Mechanics video.
• Learn the essentials to building a SQL generative AI application.
• Check out the comprehensive blog post from Sanjay Mishra to explore the power of generative AI applications with Azure SQL Database.
• Learn more about Copilot in Azure SQL Database experiences from Joe Sack’s Data Exposed episode.
• Check out our Microsoft Build 2024 sessions:
  • Power AI apps and develop rich experiences with Azure SQL Database
  • The power of AI and Copilot for Azure Databases

Azure SQL

Migrate, modernize, and innovate with the modern SQL family of cloud database services

Start your journey

The post Getting started with delivering generative AI capabilities in SQL Server and Azure SQL appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

We’ve been on the road the last couple of weeks at MVP Summit, SQLBits and Fabric Con, connecting with customers talking about the value of migration and modernization. We want to dig into specifically, how Azure can deliver real business value through cost optimization and streamlined productivity for their Windows Server and SQL Server deployments when they migrate to Azure. 

We’ve helped countless organizations migrate their SQL Server and Windows workloads to Azure a critical 1^st step in any transformation initiative. The move can help improve cybersecurity posture and business continuity, boost productivity, and lay the foundation for AI and other highly scalable data innovations, while automating updates, backups, and other time-consuming IT tasks. 

Modernize and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) 

Migration is a business strategy that pays off. In The Business Value of Microsoft Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance Workload,¹ organizations that migrated to Azure SQL Managed Instance and Microsoft Azure SQL Database can get up to 406 percent return on investment over 3 years and can expect a 30-percent reduction in TCO over 5 years, protecting an additional $6.85 million in annual revenue.

A separate study found that customers that migrated both Windows Server and SQL Server workloads to Azure generated more value. According to The Business Value of Microsoft Azure for SQL Server and Windows Server Workloads,² by optimizing costs, operations, and business opportunities, companies gained $15.85 million in total annual benefits while also increasing IT security efficiency by 43 percent with cloud tools and automation.

Azure SQL

Migrate, modernize, and innovate with the modern SQL family of cloud database services.

Start today

A smooth path to migration, a more powerful destination

Migrating to a cloud platform is an essential step on the journey to modernization, and there are many choices. 

What makes SQL unique is that it’s built on the same engine, no matter where you deploy, which means you can build on your existing SQL experience while gaining the layered security, intelligent threat detection, and data encryption that Azure provides. And as we shared with customers at SQLBits, there’s now an even more powerful option available for customers looking to leverage the full PaaS experience. Azure SQL Managed Instance Next-gen GP  brings significantly improved performance and scalability to power up your existing Azure SQL Managed Instance fleet, and help bring more mission-critical SQL workloads to Azure. With close to 100 percent feature compatibility with SQL Server, Azure SQL Managed Instance is the recommended choice to migrate and modernize SQL apps at scale and at your own pace.

Another option many of our customers start with is by running their Windows Server workloads on Azure Virtual Machines, benefiting from a simplified, managed experience and cloud-native support for SQL Server, .NET apps, and Remote Desktop Services. Or you can modernize your entire Windows Server estate, choosing from more than 200 Azure services and capabilities, including support for hybrid environments. 

Take the first step or the next: You have choices

When it comes to migration, Azure meets you where you are with options for moving on-premises workloads and for developing new cloud solutions. For example, many organizations start by moving Windows Server workloads to Azure Virtual Machines, enabling them to easily scale to support new developments and more efficiently manage peak loads. Hokkoku Bank took this step, migrating its Windows Server–based estate to Azure as part of a cloud-first initiative. Azure supports the bank’s modernization plans and helps provide a disaster recovery solution in an earthquake-prone region.  

Correios de Portugal, the country’s postal service, migrated its Windows Server workloads to Azure Virtual Machines backed by Azure SQL, which provides a smooth path to a cost-effective, highly scalable, fully managed PaaS database. It’s the best choice for modernizing your apps and getting the most out of your existing investments.

Many of our database customers move to SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines for the cost benefits on top of the scalability and resilience of Azure. As an example, healthcare software manufacturer Allscripts migrated on-premises applications to Azure SQL Database Managed Instance when possible, but another 600 on-premises VMs needed a different migration approach. Allscripts moved them to SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines, a quick, low-risk step for workloads it plans to optimize and modernize later. The lift-and-shift approach can be an easy first   step in your cloud journey.

Azure also offers hybrid solutions that bridge your on-premises and cloud resources. For example, you can move or extend on-premises VMware environments using Azure VMWare Solution. You can even use the free Windows Admin Center tool to manage across Windows Server environments—physical, virtual, on-premises, in Azure, or in a hosted environment—at no additional cost. To get started with a Windows Server migration, start discovering and assessing on-premises resources using the free Azure Migrate tool.

Watch the Migrate to Innovate digital event on demand and learn the business benefits of migrating to Azure.

Try it for free 

If you want to know how your workload will perform before migrating, try these Azure offers and get started building that proof-of-concept.  

• Try Azure SQL Managed Instance for free. For 12 months, you can get up to two instances per Azure subscription, 750 vCore hours of compute per month, and 32 GB data storage and 32 GB backup storage per month. 

• Try Azure SQL Database for free. Test and develop applications or run small production workloads for free. This offer provides the first 100,000 vCore seconds, 32 GB of data, and 32 GB of backup storage per month at no charge for the lifetime of your subscription. 

• Try Windows Server in the cloud with an Azure free account. Extend your existing Windows Server datacenter and try out popular services free for 12 months. 

Learn more about Azure SQL

Stay tuned for more migration announcements in the coming months. To get started now: 

• Get the full ROI and TCO reports from IDC: The Business Value of Microsoft Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance Workload and The Business Value of Microsoft Azure for SQL Server and Windows Server Workloads.

• Review the benefits of migration in Better on Azure: The benefits of using Azure for Windows Server and SQL Server workloads. 

• Discover why cloud economics make sense and get greater return on your investment. 

1. IDC report, The Business Value of Microsoft Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance Workloads, IDC #US51073123, August 2023. 
2. The Business Value of Microsoft Azure for SQL Server and Windows Server Workloads

The post Why migrate Windows Server and SQL Server to Azure: ROI, innovation, and free offers appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

SQL Server Developer Edition

SQL Server comes in several editions and Developer Edition has for many years been the choice of many developers to build applications and test SQL Server with no license costs and the full functionality of SQL Server. As the documentation describes SQL Developer Edition, it “includes all the functionality of Enterprise edition but is licensed for use as a development and test system, not as a production server.” Microsoft has had some questions about exactly what the term means “as a development and test system.” Let’s turn to the SQL Server Licensing Guide for the details.

The licensing guide states that SQL Server Developer Edition is “…licensed for development, test, and demonstration purposes only. SQL Server Developer Edition may not be used in a production environment”. Notice the addition of the word “demonstration purposes.” This means, for example, that you can use SQL Server Developer Edition to do demos at your favorite conference as a presenter.

There are some other points in the licensing guide worth noting, including:

• You can run Developer Edition for development, testing, and demonstration purposes on an unlimited number of devices.
• You cannot use Developer Edition to build test data and move that same data into production. But you can restore a production set of data backup for testing purposes. The intention here is to prevent users from using Developer Edition as a production server but calling the data test data.
• Production environments include any system that is accessed by end-users for anything more than acceptance testing, environments that connects to production systems (such as Linked servers), disaster recovery or backups of production systems, and environments that are “rotated” into production at any point in time.

One of the questions Microsoft often gets is how to find previous versions of the SQL Server Developer Edition. Therefore, you can use the following shortcuts to help you find versions back to SQL Server 2016:

• SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition
• SQL Server 2019 Developer Edition
• SQL Server 2017 Developer Edition
• SQL Server 2016 Developer Edition

SQL Server containers

One of the most amazing stories about SQL Server for developers is containers. SQL Server containers are pre-installed versions of SQL Server on Linux that can be used for developers on macOS, Linux, or Windows for a consistent experience. Furthermore, if you just run a SQL Server container by default it is configured for SQL Server Developer Edition. Now your organization can use a distributed development approach using a consistent SQL Server deployment instead of relying on development servers. SQL Server containers provide a convenient method to test your application against multiple versions of SQL Server.

You can find out more about how to use SQL Server containers. This includes details about how to find all container images for SQL Server 2017, 2019, and 2022 from the Microsoft Artifact Registry.

Visual Studio Subscriptions

Visual Studio Subscriptions provides developers options to use licenses for SQL Server Standard and Enterprise editions to develop and test applications for non-production scenarios. One scenario that can help developers is the ability to develop and test applications against SQL Server Standard Edition.

One of the benefits of a Visual Studio Subscription is Azure credits. Azure credits allows developers to receive free credits towards use of Azure services such as SQL Server (any edition) in Azure Virtual Machine or Azure SQL Database for development and testing purposes. No credit card is required to use these credits and it provides an option to develop or test SQL in Azure. While the number of monthly credits may feel limited, developers may find this benefit of their Visual Studio subscription as a method to get started in the cloud.

Azure Dev/Test pricing

If Azure credits are not enough for your development or testing needs, Visual Studio subscribers have a benefit available to them called Azure Dev/Test pricing. Azure Dev/Test pricing, offered exclusively to Visual Studio subscribers, allows developers to save money to develop and test applications with Azure services.

Azure Dev/Test pricing offers three plans:

• Enterprise Dev/Test—offered exclusively for customers with a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA).
• Azure Plan for DevTest—offered exclusively to customers with a Microsoft Customer Agreement.
• Pay-As-You-Go Dev/Test—an option for customers without an agreement with Microsoft.

Each plan has different requirements and offers different benefits per your needs. Azure credits are not designed to be used in combination with Azure Dev/Test pricing.

Azure Dev/Test pricing not only provides significant cost savings for dev/test scenarios for Azure Services such as Azure SQL Database or Azure SQL Managed Instance, but also allows customers to use software that is included in their Visual Studio subscription for free in an Azure Virtual Machine.

For example, if your Visual Studio subscription includes licensing for SQL Server, you can deploy SQL Server Standard or Enterprise Edition in an Azure Virtual Machine and not incur licensing charges from Azure. This could provide a method for you to test your application against SQL Server Standard Edition in a cost effective manner.

You can also optimize your cost savings with both Azure Dev/Test pricing and Azure Hybrid Benefit licensing. You can use Azure Dev/Test pricing for your dev/test workloads and Azure Hybrid Benefit licensing for production workloads. Azure Hybrid Benefit is a licensing offer that helps you migrate and save to Azure by using your existing SQL Server licenses.

It is important to note that Azure Dev/Test labs is not related to Azure Dev/Test pricing. Azure Dev/Test labs is a free Azure service used to help you optimize provision of development and test environments. You use whatever Azure subscription pricing model is available for Azure services within your Dev/Test lab deployments.

Try Azure SQL Database for free (preview)

Microsoft has recently announced a new free offer for Azure SQL Database now in preview. This offer is a major milestone for developers or any user of Azure SQL. This free offer provides a monthly set of cores and storage for free for a single Azure SQL Database per subscription for the lifetime of the Azure subscription.

The most significant aspect of this offer is that it is not limited for development and testing purposes. While the number of free core and storage usage may not make it viable for medium or large production workloads, it can be an excellent option for developers to have a “developer edition” of Azure SQL Database or for small workloads.

The free Azure SQL Database offer is based on the General Purpose service tier using Serverless compute so it carries all of the capabilities and limits that go with this deployment choice.

Provisioning an Azure SQL Database for the free offer is easy.

1. Go to the Azure portal provisioning page for Azure SQL Database.
2. On the Basics tab, look for the banner that says, “Want to try Azure SQL Database for free?“, select the Apply offer button. If you do not see this banner, you may already have a free database provisioned for your subscription.

Try Azure SQL Managed Instance for free (preview)

In some cases, developers need the full managed instance capabilities of SQL Server in the cloud so they choose Azure SQL Managed Instance. Developers can now save costs to develop and test applications with Azure SQL Managed Instance with a new free offer.

This offer, now in preview, includes the ability to try Azure SQL Managed Instance free of charge for the first 12 months to get:

• A General Purpose service tier instance with up to 100 databases
• 750 vCore hours of compute every month
• 64 GB of storage

This is a major leap forward for developers who are looking to test a migration strategy with Azure SQL Managed Instance.

It is easy to get started with this free offer. Use the Azure portal to create the new free Azure SQL Managed Instance. To create your free instance, follow these steps:

• Go to the provisioning page for Azure SQL Managed Instance in the Azure portal.
• On the Basics tab, look for the “Want to try Azure SQL Managed Instance for free?” banner and select the Apply offer button. Check the Estimated costs per month option to validate the free offer has been applied to your instance.

When you are ready to migrate, our Managed Instance Link feature provides a true online migration path to modernize your SQL Server investments.

Other options for developers to save costs

As you can see SQL developers have several options to develop and test applications with SQL for free or substantial savings both on-premises and in the cloud. Microsoft wants all developers using SQL to have the most cost-effective options to build applications that work with SQL, edge to cloud, and the latest innovations.

Here are a few other tips for you to save costs with Azure SQL:

• Shutdown any virtual machine when you are not using it to save costs. You can use Azure Dev/Test labs to help automate this process. Be sure to use the right shutdown methods to save costs.
• Use Azure SQL Database Serverless with the autopause feature to save costs when the database is idle.
• Take advantage of a new pricing tier for Azure SQL Database Hyperscale.
• Use the Start/Stop feature for Azure SQL Managed Instance to pause compute and only pay for storage costs.

Learn more about SQL Server developer experiences

To learn more about some of the exciting new innovations for developers for SQL check out these resources:

• Discover more about the SQL Developer Experience: Beyond RDBMS.
• Increase your knowledge about intelligent applications with Azure SQL Database.
• Learn more about SQL Server for Developers.

The post How SQL developers can maximize savings appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

SQL Server 2022, now in public preview, is our most Azure-enabled release yet, with continued innovation across performance, security, and availability.

With connections to Azure Synapse, Microsoft Purview, and Azure SQL Managed Instance, it is a key offering within the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform, which fully integrates databases, analytics, and governance, enabling organizations to move beyond fragmentation and unlock new capabilities. 

In our upcoming SQL Server 2022 blog series, you will learn about new innovation, discover best practices, and gain product insights from the engineering team who built it. Our product team members are lined up to share specifics from their respective areas of expertise.

The series will cover:

• Performance and scalability, including buffer pool parallel scan.
• Security and governance, including SQL Server Ledger and Microsoft Purview.
• Query processing, including Intelligent Query Processing Next Gen.
• Analytics, including Azure Synapse Link.
• T-SQL enhancements, including JSON data support.
• Availability, including the new link feature in Azure SQL Managed Instance.
• Deployment options, including SQL Server on Linux and Containers and SQL Server on Azure Arc–enabled servers.

Bookmark the SQL Server 2022 Blogging Series page to follow along and see future blog posts.

Learn More

• Intelligent Data Platform: read how you can innovate faster and achieve greater agility with the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform and turn your data into decisions.
• Download: get started today by downloading the preview or deploying in Azure! To install SQL Server 2022 public preview on Linux, see installation guidance.
• Documentation and Training: learn more about the features of SQL Server 2022 by reading the documentation and watching the SQL Server 2022 Data Exposed video series.
• Feedback: let us know if you have any thoughts or feedback through our SQL Server feedback portal. We look forward to seeing how SQL Server 2022 will transform your business in the future.

The post Introducing the SQL Server 2022 blog series appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

As the lead sponsor, we will deliver content including the keynote, five full-day training days, and over fifty general sessions. With so many opportunities to educate, we are bringing the full Azure data team including folks from across the data platform, such as SQL Server, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Azure Purview, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Power BI.

Start the week with my team for two day-long training sessions where you will have a unique chance to work directly with Microsoft engineering:

The Hands-on Azure SQL Workshop on March 8 will help you translate your existing SQL Server skills to Azure SQL. Bring your laptop and get ready to learn hands-on. You will gain a foundational knowledge of what to use when, as well as how to configure, monitor, and troubleshoot the “meat and potatoes” of SQL Server in Azure: security, performance, and availability.

Migrate SQL Server to Azure on Wednesday, March 9 will help you migrate your SQL Server environments to Azure. In this session, the Microsoft engineering team will show you everything you need to know, including the tools and knowledge you need to make your migrations seamless, cost-efficient, and optimized for speed.

Other training sessions cover topics such as Azure SQL Database, Synapse Analytics, and Power BI.

All speaker proceeds from these sessions will be given back to a local charity.

The SQLBits event theme this year is Video Games—and in the “Level Up With Azure Data” keynote, Buck Woody has asked me to come talk about SQL Server 2022 and Azure Data. He assures me I will have help with some surprise guests so it should be interesting. It is always a fun keynote when Buck and I are on stage, and this year you really do not want to miss it!

You also have the opportunity to attend the Microsoft general sessions to learn about the entire Azure data platform.

Take a look at some of the learning available SQLBits 2022

See all the opportunities to engage with Microsoft engineering by heading over to our blog on Microsoft Tech Community, Ready for SQLBits 2022. And don’t forget to stop by our booth, where you can get your questions answered by members of the Microsoft team.

SQLBits is a marathon of top-quality training from global specialists, with two days of full-day training sessions and three days of general sessions. As always with SQLBits, Saturday, March 12 is free to attend. Meet with community leaders sharing their real-world experience and Microsoft product teams providing deep insights into innovations that meet your needs.

Register today for SQLBits 2022

Join Microsoft at this hybrid event for the latest on the data platform and a chance to see whether Buck Woody or I have the best arcade game skills!

Register to attend, and we’ll see you there, in-person, or virtually!

The post Meet us at SQLBits 2022 and level up as a data professional appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

Customers who choose Azure for their SQL Server workloads may initially opt for a straightforward “lift and shift” to virtual machines (VMs)—a great first step, but where do you go from there? Now more than ever, I get questions from customers asking for my advice on subjects ranging from squeezing more performance out of VMs to moving workloads to fully managed database services with near-limitless scalability and intelligent performance.

To help answer these questions and much more, we are hosting the Azure SQL digital event: Innovate Today with Azure SQL on May 4, 10:00 AM Pacific Time. During this hour-long virtual event, you’ll join Rohan Kumar, Corporate Vice President Azure Data, myself, and a full team of Azure SQL experts to learn how to build an effective cloud database management strategy that responds to today’s changing business requirements and tomorrow’s opportunities. You will have access to on-demand content to help you further modernize and innovate on Azure SQL. You will also hear first-hand experiences and best practices from customers who have become expert Azure SQL users.

During this event, you will:

• Learn how to build intelligent apps across your data workloads using the latest digital innovations from Azure SQL and attend on-demand sessions on topics like infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to platform as a service (PaaS) migration, streamlining app development with integrated services, and building IoT solutions on Azure SQL Edge.
• Watch Microsoft MVP and Microsoft engineering-led technical demonstrations of Azure SQL features, including serverless computing, Hyperscale, Azure Defender for SQL, and VM performance optimization.
• Hear from real customers about how they are transforming their organizations using Azure SQL right now.
• Get answers to your questions from a panel of Azure SQL subject-matter experts.

If that’s not enough, you’ll also have the opportunity to earn points while you learn during this event, automatically entering eligible participants into a drawing for exciting prizes (official rules). Register today for the Azure SQL Digital Event by signing up now at the Azure SQL digital event page.

The post Azure SQL digital event: Innovate today with Azure SQL appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

To help answer these questions and much more, we are hosting the Azure SQL digital event: Transform your applications with Azure SQL on October 14 at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. During this hour-long virtual event, I’ll share my advice and guidance on getting the most out of Azure SQL, whether you’re looking to migrate from an on-premises SQL Server deployment or exploring ways to utilize the newest Azure SQL service options. You will also hear firsthand experiences and best practices from customers who have become expert Azure SQL users.

Regardless of your familiarity with Azure SQL, we want to help you learn how to scale in response to rapidly changing needs, boost the resilience of your mission-critical workloads, and make deployments more cost-effective. We’ll present and offer demonstrations on topics including:

• Choosing the best deployment option for SQL Server in Azure, from Virtual Machines to fully managed databases.
• Selecting, setting up, operating, and scaling your database quickly by putting your existing SQL Server experience to work in the cloud.
• Best practices to ensure optimized database performance and scalability.
• Strategies for selecting the right service tier to maximize the resiliency of critical workloads—without breaking the bank.

We’ll also be taking a deeper dive into two of our newest and most exciting service tiers for Azure SQL Database: Serverless and Hyperscale. Through demos and interviews with current customers, we’ll show how to use these capabilities to create groundbreaking deployments that are both cost-effective and highly performant.

Finally, we’ll have a Q&A session where a panel of Azure SQL subject-matter experts and I will be eager to take your questions and point you on the right track in your Azure SQL journey. If you haven’t registered for the Azure SQL Digital Event, sign up now at the Azure SQL digital event page.

The post Azure SQL digital event: Transform your applications with Azure SQL appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

To help provide you insights into these questions and much more we are hosting the Azure Migration Virtual Event: Best Practices for Windows Server and SQL Server on February 26 10:00 AM Pacific time. During this 75-minute virtual event, Azure experts and engineers including me will share guidance specific to Windows Server and SQL Server migrations. You also will hear firsthand experiences on migration challenges, best practices, and examples of customers that have migrated to Azure.

Specifically, we want you to be able to choose the best destination in Azure and take the first step in starting your migration. We will present and demonstrate topics including:

• Defining a cloud migration strategy and how to apply it across your organization.
• Why Azure has the performance, security, and availability you need to power mission critical SQL Server workloads.
• Choosing the right way to run SQL Server in Azure from Virtual Machines to fully managed databases at scale.
• Discovering the tools and best practices to migrate both applications and SQL Server deployments to the cloud.

To round out the virtual event, other Azure engineering and marketing leaders will discuss the technical resources and migration programs specific to Windows Server and SQL Server migrations. You will hear from:

• Julia White, CVP Azure Marketing and Merrie Williamson, VP of Azure Apps and Infrastructure will talk about why Azure is a great cloud destination for your Windows Server and SQL Server workloads.
• Jeff Woolsey, Principal PM Manager, will review benefits of moving Windows Server workloads to Azure.
• Erin Chapple, CVP Azure Compute, will review migration triggers and prescriptive guidance to ensure a successful migration.

Tune in and be entered into our sweepstakes for a chance to win a Surface laptop or Xbox One X and learn about unmatched security and unparalleled innovation with Azure. Sweepstakes ends February 26, 2020. Rules can be found here.¹ If you haven’t registered for the Azure Migration virtual event, register now at Azure Migration virtual event.

¹No purchase necessary. Open to any registered Event attendee 18 years of age or older. Void in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Region of Crimea, and where prohibited. Sweepstakes ends February 26, 2020. For Official Rules, see here. 

The post Azure Migration Virtual Event: Best practices for Windows Server and SQL Server appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

• SQL Server Big Data Clusters combining the power of SQL Server, Hadoop, Apache Spark™, and Kubernetes to provide an end-to-end data and machine learning platform.
• Data virtualization through Polybase
• Intelligent query processing to gain performance with no application changes
• Mission critical security with Always Encrypted with Secure Enclaves
• Maximum database availability with accelerated database recovery
• Hosting your data on the platform of your choice with compatibility whether that be Windows, Linux, Containers, or Kubernetes

While you can read all about what’s new with SQL Server 2019 in our documentation, why not also learn at your pace and by example with videos? And who better to learn about SQL Server 2019 than the engineering team that built the product. We’re excited to announce our new SQL Server 2019 video learning series all taught by members of the SQL Server Engineering Team.

Start your journey by listening to Travis Wright tell you the story of the SQL Server 2019 product in this video:

This learning series covers the SQL Server 2019 product end-to-end using a series of short videos with demonstrations. Each video is taught by a member of the engineering team that focused on a particular aspect of the product.

Each week a new topic will be available on the Data Exposed and SQL Server YouTube channels. Take a look and try out a video topic that interests you. Combine these videos with FREE hands-on lab training from the engineering team.

We hope you have as much fun learning and watching these videos as our team did making them. Welcome to SQL Server 2019!

The SQL Server Engineering Team

The post Introducing the SQL Server 2019 video learning series appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.