A thriving community at the heart of SQL Server 2025

As we look back at the creation of SQL Server 2025, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to the community leaders, MVPs, partners, and Microsoft engineers who have shared their insights, expertise, and enthusiasm about this exciting release. Their passion for SQL Server and commitment to knowledge-sharing continue to inspire us.

In the resources below we showcase the expertise of our community as well as Microsoft, with blogs and videos that will help you make the most of everything SQL Server 2025 has to offer. These resources dive into key innovations that set SQL Server 2025 apart, including best-in-class security, built-in AI, developer enhancements, and Fabric mirroring.

Insights from Microsoft engineering, MVPs, and partners

SQL Server 2025 overview

We’ll get started with resources that provide an overview of key SQL Server innovations and then dive into each of the core pillars of best-in-class performance and security, AI-built in, made for developer, and cloud agility through Azure.

• At Microsoft Build, Microsoft’s Bob Ward and Muazma Zahid covered everything database developers need to know in their session SQL Server 2025: The Database Developer Reimagined, and Raj Pochiraju launched his deep dive blog into all things SQL Server 2025.
• Bob Ward was interviewed by theCube at Dell Technologies World, where he and Rob Sonders from Dell discussed how data fuels AI and the key AI features in SQL Server 2025.
• Joey D’Antoni from Redmond Magazine interviewed Shireesh Thota and shared his thoughts on the most exciting features in Microsoft Build: SQL Server 2025 Is (Almost) Here and Why Microsoft Is Still Betting Big on SQL Server in a Cloud-First World, both on Redmondmag.com.
• Microsoft’s Anna Hoffman and Bob Ward have launched a new series on Data Exposed that will cover all the highlights.
• Looking for a quick overview? The Microsoft Mechanics video, What’s New in SQL Server 2025 breaks it all down in just 15 minutes.

Best-in-class security and performance

SQL Server remains as the most secure database in the last decade, with best-in-class performance and availability. This latest release harnesses the latest innovation from Microsoft Entra and brings over 50 enhancements to the database engine.

• Explore how to save time and reduce risk with Microsoft SQL Engineering PM Dimitri Furman’s blog on tempdb space resource governance.
• Dimitri also shared how SQL Server 2025 has optimized Halloween protection by redesigning the way the database engine solves the Halloween problem and improves query performance.
• HPE spotlighted SQL Server 2025 in a recent blog, underscoring its exceptional performance and availability—further validating the platform’s enterprise-grade capabilities.
• Learn how to streamline T-SQL Snapshot backups using T-SQL REST API and  Pure Storage in the blog by MVP and partner, Anthony Nocentino: Streamlining T-SQL Snapshot Backups.

“SQL Server 2025 is an important release, delivering significant improvements in performance, reliability, security, and the developer experience for our trading platform.”

—Ola Hallengren, Chief Data Platforms Engineer at Saxo Bank and a Data Platform MVP

AI built-in   

Learn how to accelerate AI apps closer to your own data using extensible tools with built-in vector capabilities.

• Dive into the SQL Server 2025 AI enhancements in Microsoft’s Davide Mauri’s blog on SQL Server 2025 AI Capabilities.
• For those who are in a hurry, check out this great SQL in 5: New AI features in SQL Server 2025 from Brian Spendolini, Microsoft SQL Engineering PM.
• Dhananjay Mahajan, Microsoft SQL Engineering PM, hosted a webinar with Pure Storage to help you get ready for SQL Server 2025: Accelerating AI, Performance, and Resilience—From Query to Infrastructure.
• Follow MVPs Anthony Nocentino and Ben Weissman in their video series “Anthony and Ben talk about SQL Server 2025”, starting with Vector Search and Ollama.
• Get started with vectors with MVP, Deb Melkin’s Getting Started with Vector Searches in SQL Server 2025.

“We are excited about the AI features in SQL Server 2025, especially the potential for text processing that can benefit companies of all sizes. AI brings new ways to process and extract insights from data, and with SQL Server being the core repository for many businesses, native AI features like embeddings, REST API support, and vector indexes are game changers.”

—Rodrigo Ribeiro Gomes, Head of Innovation, Power Tuning

Made for developers

SQL Server 2025 is the most significant release for SQL developers in the last decade. With features including native JSON support, built-in REST APIs and RegEx enablement, change event streaming plus a new Standard Developer edition and new SSMS release, SQL Server 2025 helps streamline application development and greatly reduce code complexity.

• SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 21 is now generally available. Read about the new SSMS release in the Microsoft Community Hub.
• Copilot is available in SSMS, learn how Copilot in SSMS preview can help make you more efficient – answering your questions and helping you write, edit, and fix T-SQL.
• JSON Enhancements are covered by MVP Daniel Hutmacher who shares hands-on insights in JSON indexes in SQL Server: First impressions, while Microsoft SQL Engineering PM Umachandar Jayachandran explores JSON data types and aggregates in his blog.
• SQL Server 2025 introduces native support for regex functions, making it easier to perform complex text operations directly within SQL queries. Read Microsoft SQL Engineering PM Abhiman Tiwari’s blog to Unlock the Power of Regex in SQL Server.

“Our initial tests have shown great results with fuzzy string matching and regex, significantly reducing the need for external coding to clean data. This improvement in development time and data quality stability is a huge benefit for our end-users. Additionally, we are exploring vector indexes, which have the potential to be a game-changer for our data management.”

—Paw Jershauge, Senior DBA and SQL Specialist, Orifarm Group A/S

Cloud agility through Azure

Powered by Azure, SQL Server 2025 enables real-time analytics with Fabric database mirroring and brings seamless cloud agility to any environment through Azure Arc.

• Explore how Mirroring in Microsoft Fabric enables you to drive enhanced analytics and insights for your on-premise data in Microsoft SQL Engineering PM Ajay Jagannathan’s blog on Mirroring in SQL Server.
• And for our Spanish speakers, Javier Villegas, Microsoft MVP, has created a wealth of in-depth content including his video on Mirroring in Microsoft Fabric – SQL Server.

“Change Event Streaming and Fabric Mirroring for SQL Server 2025 help MSC to build the bridge to bring our operational data into Microsoft Fabric.”

—Javier Villegas, IT Director—DBA and BI Services, MSC Technology (North America)

Keep learning about SQL Server 2025

• Bookmark the SQL Server 2025 Learn page.
• Follow the SQL Server 2025 Blogging Series.
• Get SQL Server 2025 and start using it today.

SQL Server 2025

An AI-ready enterprise database with best-in-class security, performance and availability.

Discover more

The post From code to community: The collective effort behind SQL Server 2025 appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

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.

Monitor SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc 

Simplifying deployment and cost management in multi-cloud environments.

Learn more

The traditional method of paying for SQL Server is buying license and software assurance. Now, you can connect your SQL Server to Azure Arc and pay only for the hours when your VM with SQL Server is online and your SQL instance is active. For the pricing information, see SQL Server 2022—Pricing | Microsoft.

While SQL Server 2022 integrates a pay-as-you-go billing option in the setup, the older versions require a product key to install any production edition. This blog provides instructions on how to install a pay-as-you-go image of any SQL Server version starting from SQL Server 2012 without purchasing a license and providing a product key.

NOTE: if you have access to a SQL Server image that does not require a product key, for example from a hosting provider, you should install it, follow the documented Azure Arc onboarding process for SQL Server and then set the License type to pay-as-you-go in SQL Server configuration.

The process in a nutshell

The deployment of a pay-as-you-go image on a virtual or physical machine running in any cloud, edge, or on-premises datacenters consists of three steps:

1. Installing the prerequisites on the target machines
2. Creating a support ticket with Microsoft Azure to request and download a pay-as-you-go image
3. Running the installation script

Prerequisites

Make sure your target machine meets the following requirements.

On target VMs:

• Windows Server instance is running, and you have a local administrator account.
• Azure PowerShell is installed and updated.
• For SQL Server version 2014, you will need to install .NET. For more information on this prerequisite, visit here.
• You have a remote desktop connection to connect to Windows Server as a local administrator.
• You copied the script from here to a local folder. Follow the download instructions in the readme file.
• Important: If your target VM runs Windows Server 2016, you must make sure that your Transport Layer Security (TLS) configuration is compatible with Azure. Follow the instructions in the readme file on how to mitigate the TLS version issue on Windows Server 2016.

On Microsoft Azure:

• You have an Azure account, subscription, and a target resource group.

Opening a support ticket

You can open the support ticket using a Support + Troubleshooting entry from the subscription which the newly installed SQL Server instance will be connected to. The following screenshots illustrate the flow. Make sure to use the answers as highlighted in the screenshots.

After you complete the support ticket creation process, Azure support will email you a private link to a workspace with the zip file you need to download.

Download the file to the VM where you want to install SQL Server, and unzip it to the same folder that contains the installation script.

Note: For SQL Server 2012 and SQL Server 2022 images, the keys are not required, and the .zip file will contain only the ISO file. For other SQL Server versions, the .zip file includes a product key and the ISO file. The script will recognize these differences.

Running the script

Follow the instructions in the readme file on how to launch the script. An Azure sign-in screen will prompt you to enter your Azure credentials or identify the account you’re already signed into. After this, the script proceeds unattended to carry out the following steps:

• Installing Azure PowerShell modules if they’re not already installed
• Logging into Azure with your assistance
• Onboarding the VM to Azure Arc
• Installing SQL Server on the Windows Server from the file you identified in the previous step
• Mounting the ISO file as a volume
• Installing SQL Arc Extension with a pay-as-you-go license type
• Displaying the status of the Azure resource for the connected SQL Server Instance

Disclaimer: The script has been tested on several combinations of VM products available on AWS and Google Cloud Platform with different versions of Windows Server and SQL Server, but it is not specific to these platforms, and you are welcome to try it on other clouds.

Supercharge SQL Server with Azure Arc

You can use this process to streamline the installation of pay-as-you-go images of SQL Server versions and editions of your choice to machines across different clouds, on-premises datacenters, and edge. By doing so, you can maintain control over the SQL Server compliance and optimize the cost based on the resource’s utilization.

The post Save money on Microsoft SQL Server licensing with Microsoft Azure Arc 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.

Whether you’re rehosting your SQL Server workloads onto an Azure Virtual Machine, or modernizing them on evergreen, fully managed Azure SQL Database or Azure SQL Managed Instance, you’re shifting your capex to opex by avoiding the cost and complexity of buying and managing physical servers.  On top of that, Azure provides flexible management options that can boost productivity and provide more bandwidth for IT and database administrators alike to focus on more value-added initiatives. Backups, patching, and updates are performed on your behalf, and features like high availability, performance tuning, and more are part of Azure SQL’s managed services.

What more could you do if you could save up to 80 percent or more on your database costs? Read on to discover the top eight ways you can optimize your data spend on Azure.

The post More ways to save when you migrate SQL Server data to Azure SQL appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

This will make PASS Virtual Summit 2020 more accessible than ever, giving attendees from around the world the opportunity to network, speak, and learn from the comfort of their own homes at a fraction of the cost of previous PASS Summit events.  Microsoft and PASS expect this to be the most-attended PASS Summit in history.

This year’s conference will feature more than 200 sessions delivered by Microsoft Engineering, partner organizations, and community thought leaders on topics spanning:

• Analytics
• Architecture
• Data Management
• Edge Computing (with SQL)
• Microservices Design (with SQL)
• Modernization & Migration
• Open Source Platforms
• Performance at Scale
• Professional Development
• Serverless

Microsoft and PASS have enjoyed a close partnership dating back to the early beginnings of PASS, with Microsoft playing a key role at PASS Summit every year. This year will be no different, with Microsoft joining as the Premier Sponsor of the event.

PASS Virtual Summit attendees can expect interactive technical sessions delivered by the Microsoft team at this year’s event, as well as opportunities to connect directly with the engineers working on the latest data platform innovations. We look forward to connecting with the data community and helping you solve your problems—stay tuned for more details!

Register today to join Microsoft and the PASS community at this must-attend virtual conference.

The post Join Microsoft at PASS Virtual Summit 2020 appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

Many businesses see digital transformation to the cloud as a path to developing this kind of agility. From a data perspective, if you’re currently running SQL Server on-premises and the operational and financial benefits of modernizing in the cloud are appealing to you, you have a variety of options to consider.  Whether you want to simply rehost your existing SQL Server workloads onto a virtual machine, modernize them on a fully-managed database service or accelerate modern cloud application development, Azure provides a range of options to help you operate more cost-effectively and agile.

We’re pleased to introduce Azure SQL, a family of managed, secure, and intelligent SQL database services. Azure SQL services, comprised of SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and Azure SQL Database, are built upon the same SQL Server engine so you can migrate applications with ease and continue to use the tools, languages, and resources you’re familiar with. You can also conveniently configure and monitor these services from a single portal.

Read our announcement to learn more about how Azure SQL helps you operate more efficiently with innovative features that help you do more—and save money along the way.

The post Save money and improve agility and scale by modernizing your SQL Server to Azure SQL appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

SQL Bits is the largest gathering of SQL Server professionals in Europe and this year it is returning to London at the massive ExCel exhibition center. We are excited to meet our customers, partners, and community members. With almost 60 breakout sessions, 5 full-day pre-conferences, and a keynote that is packed with great demos and all the new exciting things in Azure data, there is something for everyone.

For those attending this year, we’ve put together a quick guide below on some of the Data and AI sessions you can look forward to. Can’t wait until SQL Bits? Check out the conference sessions to get a taste of all the exciting stuff you don’t want to miss at SQL Bits 2020.

SQL Bits is also running a promotion right now to share their love for data. Save 10 percent on your registration when you use the code: MSDATA10. 

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SQL Bits 2020 sessions not to miss

Keynote: Join Gayle Sheppard, CVP, Azure Data for a keynote presentation on the journey of SQL Server from edge to cloud, packed with exciting demos and customer stories.

SQL Server 2019: The modern data platform: Bob Ward has also authored a new book “SQL Server 2019 revealed.”  In this session, he will give you the highlights, including the most exciting new features in SQL Server 2019 like Data virtualization, Big Data Clusters, Accelerated Database recovery, and more.

Sandboxing SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters: Big Data Clusters combine the power of SQL Server, Apache Spark, and HDFS to gain intelligence over all your data. Join James Rowland Jones to learn about the most common use cases for Big Data Clusters.

Modern Database design: Connor Cunningham will talk about improving the performance and scale of the databases in real-world scenarios using technologies including columnstore, in-memory tables, Azure SQL Database Hyperscale, Always On Availability Groups, and readable secondaries.

Azure Data Services on Azure Arc: Come join Vin Yu to learn more about the newly launched hybrid service Azure Arc, which lets your run Azure Data Services anywhere. Vin will be deploying data services in hybrid and multi-cloud environments – including AWS, GCP and on-premises – and he will show you some of the management capabilities of Azure Arc such as elastic scale and automatic patching.

Azure Synapse Analytics:  Ever since the announcement of Azure Synapse Analytics, we have seen tremendous community excitement around this new cloud data warehouse service. Join Michael Rys to learn how Azure Synapse brings together big data and data warehousing through new technology and a unified development experience.

Azure Data Studio features in 20 minutes: If you want a quick refresher on all the cool new features in Azure Data Studio, then don’t miss the session from Vicky Harp, where she will touch on all the features in Azure Data Studio in a fast introduction to what is sure to be one of your favorite new data administration and data development tools.

10 DBA tasks for Azure SQL: If you are a Cloud DBA, or are in the journey of migrating your on-prem databases to cloud, then check out this session from Alain Dormehl and Rie Irish on the 10 most common DBA tasks for Azure SQL and how they differ from on prem DBA tasks.

Azure SQL Hyperscale Deep Dive: Join Alain Dormehl, Davide Mauri, and Denzil Ribeiro to learn how Hyperscale can enable you to innovate with nearly limitless storage in a future-proof, world class, fully managed database.

Microsoft Learn will also be present at SQLBits 2020, showcasing the complete offering of training and certifications available to the Data & AI professionals. Attendees will get the scoop on the newest certifications in Microsoft’s portfolio and will also have the chance to be part of the beta exam experience.

After the roaring success of SQL Bits 2019, we are ready for yet another action packed SQL Bits 2020 In London. We can’t wait to meet you there and celebrate!

The post SQL Bits 2020 is happening in London: join us September 29 to October 4 appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

That’s one reason to get excited about the continued expansion of the PolyBase technology introduced in SQL Server 2016, which has become much more powerful in the release of SQL Server 2019.

Before PolyBase, when trying to use external data sources from SQL Server, you either had to transfer data from one source to another or query both sources and then write custom logic to joining and integrate the data at the client level. PolyBase simplifies the process of reading from external data sources. It does so by enabling your SQL Server instance to process Transact-SQL (T-SQL) queries that access both external data and relational data inside the instance.

Initially, PolyBase targeted Apache Hadoop and Azure Blob Storage. The ability to target big data inside Hadoop nodes expanded the ability to do modern analytics seamlessly from a SQL Server platform. No additional software needs to be installed in the Hadoop environment, and you don’t even need to know Hadoop intimately to query it. PolyBase even pushed some computations to the Hadoop node to optimize queries.

What’s awesome about PolyBase in 2019 is that Microsoft has added connectors that allow you to query a much wider range of external data. PolyBase now works with Oracle, Teradata, MongoDB, and any database that conforms to Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) standards. You can query the data where it lives without having to bring it into SQL Server. Best of all, it provides distributed, scalable query performance.

PolyBase can also simplify things when you do have to move data from one place to another. For example, you can bring data from Hadoop, Azure Blob Storage, or Azure Data Lake Store into relational tables. This allows you to take advantage of the fast analysis and columnstore capabilities of SQL Server without the need for a separate extract, transform, load (ETL) or import tool. On the other hand, it’s also easy to export data from SQL Server to cost-effective online storage. Features like PolyBase make it much easier for database administrators to help organizations get maximum value from all their data, while optimizing the ratio of cost to performance.

To learn more about what you can do with Microsoft SQL Server 2019, check out the free Packt guide Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2019. If you’re ready to jump to a fully managed cloud solution, check out the Essential Guide to Data in the Cloud.

The post Easier management of PolyBase and relational data through SQL Server 2019 appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

As a long-time Linux database administrator (DBA), in this post I’ll share my top five focus areas for the Microsoft data professional to become knowledgeable of as they embark on the brave new world of Linux.

1. Embrace the command line

Yes, there is a graphical user interface, (GUI) for Linux, but the command line rules in Linux. We can’t stress enough how important it is to learn how to navigate directories (cd), change permissions (chmod), and list contents (ls). Your best friend will become the -h argument to any command to get the help menu for whatever you’re attempting.

It will be essential to know how to install and update your server and applications, (apt-get, yum, and zypper) as it may be your responsibility not only to just perform this task for the database tier, but also the server if a Linux administrator isn’t already on staff in your organization.

You will also need to learn how to update your existing PowerShell scripts to work on Linux or learn how to write BASH scripts. This is commonly done from a terminal editor and one of the best is VI/VIM. Knowing how to use VI will give you credibility when working with Linux and deter too many questions when in the middle of critical work or even day-to-day tasks.

2. Understand the operating system

There are many distributions (aka flavors) of Linux, which has grown from the original release. Each distribution, although very similar, may have their own unique requirements and quirks. Understanding what distributions are best for enterprise deployments can ensure what you have deployed into the environment can withstand the demands the business puts on it. It was only two decades ago that Unix DBAs were hesitant to run relational databases on any version of Linux. In that time, every distribution has come a long way, but many distributions have a purpose. If we take a very specific flavor of Debian, called Raspbian, it was specifically designed to run the operating system for Raspberry Pis, which are single Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) processor computers. Understanding the difference in a distribution like Raspbian vs. enterprise Linux distributions like Enterprise Red Hat, Enterprise SUSE, and Ubuntu is important. Just because you can get SQL Server to run on non-supported Linux distributions such as CentOS doesn’t mean you should run the business on them. Stick to the supported versions and the user experience will be more satisfying along with new features available in regular release intervals.

3. Use the tools you already have

Just because SQL Server is running on Linux doesn’t mean that your previous robust tools for management, monitoring, and querying won’t work any longer. As a DBA, you can still use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and preferably, use Azure Data Studio to connect to your Linux SQL Server 2019 databases. You can’t install Server Management Studio onto Linux, but you can create a Windows “jump box” with Server Management Studio and configure it as the primary log in point for administration tasks. Developers can still access SQL Server 2019 on Linux with Visual Studio Code with the SQL Server extension and have full use of SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT).

As this is Linux, the command line is still king. Sqlcmd is available to log in from on the Linux server to execute queries, run scripts, and perform management. Sqlcmd doesn’t change in the Linux version and executing a script is as simple as the following example, which logs in as the admin user to the database and password, then runs a script and logs it all in a simple text file:

sqlcmd -U $username -S $servername  -P $spassword -d $database -i $script.sql > $logfile

4. Build on existing knowledge with new tools

PowerShell is taking center stage on Linux with new releases on a regular basis, so keep those skills sharp and with a few changes, many of the scripts you use today can be updated to work on SQL Server 2019 on Linux. Although sqlcmd is available for your querying command line needs, there is a new tool in town called mssql-cli.

This installation is a simple, on-line command:

sudo pip install mssql-cli

If there are any issues with installation, Linux is commonly quite good about telling you what library or tool dependencies that must be installed before the installation needs to be run again for success.

Always remember, if you get stuck, help is always available to offer assistance:

mssql-cli –h

To log into a database, the following is required:

mssql-cli -U $username -S $servername -P $password -d $database

If you notice the command is very similar to the example we used for sqlcmd rest easy, your world hasn’t changed as much as you were concerned about. Once you’re logged into mssql-cli, you’ll be able to use this to access SQL Server 2019 databases inside Linux. Features like auto-complete with IntelliSense, multi-line editing, and a metadata repository makes it easier to work with the command line for those just getting up to speed with SQL Server 2019 on Linux. There are a few limitations in mssql-cli, like the ability to execute scripts or send an output aren’t present, but the same queries that worked on-premises in sqlcmd will work here. Keep in mind that this new tool is in its infancy and still maturing on a regular release schedule.

The third new tool isn’t that new but is the next powerhouse to take on the DBA since SQL Server Management Studio and is called Azure Data Studio. If you haven’t embraced this cross-platform tool specifically designed for data professionals, you’re missing out. No more 32-bit interface, this is a modern interface with IntelliSense, code control integration, and customizable dashboards.

The biggest benefit is that it can be installed on Linux with no local installation or jump box required. All three primary Linux distributions are supported, as well as a Mac OS installation. Database administration tasks that are less likely to be required with cloud implementations, such as on-premises physical management, backups, etc. still will require SQL Server Management Studio, but if you’re part of the next generation of cloud administrators that have automated much of the mundane, then Azure Data Studio is a must.

5. Consider the power of containers

With Linux and SQL Server 2019, the addition of Big Data Clusters with Kubernetes support has been added. The reasons behind using containers are vast including simplified deployment, ease of management, and quicker recovery, but then add Big Data Clusters on top of this and it becomes quite the powerhouse.

Containers with Kubernetes offers DBAs the opportunity to manage the database without the added layer of separate OS for each node, or group of nodes, that is also called a pod. Less resources have to be allocated per database and without the additional layer, it can recover quicker.

Using Kubernetes, or similar sorted container orchestration, Big Data Clusters can be deployed, then manage a cluster of SQL Server, Apache Spark™, and the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). Polybase is then used to virtualize data from various data sources with SQL Server, while an HDFS data pool can be used as a data lake for all big data using Apache Spark™. The SQL Server master instance simplifies the management and includes read, write, and processing of all data, no matter the source and is an exciting new frontier in the SQL Server 2019 release for Linux.

The list above includes just a few of the significant opportunities to learn and build your skills in Linux with SQL Server 2019. To help you on the way to mastering SQL Server 2019 on Linux, a number of resources have been made available through Microsoft, including this incredible new Packt e-book Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2019. Don’t miss out on the next generation of SQL Server. Learn all the things and let Microsoft help you get there. If you’re ready to jump to a fully managed cloud solution, check out the Essential Guide to Data in the Cloud.

The post What’s new with SQL Server 2019 Linux features appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.