End-to-end migration simplified

If you’ve been using SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc, you’re likely familiar with continuous migration assessments that offer target recommendations, technical readiness, and cost estimates. Now, we’re taking the next step forward by introducing automated, end-to-end migration capabilities in SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc.

Once you’ve assessed the Azure readiness of your SQL Server instances, you can now select or provision your Azure targets such as Azure SQL Managed Instance, without jumping between various tools or places in the Azure portal. This streamlined workflow eliminates context switching and simplifies provisioning. You’ll see estimated costs during the provisioning process, giving you clear visibility and confidence to plan ahead. Plus, you can take advantage of the free Azure SQL Managed Instance offer to evaluate at no cost, making it easier to get started. 

Real-time database replication is also integrated into the new migration capability. This new method, built on top of distributed availability groups, enables near real-time database replication from SQL Server to Azure SQL Managed Instance. Setting up real-time replication manually can be a complex multi-step process, but Azure Arc simplifies the entire process while providing best-in-class monitoring. If a customer decides to go back to on-premises, Azure SQL Managed Instance Link also supports seamless failback (if the source SQL Server instance is SQL Server 2022 and above). 

Migrate with confidence 

The new capability empowers customers to migrate with confidence. Before officially cutting over, you can validate that the target Azure SQL Managed Instance meets your business requirements by using the target instance as a read-only replica.  

In addition, the client connection summary feature in SQL Server, enabled by Azure Arc, automatically and continuously captures and displays which clients are connecting to each instance. This replaces the previous manual and time-consuming process of tracing applications to their databases, giving customers clear visibility and helping ensure a smooth transition to Azure.

Get started today 

If you’re looking to simplify and accelerate your migration to Azure, this new connected capability can help you get there faster—with less downtime, lower overhead, and more confidence. 

• Learn more on our Tech Community blog.
• Learn more about the new migration capability in Azure Arc on Microsoft Learn.
• Onboard your SQL Server to Azure Arc today.
• Learn more about continuous migration assessment from SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc.

Frequently asked questions 

1. What is SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc?  

SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc extends Azure services to SQL Server instances hosted outside of Azure: in your data center, in edge site locations like retail stores, or any public cloud or hosting provider. 

Azure Arc enables you to consistently manage SQL Server instances across hybrid and multicloud environments, bringing cloud innovations such as automated updates, unified policy, best practices assessment, and advanced security to SQL Server running anywhere.

2. What’s the continuous migration assessment from Azure Arc?  

Microsoft has announced the general availability of continuous migration assessments for SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc, marking a step forward in simplifying cloud migration planning. This release introduces a redesigned assessment experience that provides deeper insights and more intuitive navigation, especially for single Arc-enabled instances. 

One of the standout features is the integration of retail pricing visibility across all Azure savings options, including Azure Hybrid Benefit (AHB), reserved instances, and Azure savings plans. These pricing insights are now available for Azure SQL Database, SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs), helping users make informed cost decisions.  

3. What is Azure Database Migration Service? 

Azure Database Migration Service is a fully managed service designed to seamlessly migrate databases to Azure with minimal downtime. It supports both homogeneous migrations (such as SQL Server to Azure SQL) and heterogeneous migrations (such as Oracle to Azure PostgreSQL).

4. What are the migration methods in the new migration capability? 

The following methods are built into the migration process. Azure SQL Managed Instance link enables near real-time database replication using distributed availability groups. Log Replay Service uses SQL Server log-shipping technology and requires a brief planned cutover. Review the Microsoft Learn page to understand the differences between these two migration methods and choose the option that best suits your needs.

The post Accelerate SQL Server Migration to Azure with Azure Arc  appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

“We are allowing the cloud provider to handle hardware resource allocation and maintenance so that our staff focus on program development. This strategy ensures that during system operation we no longer need to worry about hardware failures, power instability or information security issues, greatly improving the system’s operational reliability.”

—Ching-Lung Chang, CIO, Library and Information Services Office at YunTech .

Modernize to Azure, a smooth path, 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 Server and Microsoft Azure 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.  

Modernizing to Microsoft Azure SQL Managed Instance offers cost savings, scalability, security, seamless migration, productivity, and always up-to-date features. Now in preview, Azure SQL Managed Instance next generation general purpose delivers improved performance and scalability, making migration and modernization faster and easier across more customer scenarios.  

Azure is the destination, but we know the journey matters just as much. A new SQL Server migration experience is now under preview in Azure Arc. It is powered by Azure Database Migration Service and offers seamless, end-to-end migration capabilities including continuous migration assessments, simplified provisioning, and real-time database replication, assisted by Copilot in Azure. What once took months can now be accomplished in just days, with confidence, continuity, and control.

In-place upgrade to SQL Server 2025  

Another way to stay protected is to upgrade your SQL Server to  SQL Server 2025. Built on SQL Server’s legacy of best-in-class security, performance and availability, SQL Server 2025 empowers you to develop modern AI applications using your data. It provides built-in, extensible AI capabilities, enhanced developer productivity, and seamless integration with Azure and Fabric, all within SQL Server engine using the familiar T-SQL language. 

The upgrade experience has been streamlined. With the retirement of Azure Data Studio and Data Migration Assistant, migration capabilities are now integrated directly into SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). This eliminates the need for separate tools, reducing complexity and effort. In SSMS 21, a new migration extension allows DBAs and partners to assess and upgrade SQL Server instances from older to newer versions, all within the same management environment. 

Stay protected on-premises or in multi-cloud environments with Azure Arc  

Extended Security Updates for SQL Server 2016 offers an enhanced cloud experience through Azure Arc. With this customer-centric approach, security updates will be natively available in the Azure portal through Azure Arc. Enabling your SQL Server with Azure Arc also unlocks Azure benefits and flexible subscription billing for SQL Server 2016 workloads on-premises or across multi-cloud environments.  

If you enable Extended Security Updates subscription in your production environment through Azure Arc, you have access to SQL Server Extended Security Updates subscription in the non-production environment for free, through SQL Server Developer edition or an Azure Dev/Test subscription.  

We encourage all our customers running SQL Server 2016 to start planning for the end of support. We have migration resources, best practices, and more, as well as a rich ecosystem of partners ready to help. To get started, please visit the following pages to learn more: 

• Why migrate Windows Server and SQL Server to Azure: ROI, innovation, and free offers.
• Get the full return on investment (ROI) and total cost ownership (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.
• Onboard your SQL Server to Azure Arc.

Frequently asked questions 

What does end of support mean? 

Microsoft Lifecycle Policy offers 10 years of support (five years for mainstream support and five years for extended support) for business and developer products (such as SQL Server and Windows Server). After the end of the extended support period, there are no patches or security updates, which might cause security and compliance issues, and expose your applications and business to serious security risks. 

What do Extended Security Updates include? 

Extended Security Updates include provision of security updates and bulletins rated critical by the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), for a maximum of three years after the end of extended support.  

Extended Security Updates are distributed if and when available. Extended Security Updates don’t include technical support. Customers must purchase a paid support plan (Pay Per Incident, Unified, and Premier Support for Partners) to leverage technical support. Extended Security Updates don’t include new features, functional improvements, nor customer-requested fixes. However, Microsoft might include non-security fixes as deemed necessary. 

Why do Extended Security Updates only offer “critical” updates? 

For end of support events in the past, SQL Server provided only critical security updates, which meets the compliance criteria of our enterprise customers. SQL Server doesn’t ship a general monthly security update.

The post Protect and modernize SQL Server 2016 workloads with Microsoft  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 generate a production-ready schema-only copy of a database, it’s highly recommended to utilize tools such as Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT); the Generate and Publish scripts Wizard; or data-tier application extraction, which includes either the Extract Data-tier Application (DAC) Wizard or a PowerShell script. These tools provide a reliable way to create a copy of a database for use in production environments.

Learn more about

• DBCC CLONEDATABASE (Transact-SQL) – SQL Server
• Clone an Existing Database – SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)
• Generate and Publish Scripts Wizard – SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
• Create a statistics-only database using a generated statistics script – SQL Server
• Extract a DAC from a Database – SQL Server

Frequently asked questions

What is SSDT?

SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) is a modern development tool that integrates with Microsoft Visual Studio and provides design, debugging, and deployment capabilities for building SQL Server relational databases, databases in Azure SQL, Analysis Services (AS) data models, Integration Services (IS) packages, and Reporting Services (RS) reports. With SSDT, developers can perform necessary tasks without needing the admin-focused SQL Server Management tool on their developer computer. Essentially, Visual Studio removes unnecessary features like admin tools, and focuses on tools that are useful for developers, like database and schema comparison tools.

What is the Generate and Publish Scripts Wizard?

The Generate and Publish Scripts Wizard is a feature in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) that allows you to create scripts for transferring a database between instances of the SQL Server Database Engine or Azure SQL Database. You can generate scripts for a database on an instance of the Database Engine in your local network, or from SQL Database. The generated scripts can be run on another instance of the Database Engine or SQL Database. You can also use the wizard to publish the contents of a database directly to a Web service created by using the Database Publishing Services. You can create scripts for an entire database or limit it to specific objects.

What is a data-tier application (DAC)?

A data-tier application (DAC) is a logical database entity that defines all of the SQL Server objects—such as tables, views, and instance objects, including logins—associated with a user’s database. A DAC is a self-contained unit of the entire database model and is portable in an artifact known as a DAC package, or .dacpac. Tooling support for data-tier applications enables developers and database administrators to deploy dacpacs to new or existing databases. Deployments to an existing database update the database model from the existing state to match the contents of the dacpac. Developers build DACs from SQL database projects, a declarative development concept for building SQL objects that enables source control on the database schema.

A .bacpac is a related artifact that, by default, encapsulates the database schema and the data stored in the database. The primary use case for a BACPAC is to move a database from one server to another—or to migrate a database from a local server to the cloud—and archiving an existing database in an open format.

What is DBCC CLONEDATABASE command?

DBCC CLONEDATABASE creates a new database that contains the schema of all the objects and statistics from the specified source database. Cloned databases copy all schema and metadata of the source database without copying any data.

How do I use Schema Compare to compare different database definitions?

SSDT includes a Schema Compare utility that you can use to compare two database definitions. The source and target of the comparison can be any combination of connected database, SQL Server database project or snapshot, or .dacpac file. The results of the comparison appear as a set of actions that must be taken with the target to make it the same as the source. Once the comparison is complete, you can update the target directly (if the target is a project or a database) or generate an update script that has the same effect.

The differences between source and target appear in a grid for easy review. You can drill into and review each difference in the results grid or in script form. You can then selectively exclude specific differences.

You can save comparisons either as part of an SQL Server Database project or as a standalone file. You can also set options that control the scope of the comparison and aspects of the update. Then you can save the comparison so that you can easily repeat the same comparison later or use it as the starting point for a new comparison.

Why do I need to generate a schema-only clone of a database with statistics in SQL Server?

You will need to generate a schema-only clone of a database with statistics to investigate performance issues.

The query optimizer in SQL Server uses the following types of information to determine an optimal query plan:

• Database metadata
• Hardware environment
• Database session state

Typically, you must simulate all these same types of information to reproduce the behavior of the query optimizer on a test system.

Microsoft Customer Support Services might ask you to generate a schema script of the database along with statistics to investigate a query optimizer issue.

The post Update on the support of DBCC CLONEDATABASE for production use appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

In SQL Server 2016 through 2019, we added R and Python language support, which enable secure execution of R and Python programs in the context of a SQL Server query. This enables a wide range of scenarios such as performing advanced text and data preparation tasks, and reaching out to external APIs to get data and also training machine learning models and model scoring.

Previously, we announced a Java extension. Today, we are sharing that we are open sourcing the R and Python language extensions for SQL Server for both Windows and Linux on GitHub.

These extensions are the latest examples using an evolved programming language extensibility architecture which allows integration with a new type of language extension. This new architecture gives customers the freedom to bring their own runtime and execute programs using that runtime in SQL Server, while leveraging the existing security and governance that the SQL Server programming language extensibility architecture provides.

Choosing which runtime to use does provide the flexibility to choose different distributions of R and Python, and as newer versions of the R and Python runtimes get released, this architecture will make it easier to upgrade the R and Python runtime. Enterprises need to have a support contract in place for their R and Python runtime.

Now that support is not an issue, let’s look at what use cases R and Python can enable inside SQL Server. Bringing R and Python workloads closer to the data opens a variety of possibilities:

• Run R and Python scripts to do data preparation and general purpose data processing.
• Train machine learning models in database.
• Deploy your models and scripts into production in stored procedures.
• Furthermore, this will help avoid unnecessary data movement and latency when data must be retrieved from SQL Server and moved into the app tier to do the business logic processing.
• Data Security Model of database logins and roles extend to external scripts.
• Avoid impersonation attempts.
• Prevent the installation of malware.

Why Open Source?

The R and Python language extension leverages the Extensibility Framework API for SQL Server to communicate and exchange data with SQL Server. This API has been publicly documented. The API in combination with the open source code of the R and Python language extension provides an end to end example implementation of how a programming language extension can be built. This makes it easier for additional programming language extensions to be built for SQL Server by the community. What language extensions would you like to see?

Get started

Whether you are interested in creating your own language extension or just using the R and Python language extension for SQL Server, here is some more information to get you started.

The post Open sourcing the R and Python language extensions for SQL Server appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

This year myself and other members of the Microsoft SQL Server Engineering and support teams will be at the PASS Summit again in a major way with keynotes, a pre-conference session, conference sessions, theater sessions, a great booth, and the always popular Data Clinic.

We have already received great interested in our pre-conference session called Modernize Your SQL Server with Bob Ward, the Tiger Team, and CSS Escalation Engineers on Tuesday, November 6th. You can read more about this session at the PASS Summit Session webpage.

Whether you have registered or not, it is not too late to register for this pre-conference seminar. It has been awhile since I have participated in a pre-conference seminar at the PASS Summit. I’m excited what this one is about. We know that many of our customers are still using legacy releases of SQL Server like 2005, 2008, and 2008R2. If you are in this situation and wondering should I make the move to something new, something more modern, then this session is for you.

This session is not just an upgrade session! Sure we will show you how to migrate but our intention is to provide you with everything you need on how to modernize. Now you can learn the capabilities of SQL Server 2016, 2017, 2019, SQL Server on Linux, containers, Azure Virtual Machine, and Azure SQL Database in a way to know what features make a migration compelling. Our day also includes pre and post migration advice to maximize your investments and architectural guidance for key areas like performance, security, and HADR (the “meat and potatoes” of SQL Server).

The team of folks I have lined up to train you this day is nothing short of amazing. Every person that will be there to train you all have extensive customer experience and practical knowledge. This includes members of the Tiger Team such as Amit Banerjee, Pam Lahoud, Pedro Lopes, Argenis Fernandez, Sourabh Agarwal, and Vin Yu. In addition, we want you to be able to diagnose and troubleshoot problems with new technologies in a modern way so I’m bringing in some of the top talent of CSS including Suresh Kandoth and Sean Gallardy. It will be a packed day but also an opportunity when you can talk to us 1:1 about your SQL Server installation base and what and how modernization will help you.

You will walk away from this session with the resources you need including all of our content and demo scripts and examples. We look forward to everyone coming to this session and I would love to meet each and every one of you personally to talk about your modernization plans for SQL Server.

Stay tuned for future blog posts where I’ll show you the other great session and content the Microsoft SQL Server team has available at the PASS 2018 Summit.

The post Modernize your SQL Server at the PASS Summit 2018 appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

Customers will get significantly improved query performance and enhanced security features with this release. APS AU7 builds on appliance update 6 (APS 2016) release as a foundation. Upgrading to APS appliance update 6 is a prerequisite to upgrade to appliance update 7.

Faster performance

APS AU7 now provides the ability to automatically create statistics and update of existing outdated statistics for improved query optimization. APS AU7 also adds support for setting multiple variables from a single select statement reducing the number of redundant round trips to the server and improving overall query and ETL performance time. Other T-SQL features include HASH and ORDER GROUP query hints to provide more control over improving query execution plans.

Better security

APS AU7 also includes latest firmware and drivers along with the hardware and software patch to address the Spectre/Meltdown vulnerability from our hardware partners.

Management enhancements

Customers already on APS2016 will experience an enhanced upgrade process to APS AU7 allowing a shorter maintenance window with the ability to uninstall and rollback to a previous version.
AU7 also introduces a section called Feature Switch in configuration manager giving customers the ability to customize the behavior of new features.

Flexibility of choice with Microsoft’s data warehouse portfolio

The latest update is an addition to already existing data warehouse portfolio from Microsoft, covering a range of technology and deployment options that help customers get to insights faster. Customers exploring data warehouse products can also consider SQL Server with Fast Track for Data Warehouse or Azure SQL Data Warehouse, a cloud-based fully managed service.

Next Steps

For more details about these features, please visit our online documentation.

The post Microsoft releases the latest update of Analytics Platform System appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 2 (“SP2”) contains a roll-up of released hotfixes as well as multiple improvements centered around performance, scalability, and supportability based on feedback from customers and the SQL community. These improvements enable SQL Server 2016 to perform faster and with expanded supportability and diagnostics. It also showcases the SQL Server product team’s commitment to providing continued value into in-market releases.

SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 2 includes:

• Performance and scale improvements for SQL Server, such as improved database backup performance on large memory machines and added backup compression support, which helps performance of almost all databases.
• Supportability and diagnostics enhancements, such as improved troubleshooting and additional information about statistics used during query plan optimization.
• New improvements based on Connect feedback items filed by the SQL Server Community.
• Some improvements originally introduced in SQL Server 2014 SP2 and SQL Server 2012 SP4.

Find more information on SQL Server 2016 SP2 in our KB article and Release Notes, and download today by visiting the links below:

• SQL Server 2016 SP2
• SQL Server 2016 SP2 Express
• SQL Server 2016 SP2 Feature Packs

If you have a question or would like to make a suggestion, you can let us know through UserVoice. We look forward to hearing from you!

The post SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 2 is now available appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

Efficient data management keeps goods flowing smoothly in Denmark. Danske Fragtmaend, the country’s largest national transport and distribution firm, has been moving freight for more than a century. Today, Danske Fragtmaend delivers more than 40,000 consignments each day throughout Denmark, and businesses from small mom-and-pop operations to factories rely on its services.

The firm handles logistics in a central location, where 200 dispatchers keep an eye on the movement of thousands of trucks and their cargo. Both drivers and dispatchers need the latest information to operate efficiently, so they rely on a data platform based on SQL Server 2016. The storage system includes 160 terabytes of flash memory for fast I/O and high uptimes. Throughout the day, drivers continually scan transactions with PDAs and send shipping information including GPS coordinates to the data platform. Fast access to information is essential. Ulf Preisler, chief information officer at Danske Fragtmaend, says, “When it comes to short-term logistics, you’ve got to think like an air traffic controller more than a traditional radio dispatcher.”

Because the data changes rapidly, asynchronous replication between geographically disparate datacenters was inadequate. Instead, Danske Fragtmaend runs SQL Server on Windows 2016. Windows Server 2016 introduces a new disaster recovery and preparedness feature, Storage Replica, which enables storage-agnostic, synchronous replication of data across geographically diverse datacenters. Even if disaster strikes one location, all the data exists elsewhere, so there is no possibility of loss.

Best of all, companies that combine flash storage with the latest versions of SQL Server and Windows Server can achieve a multiplying effect on performance. Danske Fragmaend’s lead software developer, Morten Vinther, ran several tests to compare the old storage stack with the new one. “After combining the new all-flash infrastructure and the features from SQL Server 2016 on Windows Server 2016, one of our BI queries ran 9,521 times faster than on the prior infrastructure. That is much more than we expected.”

To find out more about Danske Fragtmaend’s SQL Server 2016 implementation, read the customer story.

Customer Name: Danske Fragtmaend
Industry: Transportation and logistics
Country or Region: Denmark
Customer Website: www.fragt.dk
Employee Size: 900

The post Keeping freight moving in Denmark with SQL Server 2016 appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.

Have you ever seen a tree that simultaneously bears completely different species of fruit? It’s a real thing: apples, plums, oranges, lemons, and peaches all growing on the same tree. The growers have the advantage of a consistent environment (the same tree) that allows them to be efficient with resources, pick the type of fruit they need when they need it, and always have the right kind of fruit without having to invest in specialized plants.

Those trees are like the consistent foundation shared by SQL Server 2016, Windows Server 2016, and Microsoft Azure: Common code underlying the Microsoft platform makes it possible to run your data workloads seamlessly on-premises, in a hybrid environment, or strictly in the cloud—and to pick the option you need, while moving easily from one environment to the other.

Common code = Unique value

The common code base creates a write-once-deploy-anywhere SQL Server and Windows Server experience. You have flexibility across physical on-premises machines, private cloud environments, third-party hosted private cloud environments, public cloud, and hybrid deployments. Figure 1 diagrams this unique platform.

Figure 1: Microsoft Data Platform: On-premises, hybrid, and cloud

This means that you can choose a hybrid deployment and take advantage of any of the four basic options for hosting SQL Server:

1. SQL Server in on-premises non-virtualized physical machines
2. SQL Server in on-premises virtualized machines
3. SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machine. This is SQL Server installed and hosted in the cloud on Windows Server virtual machines (VMs) running on Azure. Also known as infrastructure as a service (IaaS), it is optimized to “lift and shift” existing SQL Server applications to the cloud. All versions and editions of SQL Server are available, including free ones for dev/test and lightweight workloads.
4. Azure SQL Database (Microsoft public cloud). This is a SQL Server database native to the cloud and compatible with most SQL Server features. It is also known as a platform as a service (PaaS) database or a database as a service (DBaaS). It delivers all the agility and world-class security features of Azure and is ideal for software as a service (SaaS) app development.

When you run SQL Server on Windows Server, whether on-premises or in an IaaS virtual machine, you get the benefit of:

• Improved database performance and availability with support for up to 24 terabytes of memory and 640 cores on a single server.
• Built-in security at the operating system level. For example, when database admins can use a single Active Directory management pane across Azure and on-premises machines to set policies, enable/disable access, etc., it truly raises the security bar across the organization.
• Simple and seamless upgrades with Rolling Upgrades.
• Ability to make SQL highly available on any cloud with Storage Spaces Direct to create virtual shared storage across VMs.
• Access to new classes of direct-attach storage (such as NVMe) for applications that require redundant storage across machines.
• Reduce costs of hosting additional VMs by leveraging a Cloud Witness.

You benefit from the ability to use familiar server products, development tools, and technical expertise across all environments. No other platform delivers across this spectrum of implementations and builds in hybrid capabilities everywhere. Learn how to choose Azure SQL (PaaS) Database or SQL Server on Azure VMs (IaaS).

Free migration tools

Further easing the way to hybrid and cloud solutions are the SQL Azure Migration Wizard and other free migration tools. These are designed to provide easy migration of Windows Server 2016 servers to virtual machines in the cloud.

When determining how much hardware to allocate for certain applications, downsizing datacenters, or migrating existing workloads to virtual machines (VMs), you can tap into cloud capabilities in several ways:

• Backup to Azure, including, managed backup, backup to Azure Block Blobs, and Azure Storage snapshot backup.
• The Azure Site Recovery tool to migrate workloads on on-premises VMs and physical servers to run on Azure VMs, with full replication and backup, Azure IaaS VMs between Azure regions, and AWS Windows instances to Azure IaaS VMs. Easy addition of an Azure node to an AlwaysOn Availability Group in a hybrid environment.
• Two new limited previews, Azure Database Migration Service and Azure SQL Database – Managed Instance, create a great path for customers looking for a way to easily modernize their existing database environment to a fully managed PaaS service without application redesign.

SQL Server License Mobility and Azure Hybrid Use Benefit for Windows Server

Even licensing is designed to ensure that wherever you deploy, you can cost-effectively take advantage of all the options.

• SQL Server customers with active Software Assurance can use existing licenses on Azure Virtual Machines with no extra charges to SQL Server licensing. Simply assign core licenses equal to the virtual cores in the VM, and pay only for VM compute costs.
• License Mobility ensures you can easily move SQL Server databases to the cloud using your existing licensing agreement with active Software Assurance. No additional licensing is required for SQL Server passive high availability (HA) nodes; you can configure a passive VM with up to the same compute as your active node to deliver uptime.
• Windows Server customers with Software Assurance can save up to 40 percent by leveraging on-premises licenses to move workloads to Azure VMs with this Azure Hybrid Use Benefit.

SQL Server 2016 with Windows Server 2016: Built for hybrid cloud

Microsoft continues to build in innovation so that organizations do not have to purchase expensive add-ins to get the benefits of the cloud with security features, simplicity, and consistency across on-premises and the cloud. Together, SQL Server 2016 and Windows Server 2016 will bear fruit for your organization. Get started on hybrid now.

Learn more about SQL Server in Azure VM in this datasheet.

Try SQL Server in Azure.

Improve security, performance, and flexibility with SQL Server 2016 and Windows Server 2016

By running SQL Server 2016 and Windows Server 2016 together you can unlock the full potential of the Microsoft data platform. This series of blogs on five reasons to run these two new releases together barely scratches the surface. What’s the best way to find out just how powerful this combination is? Try it out! Download your free trial of Windows Server 2016 and SQL Server 2016 today.

Read more

• Five reasons to run SQL Server 2016 on Windows Server 2016, part 1
• Five reasons to run SQL Server 2016 on Windows Server 2016, part 2
• Five reasons to run SQL Server 2016 on Windows Server 2016, part 3
• Five reasons to run SQL Server 2016 on Windows Server 2016, part 4

The post Five reasons to run SQL Server 2016 on Windows Server 2016 – No. 5: Consistent data environment across hybrid cloud environments appeared first on Microsoft SQL Server Blog.