Guidance on choosing SQL Server storage options in Azure We’re excited to announce the public preview of the Premium SSD v2 provisioning experience for SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) deployed in the Azure portal. Premium SSD v2 storage improves performance, reliability, and scalability of your SQL Server workloads while offering robust resource capacity, as you can create a single disk with up to 64 TiBs, 80,000 input/output per second (IOPS), and 1,200 MB/s throughput. When building Azure SQL VMs in the cloud, DBAs have several storage choices they can consider to give their appli ..read more

DBCC CLONEDATABASE command generates a schema-only clone or copy of a database. Effective March 1, 2025, Microsoft will no longer support creating copy of a database using the DBCC CLONEDATABASE command and using it as a new database in a production environment. However, the command will persist for generating schema-only copies solely for diagnostic and troubleshooting purposes. This change impacts all editions of SQL Server 2016 and later versions.   To generate a production-ready schema-only copy of a database, it’s highly recommended to utilize tools such as Microsoft SQL Server Data ..read more

Over the past year, we have had a first-row seat to just how fast the introduction of new technologies can change businesses across nearly every industry. The adoption of generative AI goes beyond a platform shift, it is transforming how we do everything and reshaping what’s possible for our business and in our day-to-day lives. And while we cannot yet see the ways AI will continue to impact the way we work, we at Microsoft know you need a platform that can grow with you and expand the horizons of what’s possible, powered by intelligent, limitless, and trusted solutions that can touch every co ..read more

In December 2025, Microsoft will discontinue support for the Change Data Capture (CDC) components by Attunity and Change Data Capture (CDC) service for Oracle by Attunity of SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). This blog provides details to help support customers in modernizing to new solutions well in advance of this change. The following components for which support will be discontinued: Change Data Capture (CDC) components by Attunity. This is an integrated extract, transform and load (ETL) feature in Enterprise editions of SQL Server 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2022. As an integrated feature ..read more

Whether you build applications for SQL Server on-premises or in Azure, there are several options for you to develop or test for free, or with substantial cost savings. Some of these options you may be familiar with, but this post will help explain details and answer some questions Microsoft often gets to provide you a clear story. 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 documentatio ..read more

At Microsoft, we’re seeing firsthand how data is powering incredible innovation and accelerating more than just a platform shift, it is changing the way we do everything. AI and generative AI are not futuristic abstract concepts, they are being deployed by millions every day, transforming every industry. Tapping into the full potential of that opportunity requires the right platform, powered by the right combination of powerful applications and limitless databases.   We are excited to get back in front of customers at Microsoft Ignite 2023 and PASS Data Community Summit to annou ..read more

SQL Server has brought reliability and security to mission-critical workloads for 30 years. SQL Server 2022, released November 2022, delivers performance enhancements as well as Azure connectivity for disaster recovery, analytics, and governance. Now customers like Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) are using SQL Server 2022 to expand their capabilities to better support a truly worldwide operation. “Features like Query Store hints and the next generation of Intelligent Query Processing are awesome. The possibility of improving and maintaining great performance over time without code change ..read more

Microsoft SQL Server Machine Learning Services is a feature that allows you to run Python, R, Java, and other Machine Learning languages in-database, using open-source packages and frameworks for predictive analytics and machine learning. Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service is an AI cognitive service that uses advanced systems for natural language, code, and image generation and understanding. In this blog post, you will see how you can use SQL Server Machine Learning Services with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in a practical example. Using SQL Server Machine Learning Services with Azure Open ..read more

Introducing the new centrally managed Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server. Today, Microsoft is pleased to announce the release of centrally managed Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server, a new Azure portal feature that helps you improve SQL Server license management at multiple levels, including at account(s) and subscription levels, so you can ensure you are making the most out of your investments with the Microsoft SQL Server platform. Having full visibility into your SQL Server estate can help optimize your costs, as it enables the ability to track your SQL Server with Software Assurance lice ..read more

Part of the SQL Server 2022 blog series.  We are excited to share that there are several Accelerated Database Recovery (ADR) enhancements in SQL Server 2022 that further improve the overall availability and scalability of the database, primarily around persistent version store (PVS) cleanup and management. Overview of Accelerated Database Recovery (ADR)  ADR improves database availability, especially in the presence of long running transactions, by redesigning the SQL database engine recovery process. ADR is introduced in SQL Server 2019 (15.x) and improved in SQL Server 2022 (1 ..read more