Azure SQL News Update: June 2022

Microsoft

Jun 01, 2022

Today Data Exposed goes live at 12PM PT on LearnTV. Every 4 weeks, we’ll do a News Update. We’ll include product updates, videos, blogs, etc. as well as upcoming events and things to look out for. If you missed the episode, you can find them all at https://aka.ms/AzureSQLYT. This month we’ll recap all the updates and announcements in the database space for Microsoft Build.

You can read this blog to get all the updates and references mentioned in the show. Here’s the June 2022 update:

Product updates

Lots of exciting news in the database space in May, especially with Microsoft Build being last week. You can access all the Microsoft Build 2022 content at https://mybuild.microsoft.com.

Bob Ward came on the show to tell us about the updates related to SQL Server – namely, we announced SQL Server 2022 public preview! Bob shared his highlights in the release including Synapse Link, Azure Arc integration in setup, parameter sensitive plan (PSP) optimization, DOP feedback, SQL Ledger, System page latch concurrency, contained AGs, TDS 8.0, S3 data virtualization, SSMS 19, and more! He also share a bunch of resources to learn more:

https://aka.ms/getsqlserver2022
https://aka.ms/sqlserver2022
https://aka.ms/dataexposed-sqlserver2022
https://aka.ms/bobsqldemos
Synapse Link: https://aka.ms/slinkforsql
Purview: https://aka.ms/dynamiclineage

Next, I flew through some of the awesome Azure SQL Database announcements including the GA of Azure SQL Database ledger. Product Manager Pieter Vanhove came on to tell us more about it in SQL Database and SQL Server 2022, how it works, and the use cases. Learn how you can bring the power of blockchain easily to your databases and applications starting with the Ledger GA Announcement Blog. From there, you’ll find references to the whitepaper, documentation, case studies from Lenovo and RTSG, as well as a demo with code, and a podcast!

Some of the other Azure SQL Database announcements in the public preview space include Synapse Link, JSON enhancements, and Power BI Datamart support. These are highly anticipated capabilities that you can now try out for yourself! We also expanded the Azure SQL bindings for Azure Functions support (currently in public preview) by adding support for JavaScript and Python functions. This enables you to develop more efficiently between Azure SQL and Azure Functions. Finally, in public preview we announced a local development experience. The new local development environment provides a containerized, full-fidelity Azure SQL Database emulator together with Visual Studio Code and Azure Data Studio extensions. It will help you design, develop, and test your applications and databases as part of the same source-controlled project and then publish them to public Azure SQL Database service within the same workflow. Oh and one extra was the private preview announcement of Azure SQL Database external REST endpoints. See the link for information on how to try it out.

In the hybrid space, we announced Business Critical tier for Azure Arc-enabled SQL Managed Instance as generally available.

Other database updates

Starting in 2022 we’re trying to keep you updated on what’s going on with other database services at Microsoft, as we understand that oftentimes you’re using more than one service. Here are the updates I gathered from May 2022.

Azure Cosmos DB

Azure Database for MySQL – Flexible Server

Public preview: Azure Cosmos DB API for MongoDB data plane RBAC

Public preview: Enhanced elasticity features for Azure Cosmos DB

General availability: Azure Cosmos DB Python SDK async IO support

General availability: Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server Business Critical service tier

Generally available: Azure Database for MySQL – Flexible Server 80 vCore Business Critical

Generally available: Minor versions upgrade for Azure Database for MySQL – Flexible Server

Flexible Server: Integration with Azure Data Factory and Synapse Analytics

Flexible Server: Azure Service Connector Support

Shreya Aithal came on the show to tell us more about some of the updates in the Azure Database for MySQL – Flexible Server space.

Videos

We continued to release new and exciting episodes this month. Here is the list, or you can just see the playlist we created with all the episodes!

[MVP Edition] Bjoern Peters: Migrating your database to Azure SQL - Preparation is everything
Bob Ward: Build Announcements: SQL Server 2022 public preview and Azure SQL updates | Data Exposed
Dani Ljepava: Connecting SQL Server 2016 to Azure - SQL Managed Instance link
[SQL Insider Series] Laura Grob: Restoring a backup from LTR in Azure SQL DB (Ep. 1)
Davide Mauri: How to Scale Your Apps in Azure SQL Database
Neel Ball: How to Accelerate Oracle to Azure Database Migration

We’ve also had some great Data Exposed Live sessions. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see them all and get notified when we stream. Here are some of the recent live streams.

May the 4^th be with Azure SQL (News Updates): this was a Star Wars-themed episode and it was so fun! Check it out for costumes, themed demos and slides, and fun!
Azure SQL & SQL Server 2022: Intelligent Database Futures
Azure SQL News Update: 2021 Year in Review
Welcome to SQL Server 2022 Live!

Blogs

As always, our team is busy writing blogs to share with you all. Blogs contain announcements, tips and tricks, deep dives, and more. Here’s the list I have of SQL-related topics you might want to check out.

Events

We have several in-person and virtual events coming this month. Here are a few to put on your calendar and register for from the Azure Data team:

June 6-8: Pure//Accelerate techfest
June 7: PureStorage Webinar
June 8: Database Professionals Virtual Meetup
June 13-15: Visual Studio Live!, Austin, TX
June 15: Azure Hybrid, Multicloud, and Edge Digital event
June 28-30: HPE Discover, Las Vegas, NV

And, if you can’t make it to our events, find new, on-demand Data Exposed episodes released every Thursday at https://aka.ms/dataexposedyt

Microsoft Learn module of the month:

For this month’s module, I want to highlight a new module Data replication on Azure SQL Databases which is all about replication, including change data capture (CDC), SQL data sync, and change tracking. Like most Microsoft Learn modules, it has a built-in FREE sandbox, so you can get hands-on to learn about Azure SQL Database and the different replication technologies.

Anna’s pick of the month!

OK this is not necessarily directly related to Azure SQL, but it’s so cool and relates to databases so I had to share. It’s something called Service connector. This service helps you configure network settings and connection information between compute services and target backing services in one place.

Until next time…

That’s it for now! Be sure to check back next month for the latest updates on LearnTV. We also release new episodes on Thursdays at 9AM PT and new #MVPTuesday episodes on the last Tuesday of every month at 9AM PT at aka.ms/DataExposedyt.

Having trouble keeping up? Be sure to follow us on twitter to get the latest updates on everything, @AzureSQL.

We hope to see you next time, on Data Exposed 🙂

--Anna and Marisa

Updated May 31, 2022

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