Plan the migration or modernization of SQL Server with Azure Migrate
We understand that cloud migration projects can be complex, especially when you are trying to modernize your workloads to PaaS as part of your migration journey. To help you plan the migration or modernization of your SQL Server deployments running on-premises – powered by VMware, Microsoft or Bare-metal technologies, or running on IaaS services of public clouds – AWS EC2, GCP CE and even Azure VM, we had announced the preview of – unified, at-scale, and agentless discovery and assessment of SQL Server with Azure Migrate on March, 2021. Along the way we added improvements to the same, making the Azure SQL assessment more comprehensive with the intention to help you plan better and make informed decisions, as you embark on your migration journey.
Today we are announcing that SQL Server discovery and Azure SQL assessment in Azure Migrate are now Generally Available (GA). Here is a quick summary of the features:
With SQL Server discovery you can –
- Discover your SQL Server deployments with least privileged credentials – domain, non-domain (local), and SQL Server authentication. These credentials are encrypted and stored locally, and not sent to cloud. Azure Migrate appliance will automatically map Server and database credentials across the entire estate to perform discovery. 
- Discover standalone as well as High Availability, Disaster recovery (HADR) SQL Server deployments powered by Always On Failover Cluster Instances and Always On Availability Groups.
- Discover up to 15,000 SQL databases with one Azure Migrate appliance without the need for installing agents in every machine or server; SQL performance data is collected every 30 seconds to ensure that you get the most accurate right-sized recommendations.
- Discover SQL Server 2008 and onwards, running on Windows Server 2008 and onwards. All editions across the versions – Standard, Developer, Enterprise, Express, and Web are supported.
- Discover attributes such as no. of user databases and their details, availability replica properties, compatibility level, etc., as well as the performance characteristics of your SQL Server deployments.
Note: You can also use the agentless dependency mapping feature to identify application tiers or interdependent applications; this information is useful when you need to plan migration for interdependent servers.
With Azure SQL assessment you can –
- Model your intended migration strategy – such as Modernize to PaaS, with the ability to specify the target Azure region, environment type – Test/ Dev/ Prod, offer/ licensing program – PAYG/ Enterprise Agreement, Azure Hybrid Benefit, saving options – reservations/ savings plan, service tier, performance history, etc.
- Understand best in class recommendations, including:
- Recommended deployment type among – Azure SQL Managed Instance, SQL Server on Azure VM or Azure SQL Database; as well as target specific recommendations.
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Right-sized SKUs, including service tier recommendation, based on performance history for respective target services in Azure.
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Reasoning for Azure Migrate recommendations to help you understand the due diligence that went behind the scenes to compute the recommendations.
- Identify estimated compute and storage costs to power the workloads using respective target services in Azure.
- Understand readiness of your SQL Server deployments for migration or modernization to Azure, as well as identify blockers to modernization – so that you know the changes you must make before you begin executing your migration plan.
- Understand the steps you need to perform to migrate respective SQL deployments; especially handy when planning the migration of HADR SQL Server deployments.
Execute migrations or modernization of SQL Server with confidence
Once you have completed your SQL Server assessment and identified the desired targets in Azure, you can leverage Azure Database Migration Service to migrate to Azure SQL Managed Server or Azure SQL Database, or Azure Migrate: Migration and Modernization tool from Azure Migrate to migrate to Azure VMs.
Migrating to Azure can help you realize substantial cost savings and operational efficiencies.
Azure enables you to move efficiently and with high confidence through a mix of services like Azure Migrate, best practice guides, and programs. Once in the cloud, you can scale on-demand to meet your business needs.
If you intend to optimize your Azure spend, you can use the Physical/ Bare-metal stack of Azure Migrate to discover SQL Servers running on Azure VM, and subsequently assess them for migration/ modernization to Azure SQL MI or Azure SQL DB.
Get started today
- Check out our demo to see the preview in action
- Learn more about Azure Migrate
- Learn about Azure SQL
- Learn about SQL Server migration
- Get migration assistance from the Azure Migration and Modernization Program
