We are excited to announce the preview (in selected regions) of new premium-series hardware configurations for Azure SQL Hyperscale databases.
Based on the latest generation of Intel® Xeon Scalable processors (3rd gen - Ice Lake) and AMD EPYC™ 7763v (Milan) chipsets, this premium-series hardware offers significantly improved performance and scalability over the standard-series (previously known as ‘Gen5’) hardware offerings and allows you to migrate your performance demanding workloads to Azure SQL Database Hyperscale. In addition, a new memory optimized option within the premium-series provides more memory per vCore to meet the needs of your most memory-intensive workloads.
The following table summarizes the key technical details for the new premium-series hardware:
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Standard-series (Gen5)
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Premium-series
(preview)
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Memory optimized premium-series
(preview)
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CPU
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Standard-series Hyperscale databases are hosted on a variety of hardware including:
Intel® E5-2673 v4 (Broadwell);
Intel® SP-8160 (Skylake); Intel® 8272CL (Cascade Lake);
Intel® 8370C (Ice Lake);
AMD EPYC™ 7763v (Milan)
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Premium-series Hyperscale databases are hosted only on latest hardware generation from Intel and AMD as follows:
Intel® 8370C (Ice Lake);
AMD EPYC™ 7763v (Milan)
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Premium-series memory-optimized Hyperscale databases are hosted only on latest hardware generation from Intel and AMD as follows:
Intel® 8370C (Ice Lake);
AMD EPYC™ 7763v (Milan)
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|
Number of vCores
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2-80 vCores
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2-128 vCores
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2-80 vCores
|
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Memory
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5.1 GB per vCore
Max 408 GB per instance
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5.1 GB per vCore
Max 625 GB per instance
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10.2 GB per vCore
Max 830 GB per instance
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Maximum data storage
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100 TB
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100 TB
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100 TB
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vCore price difference
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-
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Priced similar to standard-series
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Approximately 40% higher compared to premium-series
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Performance benefits
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Faster CPU. A 60% increase in the maximum available number of vCores.
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Faster CPU. Memory intensive workloads such as HTAP or analytics can benefit from 2x memory per vCore.
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- Both premium-series hardware options are using latest CPUs and memory technologies from Intel and AMD, which provide a boost to compute performance relative to standard-series hardware.
- Premium-series option offers faster CPU performance compared to Standard-series and the ability to increase vCores by 60% by scaling up to 128 vCores.
- Premium-series memory optimized option offers double the amount of memory relative to premium-series with up to 830 GB of memory at 80 vCores.
- Due to the added memory and lower price, premium-series memory optimized option is a great alternative to M-series hardware in Azure SQL Database, which is to be retired in September 2023.
Comparison Demo
Here is a sample Hammer DB Demo running TPCC like workloads comparing Azure SQL Database Hyperscale Standard (Gen5) series vs Premium Series hardware showing a 20%+ improvement in performance at similar price point.
Some limitations apply during preview
- Premium-series (including memory optimized) public preview is only supported in the following regions initially. We will be expanding regional availability in the coming months.
- Canada Central
- East US
- East US2
- South Central U,
- West US2
- UK South
- Central US
- Japan East
- Australia East
- West Europe
- West US
- North Europe
- India Central
- North Central US
- Azure pricing pages and pricing calculators are currently showing premium-series pricing information for all Azure regions. However, availability is limited to the regions listed above.
- Zone redundancy is currently not supported for premium-series and memory optimized premium-series, but will be supported during 2023.
- Azure SQL Database maintenance window is currently not supported for premium-series and memory optimized premium-series, but will be supported during 2023.
How to participate in the preview
- If you’re using Azure SQL Database Hyperscale in one of supported regions, there is no need to sign up. You can start using the new Azure SQL Database Hyperscale premium-series hardware options today!
- Please visit following link for instructions on how to create your premium-series Hyperscale database today.
