Azure SQL News Update: August 2022

[Anna Hoffman]

Today Data Exposed goes live at 9AM 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 July.

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

By the way, this was a special episode, because we filmed it live, for the first time in over two years, from the studios on Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA! If you missed the live stream, you won’t want to miss this in-person action: https://aka.ms/AzureSQLYT. Here are some of the references from our awesome guests:

• SQL Server 2022 (CTP 2.1 available!), Bob Ward
  • https://aka.ms/sqlserver2022
• Azure SQL Database, Davide Mauri and Drew Skwiers-Koballa
  • https://aka.ms/sqlprojsdkblog
  • https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/azure-sql/database/local-dev-experience-quickstart
• SQL Server on Azure SQL VM, Mohamed Kabiruddin:
  • Premium SSD v2 disks in Public Preview for better price-performance in SQL Server on Azure VMs (4x IOPS and you can scale storage capacity, IOPS, and throughput per disk independently!)
• Microsoft Purview, Daniel Perlovsky
  • Rich Text Editor
  • Managed Attributes

Product updates

We technically discussed this in the last update, but I wanted to make sure everyone saw the important announcement and that is SQL Server 2012 has reached end of support. Please see the blog to see the four options you have if you find yourself with SQL Server 2012 instances.

The other big update (apart from the updates already covered by our guests) is the general availability of premium-series hardware for Azure SQL Managed Instance. This new hardware is what led to the study by Principled Technologies which shows how Azure SQL Managed Instance significantly outperformed Amazon.... Offering between double and five times the performance depending on workload, the three SQL Managed Instances tested also offer better price/performance by as much as 90.3%. The new hardware is available across different service tiers and might offer you more storage and more memory per vCore if you need it.

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 July 2022.

Azure Database for PostgreSQL-Hyperscale (Citus)

Flexible Server

General availability: Azure Database for PostgreSQL—Hyperscale (Citus) supports PostgreSQL minor ver... (11.16, 12.11, 13.7, 14.3) General availability: Citus 11 support for Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Hyperscale (Citus) Public preview: Cross-region read replicas for Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Hyperscale (Citus) Generally available: Basic tier updates for Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Hyperscale (Citus) Generally available: vCore compute options for Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Hyperscale (Citus)

General Availability: Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server - On demand backups Public preview: Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server data encryption with CMK Generally available: New extensions for Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server Generally available: PostgreSQL 14 with Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server Generally available: Same-zone high availability for Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server

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!

• Daniel Perlovsky: How to explore your data estate using the Microsoft Purview data catalog
• [MVP Edition] Wolfgang Strasser: Track your data supply chain using Azure Purview
• Aditi Gupta: Backup and Restore your Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server workload
• Pieter Vanhove: Bringing the power of blockchain to Azure SQL Database and SQL Server with ledger
• [SQL Insider Series] Stephen Giles: Azure SQL DB – Automating scale up and down

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.

• Azure Blog, data-related
  • Microsoft Cost Management updates – July 2022, Michael Flanakin
  • Track adversaries and improve posture with Microsoft threat intelligence solutions, Tim Woolford
  • Migrate and modernize with Azure to power innovation across the entire digital estate, Kathleen Mitford
  • Azure Premium SSD v2 Disk Storage in preview, Aung Oo
  • Microsoft joins Jakarta EE and MicroProfile Working Groups at Eclipse Foundation, Julia Liuson
  • Modernize with Azure Migrate, Shiva Shastri
• Microsoft SQL Server Blog
  • Azure Active Directory authentication for SQL Server 2022
  • Azure Data Studio July Release with VS Code Updates 
  • Improve scalability with system page latch concurrency enhancements in SQL Server 2022
• SQL Server Tech Community
  • SQL Server 2022 community technology preview 2.1 is now available
  • Cumulative Update #30 for SQL Server 2017 RTM
  • Upcoming updates to SQL Server container images on Microsoft Artifact Registry aka (MCR)
  • ODBC Driver 17.10 for SQL Server Released
• Azure SQL Tech Community
  • MS DTC for Azure SQL Managed Instance - extending distributed transaction support (private preview)
  • Announcing the General Availability of premium-series hardware for Azure SQL Managed Instance
  • Resumable restore improves SQL Managed Instance database migrations experience
• Azure Database Support (SQL-related posts)
  • Bidirectional Transactional Replication in SQL Managed Instance
  • Testing connectivity against a Managed Instance using a CNAME
  • Lesson Learned #232: Microsoft Reactor- Identify an Azure SQL Performance Issue (Spanish Version)
  • Resolve Elastic Query issues in Azure SQL Database
  • Lesson Learned #231: Hands-On-Labs: What is Azure SQL working on
  • Improving Performance with AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS_ASYNC
  • Lesson Learned #230: Microsoft Reactor -Azure SQL Developer and DBA Best Practices (Spanish Version)
  • Lesson Learned #229: Hands-On-Labs - Connection is busy with results for another command
  • Lesson Learned #228: Using sp_validatelogins in Azure SQL Database
  • SQL Error Code 40532 Cannot open server 'azuresqlserver1' requested by the login.
  • Lesson Learned #227: How much data is using my database per table
  • Lesson Learned #226: Using a connectivity Retry-Logic with SQLCMD command line
  • Lesson Learned #225: Has an unresolved reference to object using Linked Server or External Table
  • Lesson Learned #224:Hands-On-Labs: Checking the performance with Perf Collector Analyzer
  • Lesson Learned #223:Hands-On-Labs: How to improve a bulk insert process

Events

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

August 8-12: Visual Studio Live!, Microsoft HQ
September 19-22: Data Platform Summit, Virtual
September 24: Data Saturday Dallas
October 1: Data Saturday Atlanta

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

Jumping the gun on the pick of the month, but in the case that any of you are newer to Azure SQL, it’s been a long time since I highlighted the Introduction to Azure SQL module. In this module, you'll start with a brief history of why and how Microsoft built Azure SQL. You'll then learn about the various deployment options and service tiers, including what to use for your organization, and when. These options include Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server in an Azure virtual machine. Understanding what platform as a service (PaaS) encompasses and how it compares to a traditional SQL Server environment will help you understand what you do and don't get when you move to the cloud.

Anna’s pick of the month!

OK this month my pick of the month is a new thing I’m dipping my toes into on TikTok. The goal is to start sharing database tips in a short, consumable fashion while I walk my dog. Check it out, follow along, and let me know what you think! It’s running on TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@analyticanna), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/analytic.anna/reels/), and Twitter (https://twitter.com/AnalyticAnna).

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