Read the 2023 recap of all the Azure SQL and SQL Server news or catch the live episode! If you missed the episode, you can find them all at https://aka.ms/AzureSQLYT. This one also features a special Ask Me Anything with product group members and was streamed LIVE (at https://sqlpasslive ) and in person from PASS Data Community Summit.
You can read this blog to get all the updates and references mentioned in the show (including the awesome speakers we had on). Since we did things a little differently this month, here’s the special December update which contains the year in review (i.e., all the big updates this year):
SQL Server on Azure VMs
- Microsoft Azure Boost (https://aka.ms/AzureBoost)*
- Microsoft Entra (formerly AAD) authentication starting with SQL Server 2022
- SQL IaaS auto-upgrade setting on by default for new instances
- Azure Update Manager*
Azure SQL Managed Instance
The Azure SQL Managed Instance team published a blog with all the updates for you to review in one place – check it out at https://aka.ms/sqlminov23.
- Link feature for Azure SQL Managed Instance for SQL Server 2016 and 2019
- CETAS
- Private Link
- Configure your TempDB maximum size
- Data virtualization with Azure Data Lake and Azure Blob Storage
- License-free Geo-DR
- Premium Hardware on BC tier
- Double max log rate (now 192 MiB/s)
- Restore backups from Amazon S3
- Availability on all subscription types
- RI pricing for premium series
- Start/stop instance
- 30-min provisioning
- MS DTC support
- Zone Redundancy in BC and GP* tiers
- Bi-directional MI link and hybrid DR for SQL Server 2022*
- BC service tier refresh
- 12-month free offer* (coming soon) -> // edit 1/8/2024: Free offer is here! https://aka.ms/sqlmi-free
Azure SQL Database
- Elastic Pools for Hyperscale as public preview
- Serverless for Hyperscale (preview) also now supports zone redundancy
- DOP Feedback*
- DBCC SHRINKDATABASE
- Optimized Locking
- Expanded zone redundancy regions for general purpose
- Azure SQL Database Elastic Jobs preview refresh*
- Azure SQL Database free tier*
- sys._dm_database_backups
- Hyperscale support for 35 days for point-in-time retention
- Hyperscale support for LTR up to 10 years
- External REST endpoint invocation
- Premium-series hardware for Hyperscale
- Double encryption*
- Immutable long-term retention
- Hyperscale re-launch* ***
- DC-series with higher vCores*
- Standby Replication* ***
- RI Pricing SQL DB premium series
- New JSON type and JSON aggregates*
SQL Server on Linux/Containers
- Seamless integration with the SELinux enabled secure environments, mssql-server-selinux package
- Azure Update Manager Integration with SQL Server on Linux Azure VMs*
- Ansible support for SQL Server AGs with HPE Serviceguard for Linux
- SQL Server & DH2i Operator
- Guidance documentation available for SQL Server deployment on Kubernetes platform
- Sidecar deployments supported with SQL Server containers
- SQL Server assessment API output is integrated with the Red Hat Insights
- Ansible SQL Server system role developer version and fully supported "microsoft.sql.server" part of the RHEL 8 appstream repository now available
- SQL Server cross-platform availability groups
- Azure Marketplace image for SQL 2022 for all distributions available
- SQL Server 2022 on RHEL 8 HA
- SQL Server 2022 on Ubuntu Pro* (includes support)
- SQL Server 2022 on SLES 15
- Support for SQL Server 2022 on RHEL 9 and Ubuntu 22.04*
- IaaS extension for SQL Server on Linux
Updates across Azure SQL
Security
- Microsoft Purview DevOps policies now includes all the typical permissions for SQL support personnel
- Always Encrypted
- Wizard in SSMS now supports secure enclaves and in-place encryption
- PowerShell Enhancements
- Always Encrypted with VBS enclaves in Azure SQL Database
- Always Encrypted with SGX enclaves up to 40 vCores on DC-series hardware
- Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)
- Automatic TDE/CMK key rotation for Azure SQL supporting AKV rotation policy
- Cross-tenant support for TDE/CMK keys
- Database-level CMK support for Azure SQL DB
- Ledger in Azure SQL Managed Instance
- Auditing connect to storage count with access key and managed identity
- SQL Auditing support for OBO access request from middle tier applications in Microsoft Entra
Migrations
- Login and TDE-enabled database migrations with Azure Database Migration Service
- Offline migrations to Azure SQL Database
- Database Migration Assessment for Oracle extension
- Database Migration Service Pack
- Database Schema Conversion Toolkit
- Data Migration for Oracle extension
- Portal experience for Azure DMS
- Schema migration with DMS*
- Azure DMS Migration extension in ADS ***
Arc-enabled SQL Server
- Simplifying deployment of Arc SQL Server extension for SA customers
- Connecting SQL Server machines to Arc at scale with flexible host configuration
- At scale deployment of Best Practices assessments using Azure policy (multiple servers)
- Basic license management of SQL servers and host properties
- Easily subscribe to Extended Security updates as a service
- Performance dashboards to monitor SQL Server performance from Azure portal
- Inventory of Failover cluster instances (FCI) and Defender support for FCI***
- Inventory and real time status of Always on Availability groups and manual failover***
- Support Microsoft update to patch Arc-enabled SQL Server for critical patches
- Improved control of built-in automated backups and retention periods
- SQL Server access control through purview and catalog data
*Public Preview
**Private Preview
***Announced so recently that I don’t yet have links, check the blog this week for more details, and I will update here in-place in December.
Tools
Where would we be without all our tools and experiences! Across our suite, we have released all sorts of new capabilities that I cannot wait for you to try out (if you haven’t already). The best way to stay up to date is with the release notes. Not including all of them, but a few to get you started. Find us on GitHub, social media, or the Azure Ideas forum to give us feedback.
- SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) release notes
- Azure Data Studio (ADS) release notes
- Go-sqlcmd release notes
- SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT in Visual Studio) release notes
- SqlPackage release notes
A lot of things landed or are landing this week, so I recommend checking above. But I want to highlight a few other things:
- Azure Functions SQL Bindings
- go-sqlcmd GA
- GitHub Copilot in Azure Data Studio
- SQL Database Projects extension (VSCode and Azure Data Studio)
- Improved Azure Data Studio connectivity among other ADS enhancements
- Open-sourcing of ScriptDOM
- Visual Studio Extensions for SSAS and SSRS
- SCOM Management Packs
Anna’s Pick of the Month
My pick of the month is Data Exposed! Marisa Mathews and I are working constantly to get you the information you need when you need it from the SQL Engineering team, and we had SO many folks on this year. So, as we round out the year, I want to thank (1) YOU for watching and (2) all the speakers! I also want to remind you to subscribe to get the latest news, demos, and how-tos on everything Azure SQL and SQL Server: https://aka.ms/azuresqlyt. Find me on X, @AnalyticAnna, if you have feedback or requests for 2024.
Until next time…
That’s it for now! We 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 YEAR, on Data Exposed 🙂
--Anna
Microsoft
