Introducing Reservations for Zone Redundant General Purpose SQL Database
We are pleased to announce that you can now purchase reservations for General Purpose SQL Database configured with Zone Redundancy. SQL DB General Purpose service tier offers two redundancy options for business continuity: Availability using local redundancy, on by default. High Availability using zone redundancy, available as an optional add-on. Previously, the option to purchase a reservation was only available for databases with default local redundancy. This meant customers were able to get a reservation discount on the base price but not for the zone redundancy add-on. It's now possible to purchase reservations for the zone redundancy add-on as well. Reservation purchase experience To provide reservations for the zone redundancy add-on, we have introduced two reservation types: vCore, for vCores in use. vCore ZR, for zone redundancy add-on. In Azure portal, when purchasing a new reservation, you'll find these reservation types under the "Type" column for the "SQL Database Single/Elastic Pool General Purpose - Compute Gen5" performance tier: To purchase a reservation for locally redundant databases, simply add the vCore reservation type to your cart. For zone redundant databases, start by adding the vCore reservation type, followed by the vCore ZR reservation type for the zone redundancy add-on. The screenshot below shows both reservation types in the cart. Before completing your purchase, you can enter the desired quantity for each reservation type. The quantity for the vCore reservation type should match the total vCores utilized across all your databases and the quantity for the vCore ZR reservation type should match the vCores dedicated to databases with zone redundancy enabled. The screenshot below shows the final page of the purchase experience. In the product name column,SQLDB_GP_Compute_Gen5andSQLDB_GP_Compute_Gen5_ZR map to vCore and vCore ZR reservation types respectively. You can view the list of purchased reservations on the Reservations page. Please note that reservations for the zone redundancy add-on are only available in regions that support zone redundancy. For a list of these regions, please visitSQL DB General Purpose Zone Redundant Availability. FAQ I want to buy a reservation for both my locally redundant and zone redundant databases. How do I determine the quantity for each reservation type? If you have a mix of locally redundant and zone redundant databases, begin by determining the overall vCores utilized by combining the counts from both locally redundant and zone redundant databases. This sum will represent the quantity for vCore reservation. Next, identify the vCores utilized by databases with zone redundancy enabled to ascertain your vCore ZR reservation quantity. For instance, if both DB1 and DB2 are utilizing 2 vCores each, and only DB2 has zone redundancy, then the total vCore reservation quantity would be 4, whereas the vCore ZR reservation quantity would be 2. I'm enabling zone redundancy for my database and already have a vCore reservation. Can I only buy a reservation for the zone redundancy add-on? Yes, if you have an existingvCore reservation and you subsequently enable the zone redundancy option on your database, you only need to purchase the vCore ZR reservation. The quantity purchased in this case would be the number of vCores used by your zone redundant database. Where can I find the pricing information for each reservation type? We'll soon update the Azure Pricing Page and Pricing Calculator. For now, you can view the monthly price and discount rate by selecting the reservation type on the Reservation page in Azure Portal. We hope you find this new feature beneficial and look forward to your feedback.
Azure Data Studio - SQL DB Project build error MSB4020
Hi folks. I'm just getting started with ADS as we need to move an existing on-prem DB to Azure. I 'm trying to use ADS to set up the target DB. I installed the SQL Database Projects extension and created a project from our on-prem DB, but every time I try to build it I get Error MSB4020: stdout: C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\7.0.403\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.NET.Sdk.targets(1199,3): error MSB4020: The value "" of the "Project" attribute in element <Import> is invalid. [c:\testing\WT pre-migration\WT pre-migration.sqlproj] Here's the proj file: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Project DefaultTargets="Build"> <Sdk Name="Microsoft.Build.Sql" Version="0.2.0-preview" /> <PropertyGroup> <Name>WT pre-migration</Name> <ProjectGuid>{AE8E25C1-F1D6-4447-A008-2C24C82B51FA}</ProjectGuid> <DSP>Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Sql.SqlAzureV12DatabaseSchemaProvider</DSP> <ModelCollation>1033, CI</ModelCollation> </PropertyGroup> <Target Name="BeforeBuild"> <Delete Files="$(BaseIntermediateOutputPath)\project.assets.json" /> </Target> </Project>
Announcing a limited public preview of the ABORT_QUERY_EXECUTION query hint
We are pleased to announce a limited preview of a new query hint, ABORT_QUERY_EXECUTION. The hint is intended to be used as a Query Store hint to let administrators block future execution of known problematic queries, for example non-essential ad hoc queries impacting application workloads. At this time, the preview is available for a limited number of customers in Azure SQL Database only. To participate, please fill out a short form: https://forms.office.com/r/8sZrLUD2rV. Frequently Asked Questions Is there any risk in participating in this preview? As with any preview feature, there is a risk of bugs that can affect your workloads. Is this new feature supported by Microsoft Support during the limited preview? No. However, the Microsoft team running the preview will provide support on a best-effort basis. The feature will be fully supported once it is generally available (GA). How do I use this? Use Query Store catalog views or SSMS reports to find the query ID of the query you want to block, and execute sys.sp_query_store_set_hints. For example: EXEC sys.sp_query_store_set_hints @query_id = 17, @query_hints = N'OPTION (USE HINT (''ABORT_QUERY_EXECUTION''))'; What happens when a query with this hint is executed? This hint can be specified directly or as a Query Store hint. In either case, the query fails immediately with a severity 16 error: Query execution has been aborted because the ABORT_QUERY_EXECUTION hint was specified. How do I unblock a query? Remove the hint by executing sys.sp_query_store_clear_hints with the same value for the @query_id parameter. Can I block a query that is not yet recorded in Query Store? No. At least one complete execution of the query must be recorded in Query Store. That query execution does not have to be successful. This means that a query that started executing but was canceled or timed out can be blocked. When I add the hint, does it abort any currently executing queries? No. The hint only aborts future query executions. You can use KILL to abort currently executing queries. What permissions are required to use this? As with all other Query Store hints, the ALTER permission on the database is required to set and clear the hint. Can I block all queries matching a query hash? Not directly. As with all other Query Store hints, you must use a query ID to set a hint. However, you can create automation that will periodically find all new query IDs matching a given query hash and block them.Simplified & lower pricing for Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance backup storage
Today as you deploy your Azure SQL database or Azure SQL managed instance, one of the important decisions to be made is the choice for your backup storage redundancy (BSR). I say it's important because the availability of your database depends on the availability of your backups. Here’s why. Consider the scenario where your DB has high availability configured via zone redundancy. And, let's say, your backups are configured non-zone redundant. In the event of a failure in the zone, your database fails over to another zone within the region, however your backups won't, because of their storage setting. Now, in the new zone, the backup service attempts to backup your database but cannot reach the backups in the zone where the failure happened causing the logs to become full and eventually impacting the availability of the database itself. As you create the Azure SQL database,the choices for backup storage redundancy are: Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) Zone Redundant Storage (ZRS) Geo Redundant Storage (GRS) and Geo Zone Redundant Storage (GZRS) Each of these storage types provides different levels of durability, resiliency and availability for your databases and database backups. Not surprisingly, each storage type also has different levels of pricing, and the price increases significantly as the protection level increases with GZRS storage type almost 4-5x LRS. Choosing between resilience and cost optimization is an extremely difficult choice that the DB owner must make. We are thrilled to announce that, starting from 11/01/2024, the backup storage pricing is now streamlined and simplified across Azure SQL database and Azure SQL Managed Instance. Bonus – we even reduced the prices 😊 The price changes apply to the Backup Storage Redundancy configuration for both Point-in-time and Long-Term Retention backups, across the following tiers of Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance: Product Service Tier Azure SQL Database General Purpose Business Critical Hyperscale Azure SQL Managed Instance General Purpose Business Critical Next Generation General Purpose (preview) As we made the changes, following were the principles we adhered to: No price increase BSR pricing for ZRS is reduced to match the BSR pricing for LRS BSR pricing for GZRS is reduced to match the BSR pricing of GRS BSR pricing for GRS/GZRS will be 2x that of LRS/ZRS Type of backups What is Changing PITR BSR pricing for ZRS is reduced by 20% to match pricing for LRS for all service tiers in Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance except for Azure SQL Database Hyperscale service tier. BSR pricing for GZRS is reduced by 41% to match pricing for GRS for all service tiers in Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance. LTR BSR pricing for ZRS is reduced by 20% to match pricing for LRS for all service tiers in Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance. BSR pricing for GZRS is reduced by 41% to match pricing for GRS for all service tiers in Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance. As an example, lets take East US as the region and look at the pricing for backup storage redundancy for Point in Time storage before and after the changes: For General Purpose/Business Critical service tiers the pricing would now be: Backup Storage Redundancy Current price New Price Price change LRS $0.10 $0.10 None ZRS $0.125 $0.10 20% less GRS $0.20 $0.20 None GZRS $0.34 $0.20 41% less For Hyperscale service tier, the new pricing would now be: Backup Storage Redundancy Current price New Price Price change LRS $0.08 $0.08 None ZRS $0.1 $0.10 None GRS $0.20 $0.20 None GZRS $0.34 $0.20 41% less Similarly, Backup storage redundancy prices for Long Term Retention backups in East US would be as follows: Backup Storage Redundancy Current price New Price Price change LRS $0.025 $0.025 None ZRS $0.0313 $0.025 20% less GRS $0.05 $0.05 None GZRS $0.0845 $0.05 41% less As a customer, the decision now becomes much easier for you. If you need regional resiliency: choose Zone Redundant Storage (ZRS) If you need regional and/or geo resiliency: choose Geo Zone Redundant Storage (GZRS). If the Azure region does not support AvailabilityZones, then choose Local Redundant Storage for regional resiliency, and Geo Redundant Storage for geo resiliency respectively. Please Note: The Azure pricing page and Azure pricing calculator will be updated with these new prices soon. The actual pricing meters have already been updated. Additionally, the LTR pricing change for Hyperscale will be in effect from January 1, 2025.Announcing the General Availability (GA) of Mirroring for Azure SQL Database in Microsoft Fabric
Today, customers Mirror their Azure SQL Database data into OneLake and accelerate their data potential with all workloads in Fabric. Together with Mirroring for Snowflake, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure SQL Managed Instance and many more sources to be added, you can leverage the same Mirroring technology and trivial setup to bring your data estate into OneLake. We also love to learn about your ideas and what you need to run Mirroring in your production workload. Please add your ideas here. With Mirroring we’ve heard the following key benefits from our customers and partners: 1) Reduced total cost of ownership 2) Zero costs, zero ETL and zero code 3) Faster time to operational data, information to derive insightsEmbark on Your SQL Journey: Join the Learn Together Series
The Learn Together series is an exciting opportunity to explore SQL database in Microsoft Fabric over six live sessions from December 3rd to December 12th. The series covers fundamentals, integrations, AI, GraphQL, application lifecycle management, and query performance monitoring, offering a comprehensive guide for both beginners and advanced users. With expert guidance and real-time Q&A, this series provides the perfect environment to dive into SQL in Fabric. Ready to embark on this learning journey? Head over to the Microsoft Reactor site to register and join us: https://aka.ms/SQLonFabric/LearnTogether/Blog
