Announcing General Availability of UNISTR function and ANSI SQL || Operator in Azure SQL
We’re excited to announce the General Availability (GA) of two long-standing capabilities that address critical needs for SQL developers and enterprise customers in Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance, configured with the Always-up-to-date update policy: UNISTR function for Unicode character representation ANSI SQL string concatenation operator (`||`) for standard-compliant string operations These additions improve ANSI SQL compliance in Azure SQL, streamline migration from other platforms, and boost developer productivity. UNISTR function: Unicode made easy The UNISTR function provides support for Unicode string literals by letting you specify the Unicode encoding value of characters in the string, making it especially useful for working with international or special characters. If you want to include characters like emojis, accented letters, or symbols from non-Latin scripts, UNISTR lets you encode them directly using their Unicode values. Returns Unicode characters based on the input expression, following the Unicode standard. Supports escape sequences: \xxxx for UTF-16 codepoints. \+xxxxxx for full Unicode codepoints. Enables easy integration of complex Unicode characters into strings. You can look up Unicode codepoint values in the Unicode Code Charts. Comparison with NCHAR NCHAR: Converts a single Unicode value to a character. UNISTR: Handles multiple Unicode values and escape sequences, offering greater flexibility for constructing strings with diverse characters. Syntax UNISTR ( 'character_expression' [ , 'unicode_escape_character' ] ) The data type of character_expression could be char, nchar, varchar, or nvarchar. For char and varchar data types, the collation should be a valid UTF-8 collation only. A single character representing a user-defined Unicode escape sequence. If not supplied, the default value is \. Examples Example #1: In this example, Unicode value used with text literal: SELECT UNISTR (N'I \2764 Azure SQL.') AS string_with_unicode Results: I ❤️ Azure SQL. Example #2: In this example, we construct a non-Latin script string using Unicode escape sequence. SELECT UNISTR(N'\3053\3093\306B\3061\306F') AS Japanese_Greeting; Results: こんにちは ANSI SQL || Operator: A cleaner way to concatenate The || operator is now supported for string concatenation, offering a more readable and standard-compliant alternative to existing methods like + and CONCAT(). The || operator concatenates two or more characters or binary strings, columns, or a combination of strings and column names into one expression. The || operator does not honor the SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL option and always behaves as if the ANSI SQL behavior is enabled, yielding NULL if any of the inputs is NULL. This operator will work with character strings or binary data of any supported SQL Server collation. The ||operator supports compound assignment ||= similar to +=. If the operands are of incompatible collation, then an error will be thrown. The collation behavior is identical to the CONCAT function of character string data. Syntax expression || expression The expression is a character or binary expression. Both expressions must be of the same data type, or one expression must be able to be implicitly converted to the data type of the other expression. If one operand is of binary type, then an unsupported operand type error will be thrown. Examples Example #1: For example, the following query concatenates two strings and returns the result: SELECT 'Hello ' || ' World!'; Results: Hello World! Example #2: In this example, multiple character strings are concatenated. If at least one input is a character string, non-character strings will be implicitly converted to character strings. SELECT -- Combine first and last name 'Josè' || ' Doe' AS full_name, -- Construct a detailed order string with ID, timestamp, and unique identifier 'Order-' || CAST(1001 AS VARCHAR) || '~TS~' || current_timestamp || '~' || NEWID() AS order_details, -- Handle NULL safely in concatenation 'Item-' || NULL AS item_desc; Results: full_name order_details item_desc Josè Doe Order-1001~TS~Jul 29 2025 8:33PM~0387F607-1664-4EEB-A4E8-F16B396DDD73 NULL Example #3: In this example, the use of || operator is unsupported when used with only non-character types or when combining binary data with other types. -- Attempting to concatenate two numeric literals: 1 and 2 SELECT 1 || 2; -- Attempting to concatenate integer, string, and binary literals SELECT 1 || 'a' || 0x4e; Above queries will fail with error messages as below – The data types int and int are incompatible in the concat operator. The data types varchar and varbinary are incompatible in the concat operator. Comparison with + and CONCAT() Let’s explore how || differs from + and CONCAT() in Azure SQL using real examples. Sample queries: -- Binary + String SELECT CONCAT(0x01, 'a'); -- Returns: a SELECT 0x01 || 'a'; -- Returns: Error SELECT 0x01 + 'a'; -- Returns: Error -- Binary + Binary SELECT CONCAT(0x01, 0xff); -- Returns: ÿ SELECT 0x01 || 0xff; -- Returns: 0x01FF SELECT 0x01 + 0xff; -- Returns: 0x01FF -- NULL Handling SELECT CONCAT(NULL, 'a'); -- Returns: 'a' SELECT NULL || 'a'; -- Returns: NULL SELECT NULL + 'a'; -- Returns: NULL -- Numeric + String SELECT CONCAT(1, 'a'); -- Returns: '1a' SELECT 1 || 'a'; -- Returns: '1a' SELECT 1 + 'a'; -- Returns: Error -- Date + String SELECT CONCAT(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, 'a'); -- Returns: Jul 29 2025 9:29PMa SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP || 'a'; -- Returns: Jul 29 2025 9:29PMa SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP + 'a'; -- Returns: Error Key Differences Feature + Operator CONCAT() Function || Operator ANSI SQL Standard No Yes Yes NULL Handling Returns NULL Ignores NULL/ Empty string Returns NULL Type Safety Not type-safe Type-safe Type-safe Readability Moderate Verbose High Portability Low Moderate High Why these matters Easier Migration – Migrating from other databases becomes smoother with support for UNISTR and ||, reducing the need for syntax rewrites. Global Reach – UNISTR simplifies Unicode handling, making it easier to build apps for international markets. Cleaner Code – The || operator improves readability and aligns with modern SQL practices. Learn more UNISTR (Transact-SQL) – SQL Server | Microsoft Learn || (String Concatenation) (Transact-SQL) – SQL Server | Microsoft Learn ||= (Compound assignment) (Transact-SQL) – SQL Server | Microsoft Learn Conclusion In this blog post, we announced the General Availability (GA) of UNISTR function and ANSI SQL string concatenation operator (||) in Azure SQL. The UNISTR function allows you to escape Unicode characters, making it easier to work with international text. ANSI SQL || operator provides a simple and intuitive way to combine characters or binary data. These enhancements reflect our commitment to making Azure SQL the most developer-friendly, standards-compliant cloud-first database platform. Whether you’re modernizing legacy systems, building multilingual apps, or writing cleaner SQL, these features are designed to make your journey smoother. We hope you will explore these enhancements, apply them in your projects, and share your feedback with us to help us continue improving. Thank you!
Enhanced Server Audit for Azure SQL Database: Greater Performance, Availability and Reliability
We are excited to announce a significant update to the server audit feature for Azure SQL Database. We have re-architected major portions of SQL Auditing resulting in increased availability and reliability of server audits. As an added benefit, we have achieved closer feature alignment with SQL Server and Azure SQL Managed Instance. Database auditing remains unchanged. In the remainder of this blog article, we cover Functional changes Changes Affecting customers Sample queries Call for action Implementation and Notification Time-based Filtering Functional Changes In the current design when server audit is enabled, it triggers a database level audit and executes one audit session for each database. With the new architecture, enabling server audit will create one extended event session at the server level that captures audit events for all databases. This optimizes memory and CPU and is consistent with how auditing works in SQL Server and Azure SQL Managed Instance. Changes Affecting Customers Folder Structure change for storage account Folder structure change for Read-Only replicas Permissions required to view Audit logs One of the primary changes involves the folder structure for audit logs stored in storage account containers. Previously, server audit logs were written to separate folders, one for each database, with the database name serving as the folder name. With the new update, all server audit logs will be consolidated into a single folder which is ‘Master’ folder. This behavior is the same as Azure SQL Managed Instance and SQL Server For Read-Only database replicas, which previously had their logs stored in a read-only folder, those logs will now also be written into the Master folder. You can retrieve these logs by filtering on the new column ‘is_secondary_replica_true’. Please note that the audit logs generated after deployment will adhere to the new folder structure, while the existing audit logs will stay in their current folders until their retention periods expire. Sample Queries To help you adopt these changes in your workflows, here are some sample queries: Current New To Query audit logs for a specific database called "test" SELECT * FROM sys.fn_get_audit_file ('https://testaudit.blob.core.windows.net/sqldbauditlogs/auditpoc/test/ SqlDbAuditing_ServerAudit_NoRetention/2023-01-29/07_06_40_590_0.xel', default, default) SELECT * FROM sys.fn_get_audit_file ('https://testaudit.blob.core.windows.net/sqldbauditlogs/auditpoc/master/SqlDbAuditing_ServerAudit_NoRetention/2023-01-29/07_06_40_590_0.xel', default, default) WHERE database_name = 'test'; To query audit logs for test database from read only replica SELECT * FROM sys.fn_get_audit_file ('https://testaudit.blob.core.windows.net/sqldbauditlogs/auditpoc/test/SqlDbAuditing_ServerAudit_NoRetention/2023-01-29/RO/07_06_40_590_0.xel', default, default) SELECT * FROM sys.fn_get_audit_file ('https://testaudit.blob.core.windows.net/sqldbauditlogs/auditpoc/master/SqlDbAuditing_ServerAudit_NoRetention/2023-01-29/07_06_40_590_0.xel', default, default) WHERE is_secondary_replica_true = 'true'; Permissions Control database on user database Server admin privileges Implementation and Notifications We are rolling out this change region-wise. Subscription owners will receive notifications with the subject “Update your scripts to point to a new folder for server level audit logs” for each region as the update is implemented. It is important to update any scripts that refer to the folder structure to retrieve audit logs based on the database name for the specific region. Note that this change applies only to server-level auditing; database auditing remains unchanged. Call for Action These actions apply only to customers who are using storage account targets. No action is needed for customers using Log Analytics or Event hubs. Folder references: Change the reference for audit logs from the database name folder to the Master folder and use specific filters to retrieve logs for a required database. Read -Only Database Replicas: Update references for audit logs from the Read-Only replica folder to the Master folder and filter using the new parameter as shown in the examples. Permissions: Ensure you have the necessary control server permissions to review the audit logs for each database using fn_get_audit_file. Manual Queries This update also applies to manual queries where you use fn_get_audit_file to retrieve audit logs from the storage account Time-based filtering To enhance your ability to query audit logs using filters, consider using efficient time-based filtering with the fn_get_audit_file_v2 function. This function allows you to retrieve audit log data with improved filtering capabilities. For more details, refer to the official documentation here.MSSQL Extension for VS Code: Agent Mode Updates, Colored Connections, and Schema Designer updates
The MSSQL Extension for VS Code keeps getting better—bringing thoughtful updates that make SQL development more conversational, more visual, and more local. In version v1.34.0, we’ve focused this release on deepening GitHub Copilot Agent Mode, improving connection clarity through color-coded indicators, making local container workflows more flexible, enhancing the Schema Designer, and solving bugs across the experience. Here’s a look at what’s new in this release and how it helps simplify your SQL development workflow. What’s new in MSSQL extension for VS Code v1.34 This release includes three major improvements: GitHub Copilot Agent Mode (update) — A more capable conversational experience, with new tools for connecting, managing, and navigating your database using natural language. Color-coded Connections — Bring clarity to your workspace by assigning custom colors to your active connections, now shown right in the status bar. Improved Local SQL Server Container Experience — Enhanced support for assigning containers to connection groups and managing profiles with even more flexibility. Schema Designer Improvements — Foreign key icons are now correctly displayed, and filter behavior has been refined to better reflect table relationships—making it easier to navigate complex schemas visually. GitHub Copilot Agent mode updates (Public Preview) We’ve deepened GitHub Copilot’s Agent Mode experience with expanded capabilities. You can now use chat to generate and execute queries, view data, connect to specific databases, and explore your schema—all from a conversational, schema-aware assistant right inside the editor. Key highlights Change database – Switch to a different database in the current session List schemas – Show all schemas in the connected database List tables – Show all tables in the connected database List views – Show all views in the connected database List functions – Show all functions in the connected database Show connection details – Get details about the current SQL connection List databases – Show all databases on the connected server Run query – Execute a SQL query in the active connection Here’s how easy it is to connect, switch databases, and explore your full schema—from chat. Color-Coded Connections Managing multiple databases just got easier. You can now assign custom colors to your connections and instantly recognize them in the VS Code status bar. Whether you’re working across dev, test, and prod environments—or switching between customers and projects—color makes it easy to stay oriented and avoid mistakes. Key highlights Assign a custom color to any saved connection profile Connection color appears in the status bar so you always know where you’re connected Optional group-based coloring lets teams align on shared conventions Thanks to the community! Group-based coloring length is now configurable (shout-out to @bathetrade) Here’s how it looks in action: Local SQL Server Container updates (Public Preview) We’ve made it even easier to use SQL Server containers for local development. You can now assign containers to connection groups and manage container profiles with more flexibility—all from a streamlined wizard in the extension. Key highlights Assign containers to connection groups for easier organization More flexible profile management to suit your dev workflow Streamlined wizard UI to spin up containers faster Schema Designer updates (Public Preview) We’ve improved the Schema Designer to make it more intuitive and visually informative. Key highlights Foreign key icons are now correctly displayed Smarter filtering reflects table relationships more clearly These enhancements make it easier to understand and navigate your database schema as you design it. Other updates Multiple Azure account sign-in – Sign into multiple Azure accounts to browse subscriptions and manage firewall rules Connection-sharing API – Other VS Code extensions can now access MSSQL connections for deeper integration Accessibility enhancements – Improved support across connection dialog, schema designer, and schema compare Always Encrypted fix – Resolved issues when using Azure Key Vault for encrypted columns UI consistency polish – Minor tweaks to dialogs and interactions for smoother user experience Conclusion The v1.34 release brings thoughtful updates across the board—from deepening GitHub Copilot Agent Mode with new schema-aware commands, to adding clarity through color-coded connections, to refining the local SQL Server container experience and Schema Designer filters. These updates help make SQL development more intuitive, flexible, and developer-friendly inside Visual Studio Code. If there’s something you’d love to see in a future update, here’s how you can contribute: 💬 GitHub discussions – Share your ideas and suggestions to improve the extension ✨ New feature requests – Request missing capabilities and help shape future updates 🐞 Report bugs – Help us track down and fix issues to make the extension more reliable Want to see these features in action? GitHub Copilot Agent Mode demo Full playlist of demos Thanks for being part of the journey—happy coding! 🚀
Database compatibility level 170 in Azure SQL Database and SQL database in Microsoft Fabric
The alignment of SQL versions to default compatibility levels are as follows: 100: in SQL Server 2008 and Azure SQL Database 110: in SQL Server 2012 and Azure SQL Database 120: in SQL Server 2014 and Azure SQL Database 130: in SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database 140: in SQL Server 2017and Azure SQL Database 150: in SQL Server 2019 and Azure SQL Database 160: in SQL Server 2022, Azure SQL Database and SQL database in Microsoft Fabric 170: in SQL Server 2025 (Preview), Azure SQL Database and SQL database in Microsoft Fabric For details about which feature, or features compatibility level 170 enables, please see what is new under database compatibility 170. The Intelligent query processing (IQP) family of features also include multiple features that improve the performance of existing workloads with minimal or no implementation effort. Once this new database compatibility default goes into effect, if you still wish to use database compatibility level 160 (or lower), please follow the instructions detailed here: View or Change the Compatibility Level of a Database. For example, you may wish to ensure that new databases created on the same logical server use the same compatibility level as other Azure SQL Databases to ensure consistent query optimization and execution behavior across development, QA and production versions of your databases. With this example in mind, we recommend that any database configuration scripts in use explicitly designate the COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL rather than rely on the defaults, in order to ensure consistent application behavior. For new databases supporting new applications, we recommend using the latest compatibility level, 170. For pre-existing databases running at lower compatibility levels, the recommended workflow for upgrading the query processor to a higher compatibility level is detailed in the article Change the Database Compatibility Mode and Use the Query Store. Note that this article refers to database compatibility level 130 and SQL Server, but the same methodology that is described applies to database compatibility 170 for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database. To determine the current database compatibility level, query the compatibility_level column of sys.databases system catalog view. SELECT [name], compatibility_level FROM sys.databases; So, there may be a few questions that we have not directly answered with this announcement. Maybe questions such as: What do you mean by “database compatibility level 170 is now the default”? If you create a new database and don’t explicitly designate the COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL, the database compatibility level 170 will be used. Does Microsoft automatically update the database compatibility level for existing databases? No. We do not update the database compatibility level for existing databases. This is up to you as an owner of your database to do at your own discretion. With that said, we highly recommend that you plan on moving to the latest database compatibility level in order to leverage the latest improvements that are enabled with the latest compatibility level. I created a logical server before 170 was the default database compatibility level. What impact does this have? The master database of your logical server will reflect the database compatibility level that was the default when the logical server was created. New databases created on this logical server with an older compatibility level for the master database will use database compatibility level 170 if the database compatibility level is not explicitly specified. The master database compatibility cannot be changed without recreating the logical server. Having master database operating at an older database compatibility level will not impact user database behavior. Would the database compatibility level change to 170 if I restore a database from a point in time backup before the default changed? No. We will preserve the compatibility level that was in effect when the backup was performed.MSSQL Extension for VS Code: Local Containers, GitHub Copilot Agent Mode and Connection Groups
The MSSQL Extension for VS Code continues to evolve, bringing powerful new features that make SQL development more local, more organized, and more intelligent. In version v1.33.0, we’re introducing Local SQL Server Containers, GitHub Copilot Agent Mode, and Server Groups—three capabilities designed to simplify and modernize the way developers build applications using SQL Server in Visual Studio Code. Here’s a closer look at what’s included in this release and how these features can enhance your SQL development workflow. What’s new in MSSQL extension for VS Code v1.33 This release introduces three major capabilities designed to streamline the SQL development experience: Local SQL Server Containers (Public Preview) — Easily spin up and manage SQL Server containers directly from within the extension. GitHub Copilot Agent Mode (Public Preview) — A conversational, schema-aware assistant that helps you explore, understand, and optimize your database through natural language interactions. Server Groups — Organize your saved connections into folders for improved clarity and control. Local SQL Server Containers (Public Preview) You can now create and manage SQL Server containers locally, without writing a single Docker command. The new Local SQL Container experience allows you to launch a fully configured SQL Server container from the MSSQL extension’s UI. By default, the SQL container wizard uses SQL Server 2025 (Public Preview), the latest version of SQL Server, which includes native support for vector data types, JSON functions, and other AI-ready features. This makes it ideal for building modern, intelligent applications locally. This new capability is perfect for prototyping, developing, or testing workloads using the same engine available in production environments. Key highlights Auto-connect: A connection profile is automatically created and ready for use Lifecycle controls: Start, stop, restart, or delete containers from the connection panel Docker environment checks: Get notified if Docker isn’t running or installed Port conflict detection: If port 1433 (the default SQL Server port) is already in use, the extension will automatically find and assign the next available port for your container. Custom settings: Define container name, hostname, and port via UI Other versions supported: You can also choose to run a SQL Server 2022, or 2019 container. In the Connections view, select the “Add” (+) button, then choose “Create local SQL Server container” from the options. GitHub Copilot Agent mode (Public Preview) We’re introducing GitHub Copilot Agent Mode in Public Preview, bringing a contextual, action-driven chat experience into the MSSQL extension. This first release enables Copilot to interpret your intent and perform real tasks inside Visual Studio Code—making it easier to interact with your database through natural language prompts. Key highlights List servers – View all available SQL Server connections Connect to server or database – Establish a new database connection Disconnect from server or database – End the active connection Run query – Execute a SQL query directly from the chat window Show database schema – Display the schema for the connected database These tools are surfaced through natural interactions. For example, you might type: "Connect to my LocalDev environment" or "Show me the schema of the Products table for my e-commerce database." Server Groups If you manage multiple projects, clients, or environments, Server Groups bring structure to your connection list by allowing you to group saved connections into folders. This improves navigation and makes it easier to keep development, staging, and production environments organized—all within the MSSQL extension. Key highlights Create and rename folders for saved connections Drag and drop connections into different groups Edit an existing connection and assign it to a group directly from the connection dialog. Collapse or expand groups to declutter your view Easily switch between environments with confidence Whether you’re managing five connections or fifty, Server Groups help you stay organized and focused. Conclusion The v1.33 release brings us closer to our vision of a modern, developer-first SQL experience inside Visual Studio Code. From launching a local container powered by SQL Server 2025, to organizing your connections with Server Groups, to exploring your schema through GitHub Copilot Agent Mode—this update is all about helping developers build faster, smarter, and more locally. If there’s something you’d love to see in a future update, here’s how you can contribute: 💬 GitHub discussions – Share your ideas and suggestions to improve the extension ✨ New feature requests – Request missing capabilities and help shape future updates 🐞 Report bugs – Help us track down and fix issues to make the extension more reliable Want to see these features in action? Local SQL Server Container demo GitHub Copilot Agent Mode demo Full playlist of demos Thanks for being part of the journey—happy coding! 🚀Lesson Learned #529: Troubleshooting Application Slowness Using SSMS Copilot
Some days ago, I worked on a support case where a customer reported application slowness affecting multiple users. Instead of jumping into traces or manually writing diagnostic queries, we used SSMS Copilot to investigate the issue. I would like to share with you how we diagnosed and understood the root cause. To illustrate the case, let’s walk through a simplified example: we create a new table, and right after that, we add a new column to it. CREATE TABLE Ejemplo2 (ID INT) BEGIN TRANSACTION ALTER TABLE dbo.eJEMPLO2 ADD NuevoCampo INT NULL Using SQL Server Management Studio and Copilot we executed the following prompt: Please, provide all currently running or suspended sessions. Include session ID, status, command, wait type (if any), application_name, wait time, and current SQL text. We got the following results: I executed multiple times the same prompt and always the session ID 67 is in suspended mode and Wait_type LCK_M_SCH_S, for this reason, I run a new prompt: Please, provide all sessions that are currently blocked by another session. Include session ID, the blocking session ID, wait type, and the blocked SQL text . At the end, I found that the session 51 is blocking the session ID 67 and for this reason, I run a new prompt: do we any have active transaction pending for commit for the session ID 51. So, I understand that the Session ID 51 has a transaction open, so, let's ask the details of the session 51, with a new prompt: Please, show the most recent SQL statement executed by session ID 51, even if the session is currently sleeping or not running any active request. Include the session status and login name as well. Use sys.dm_exec_connections and most_recent_sql_handle to retrieve the query text if necessary. Well, we identified the problem, the session ID 67 is running a SELECT * FROM sys.Ejemplo2 but it's beging blocked by the session 51. Session ID 51 hasn’t finished its transaction, and now we either need to commit, rollback, or kill that session, especially if we don’t have access to the application that owns it. Before resolving the issue, I asked Copilot an additional prompt: Please, explain why session ID 67 is currently waiting. Include the wait type, and explanation of that, the resource being waited on, how long it has been waiting (seconds), and the SQL text. Also identify if another session is blocking it. The name of the object and schema Please, provide recommendations to prevent or reduce this kind of blocking situation in the future, based on the current wait type and blocking scenario observed with session ID 67. Please, summarize all current blocking chains in the system. Include blocking session IDs, blocked session IDs, wait types, wait durations, login names, and SQL statements involved.Lesson Learned #526: How to Identify the REST API Version Used by Your PowerShell Commands?
A few days ago, I wanted to understand which REST API version was being used behind each PowerShell command I was running to create Azure SQL Database servers. To investigate, I picked a simple command: Get-AzSqlServer -ResourceGroupName "ResourceGroupName" -ServerName "servername". Remember that Get-AzSqlServer cmdlet is a PowerShell wrapper over the Azure REST API for the Microsoft.Sql/servers resource. Internally, it makes a call to the ARM endpoint documented here, passing the required api-version. The actual version used depends on the installed Az.Sql module and may vary from one environment to another. I found that setting the variable $DebugPreference = "Continue" in my PowerShell Script , PowerShell prints detailed internal debug output, including the exact REST API call sent to Azure Resource Manager (ARM). Checking the output I've found the section called: Absolute Uri: https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/xxx-xxxx--613ccd2df306/resourceGroups/ResourceGroupName/providers/Microsoft.Sql/servers/servername?api-version=2023-02-01-preview So, it seems that running this command we could see this info. Even though you don’t explicitly define the api-version when using cmdlets like Get-AzSqlServer, the Azure platform requires it under the hood. The version used determines, which properties are available or supported, what operations behave differently across versions, whether the call will succeed once older versions are retired, etc.. For example, by using Azure CLI from the Portal, I was able to see the most recent API versions. It’s also important to note that, if your organization has .NET code managing Azure SQL Database environments, the underlying REST API calls might still be using an outdated preview version.Convert geo-replicated databases to Hyperscale
We’re excited to introduce the next improvement in Hyperscale conversion: a new preview feature that allows customers to convert Azure SQL databases to Hyperscale by keeping active geo-replication or failover group configurations intact. This builds on our earlier improvements and directly addresses one of the most requested capabilities from customers. With this improvement, customers can now modernize your database architecture with Hyperscale while maintaining business continuity. Overview We have heard feedback from customers about possible improvements we could make while converting their databases to Hyperscale. Customers complained about the complex steps they needed to perform to convert a database to Hyperscale when the database is geo-replicated by active geo-replication or failover groups. Previously, converting to Hyperscale required tearing down geo-replication links and recreating them after the conversion. Now, that’s no longer necessary. This improvement allows customers to preserve their cross-region disaster recovery or read scale-out configurations and still allows conversion to Hyperscale which helps in minimizing downtime and operational complexity. This feature is especially valuable for applications that rely on failover group endpoints for connectivity. Before this improvement, if application needs to be available during conversion, then connection string needed modifications as a part of conversion because the failover group and its endpoints had to be removed. With this new improvement, the conversion process is optimized for minimal disruption, with telemetry showing majority of cutover times under one minute. Even with a geo-replication configuration in place, you can still choose between automatic and manual cutover modes, offering flexibility in scheduling the transition. Progress tracking is now more granular, giving customers better visibility into each stage of the conversion, including the conversion of the geo-secondary to Hyperscale. Customer feedback Throughout the private preview phase, we have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from several customers about this improvement. Viktoriia Kuznetcova, Senior Automation Test Engineer from Nintex says: We needed a low-downtime way to move our databases from the Premium tier to Azure SQL Database Hyperscale, and this new feature delivered perfectly; allowing us to complete the migration in our test environments safely and smoothly, even while the service remained under continuous load, without any issues and without needing to break the failover group. We're looking forward to the public release so we can use it in production, where Hyperscale’s ability to scale storage both up and down will help us manage peak loads without overpaying for unused capacity. Get started The good news is that there are no changes needed to the conversion process. The workflow automatically detects that a geo-secondary is present and converts it to Hyperscale. There are no new parameters, and the method remains the same as the existing conversion process which works for non-geo-replicated databases. All you need is to make sure that: You have only one geo-secondary replica because Hyperscale doesn't support more than one geo-secondary replica. If a chained geo-replication configuration exists, it must be removed before starting the conversion to Hyperscale. Creating a geo-replica of a geo-replica (also known as "geo-replica chaining") isn't supported in Hyperscale. Once the above requirements are satisfied, you can use any of the following methods to initiate the conversion process. Conversion to Hyperscale must be initiated starting from the primary geo-replica. The following table provides sample commands to convert a database named WideWorldImporters on a logical server called contososerver to an 8-vcore Hyperscale database with manual cutover option. Method Command T-SQL ALTER DATABASE WideWorldImporters MODIFY (EDITION = 'Hyperscale', SERVICE_OBJECTIVE = 'HS_Gen5_8') WITH MANUAL_CUTOVER; PowerShell Set-AzSqlDatabase -ResourceGroupName "ResourceGroup01" -ServerName "contososerver" -DatabaseName "WideWorldImporters" -Edition "Hyperscale" -RequestedServiceObjectiveName "HS_Gen5_8" -ManualCutover Azure CLI az sql db update --resource-group ResourceGroup01 --server contososerver --name WideWorldImporters --edition Hyperscale --service-objective HS_Gen5_8 --manual-cutover Here are some notable details of this improvement: The geo-secondary database is automatically converted to Hyperscale with the same service level objective as the primary. All database configurations such as maintenance window, zone-resiliency, backup redundancy etc. remain the same as earlier (i.e., both geo-primary and geo-secondary would inherit from their own earlier configuration). A planned failover isn't possible while the conversion to Hyperscale is in progress. A forced failover is possible. However, depending on the state of the conversion when the forced failover occurs, the new geo-primary after failover might use either the Hyperscale service tier, or its original service tier. If the geo-secondary database is in an elastic pool before conversion, it is taken out of the pool and might need to be added back to a Hyperscale elastic pool separately after the conversion. The deployment of the feature is in progress and is expected to be completed in all Azure regions in a few weeks. In case you see error (Update to service objective '<SLO name>' with source DB geo-replicated is not supported for entity '<Database Name>') while converting primary to Hyperscale, wait for this new improvement to become available in your region. If you don’t want to use this preview capability yet, make sure to remove any geo-replication configuration before converting your databases to Hyperscale. Conclusion This update marks a significant step forward in the Hyperscale conversion process, offering simple steps, less downtime and keeping the geo-secondary available during the conversion process. We encourage you to try this new capability and provide your valuable feedback and help us refine this feature for general availability. You can contact us by commenting on this blog post and we’ll be happy to get back to you. Alternatively, you can also email us at sqlhsfeedback AT microsoft DOT com. We are eager to hear from you all!Announcing General Availability of Enhanced Server Audit for Azure SQL Database
We’re excited to announce the general availability of the enhanced server audit feature for Azure SQL Database, now deployed globally. This update delivers improved performance, availability, and reliability, aligning server auditing more closely with SQL Server and Azure SQL Managed Instance. The new architecture introduces a single extended event session at the server level, capturing audit events across all databases. This design optimizes CPU and memory usage, reduces overhead, and ensures consistent audit behavior across Azure SQL platforms. 🔐 Server Audit Action Groups Now Supported With this release, server-level audit action groups are now available in Azure SQL Database. This enhancement enables customers to meet security and compliance requirements more effectively by capturing broader activity at the server scope. For more information on supported action groups, refer to the https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/security/auditing/sql-server-audit-action-groups-and-actions For more details on the enhancements, please refer to the blog post.
