Public Preview: Zone-Redundant Next-Gen General Purpose for Azure SQL Managed Instance
Customers no longer need to choose between the latest General Purpose architecture and zone-level resiliency. With the public preview of zone redundancy for Next-Generation General Purpose Azure SQL Managed Instance, organizations can now take advantage of all the benefits of Next-Generation General Purpose while meeting strict high availability and compliance requirements through Availability Zone protection. When Next-Generation General Purpose became generally available, it introduced a modernized General Purpose architecture delivering improved performance, greater scalability, enhanced flexibility, and better price-performance for Azure SQL Managed Instance workloads. Since then, customers have increasingly adopted the architecture to modernize SQL workloads, consolidate databases, and optimize total cost of ownership. Today, we're extending those benefits to customers who require zone-level resiliency. With zone redundancy now available in public preview, customers can realize all the advantages of Next-Generation General Purpose while meeting the same zone-level availability requirements previously available only with Classic General Purpose. This milestone brings full high-availability parity between Classic General Purpose and Next-Generation General Purpose, removing one of the last major reasons for customers to remain on the previous architecture. Closing the last major gap Zone redundancy has consistently been one of the most requested capabilities for Next-Generation General Purpose. Since its introduction, Next-Generation General Purpose has provided substantial improvements in scalability and flexibility, including support for up to 128 vCores, up to 32 TB of storage, up to 500 databases per instance, configurable IOPS, and flexible memory sizing. Customers can optimize resources for their workload requirements while continuing to benefit from the simplicity and compatibility of Azure SQL Managed Instance. With today's announcement, these capabilities can now be combined with zone-level resiliency, enabling customers to deploy highly available business-critical workloads on the latest General Purpose architecture without compromise. In addition, the flexible memory option for zone-redundant Next-Generation General Purpose instances is also available in public preview, providing even greater flexibility to balance performance requirements and infrastructure costs. Built-in high availability, now with Zone-level protection Azure SQL Managed Instance has always been designed for high availability. Next-Generation General Purpose delivers built-in high availability through its distributed architecture, leveraging Service Fabric together with fault domains and update domains to minimize the impact of hardware failures, software updates, and planned maintenance events. This architecture enables applications to remain available even during infrastructure events and maintenance operations. As a result, single-zone deployments provide a 99.99% availability SLA. For organizations with more demanding availability requirements, zone redundancy distributes service components across multiple Availability Zones within a region. This provides protection against zone-level failures and increases the availability SLA to 99.995%. While many workloads are well served by single-zone deployments, organizations in regulated industries and mission-critical environments often require zone-redundant architectures as part of compliance, operational resilience, or business continuity requirements. With today's preview, these customers can now adopt Next-Generation General Purpose without sacrificing those requirements. Regional availability Zone redundancy for Next-Generation General Purpose is available in public preview in all regions where the underlying ESAN infrastructure supports zone-redundant deployments. For the latest list of supported regions, check out the documentation page containing the regions where Elastic SAN is currently available and the supported redundancy options. Regions that do not yet support ESAN-based zone redundancy are not included in the preview at this time. Additional regions will become available as platform support expands. Upgrading existing deployments Whether you are already running Next-Generation General Purpose or remain on Classic General Purpose, adopting zone-redundant Next-Generation General Purpose is designed to be straightforward and transparent. Enable zone redundancy on existing Next-gen General Purpose instances Customers already running Next-Generation General Purpose can enable zone redundancy directly on existing instances and immediately benefit from enhanced resiliency and a higher availability SLA. Move from classic General Purpose zone-redundant to Next-generation General Purpose zone-redundant Customers currently running Classic General Purpose with zone redundancy can migrate to Next-Generation General Purpose while preserving zone-level resiliency and gaining access to the latest platform architecture, resource flexibility, and scalability improvements. This provides a natural modernization path for existing deployments and allows customers to standardize on the future architecture of the General Purpose tier. Online operation with a short failover Enabling zone redundancy or migrating between architectures is performed as an online management operation. During most of the operation, Azure SQL Managed Instance provisions and synchronizes the new infrastructure while the existing deployment continues serving application traffic. Near the end of the operation, a brief failover occurs as client connections are switched from the existing infrastructure to the newly provisioned environment. For more information about management operations, expected behavior, and application connectivity considerations, see management operations overview article. Protecting workloads beyond a single region For customers running in regions where zone redundancy is not currently available, or for customers seeking protection from broader regional outages, Failover Groups remain the recommended solution. Failover Groups enable disaster recovery across Azure regions by maintaining a secondary managed instance and providing automatic or manual failover capabilities when needed. This approach helps organizations meet business continuity objectives even when Availability Zone protection is unavailable or when protection from regional outages is required. Optimize disaster recovery costs with License Free failover rights Customers implementing disaster recovery through Failover Groups can further optimize costs through Azure SQL License Free failover rights. When the secondary managed instance is maintained exclusively for standby disaster recovery purposes and is not used for read-only workloads, SQL Server licensing costs do not apply to the secondary environment. Customers pay only for the compute resources required to maintain disaster recovery readiness, helping reduce overall total cost of ownership. Planning costs The Azure SQL Managed Instance pricing page and Azure Pricing Calculator have been updated to include the latest zone-redundant Next-Generation General Purpose offerings. These tools can help customers evaluate deployment options, compare availability architectures, and estimate costs associated with zone redundancy and disaster recovery configurations. Get started Zone redundancy for Next-Generation General Purpose marks the completion of an important milestone in the evolution of Azure SQL Managed Instance. Customers can now combine the performance, scalability, flexibility, and operational advantages of Next-Generation General Purpose with zone-level resiliency and a 99.995% availability SLA. Whether deploying new workloads, enabling zone redundancy on existing Next-Generation General Purpose instances, or modernizing Classic General Purpose deployments, organizations now have a clear path to adopting the latest General Purpose architecture without compromise. Learn more What is Azure SQL Managed Instance Availability through local and zone redundancy - Azure SQL Managed Instance Flexible memory - Azure SQL Managed Instance Next-gen General Purpose – official documentation Try Azure SQL Managed Instance for free Accelerate SQL Server Migration to Azure with Azure Arc Analyzing the Economic Benefits of Microsoft Azure SQL Managed Instance How 3 customers are driving change with migration to Azure SQLSQLCon is Back: 5 Reasons to Attend the European Microsoft Fabric + SQL Community Conference
5 Reasons to Attend the European Microsoft Fabric + SQL Community Conference This year the SQL community joins Fabric in Europe for the first time at the Microsoft Fabric + SQL Community Conference happening September 28th - October 1st in Barcelona, Spain. Hear the latest announcements and roadmap directly from Microsoft leaders. With a full week of deep technical sessions and workshops covering the topics you care about most across and see how we’re helping solve your most pressing data challenges, from strengthening data sovereignty to powering agentic AI and unlocking trusted, actionable intelligence. And while there’s no shortage of topics, here are a couple of things we’re the most excited about heading to Barcelona: Unify your data (conference) experience With one registration, this event doubles your opportunity to sharpen your skillset with 130+ expert led sessions, workshops, and keynotes coming together in one high- impact week. Mix and match sessions to best meet your learning goals while you move seamlessly across tracks, visit the shared expo, and connect with peers in the community hub, all under one roof. The ultimate SQL experience, like only Microsoft can deliver With more than 25 dedicated SQL sessions, whether you’re a DBA or, a developer building AI apps, you can create your custom agenda with the topics you care about most. Pre-day programming is for the builders; bring your laptop and start your week with any of our full- day SQL workshops for the demos, practical guidance, and repeatable patterns you can start using immediately. Tuesday kicks off the official event with our opening keynote, three corenotes, and general sessions focused on SQL Server 2025, Azure SQL, and SQL in Fabric. Learn the latest in performance, tuning and tools like SSMS and VS Code delivered directly from SQL experts, MVPs, and community leaders. Ready to start building your agenda? Try our new session planner to curate your schedule based on your interests. The backdrop: Barcelona This year’s conference takes place in the historic, vibrant city of Barcelona, set along the Mediterranean Sea, the ideal setting for the first European SQLCon. When you’re ready for a break, you’re only a 15-minute ride away from the city center, perfect for exploring Gaudí’s iconic architecture or enjoying some local bites. Don’t miss the wrap- up celebration taking place in Barcelona’s exclusive Sutton Club. Community Connection SQLCon is more than just sessions; we’re bringing together more than 4,000 of the most dedicated Microsoft community members together for a week of endless connection opportunities. The Community Hub will bring some of our most popular experiences to life, from in-person meetups and user group connections to hands-on learning and certification opportunities all designed to help you grow your skills and expand your network. Launching Soon: SQLCon TV Enjoyed catching all the behind-the-scenes action on FabCon TV? In Barcelona we’ll bring SQLCon TV to the stage, with the content, demos, and interviews every SQL fan will want to see. Save your spot today. The earlier you register, the more opportunities you have to take advantage of early pricing specials. See you in Barcelona!Lessons Learned #551: Azure SQL Connection Timeouts: Three Things to Check
An application starts reporting intermittent timeouts when connecting to Azure SQL Database. Some requests succeed, others fail, and a test from a developer’s laptop works perfectly. The database appears online, no recent deployment seems related, and the natural reaction is to ask: Is Azure SQL unavailable? Is the firewall blocking the connection? Should we increase the connection timeout? Should we change the driver or scale the database? Those are reasonable questions, but they may lead the investigation in the wrong direction. The most important lesson is simple: A timeout tells us how long the application waited. It does not tell us what the application was waiting for. Not every “SQL timeout” happens inside Azure SQL From the application’s point of view, opening a database connection may involve several operations: Resolving the server name. Reaching the SQL endpoint. Obtaining a Microsoft Entra access token. Waiting for an available pooled connection. Completing the SQL login. Executing the first command. When all these operations are reported through the same application method or log entry, it can look as though Azure SQL took thirty seconds to accept the connection. In reality, only part of that time may have been spent connecting to the database. In one anonymized support scenario, the application experienced problems mainly on its first connection. Network tests were successful and no corresponding SQL connection failure was identified. The investigation eventually showed that access-token acquisition was consuming a significant part of the available time. Increasing the SQL timeout or changing the firewall would not have addressed the real delay. Check 1: Capture the complete error and the exact time A screenshot containing only “Connection Timeout Expired” is rarely enough. Capture: The complete exception and inner exception. The operation being performed. The driver and version. The authentication method. The exact timestamp in UTC. Whether the issue affects every connection or only some of them. The wording around the timeout matters. For example, a timeout while obtaining a connection from the pool points toward the application’s pooling and concurrency behavior. A pre-login or TLS error belongs to a different investigation. A command timeout after the connection was established is usually a query-performance problem rather than a connection problem. Check 2: Measure the application timeline The application should record important operations separately. A simple timeline can completely change the investigation: 10:14:20.100 Token acquisition started 10:14:28.400 Token acquired 10:14:28.405 SQL connection started 10:14:29.050 SQL connection established The complete operation took almost nine seconds, but Azure SQL connection establishment took less than one second. Useful measurements include: Token-acquisition duration. Time waiting for a pooled connection. SQL connection-open duration. SQL command duration. Number of retry attempts. Applications using Microsoft Entra authentication must obtain an access token before authenticating to Azure SQL. Measuring that operation separately helps distinguish an identity delay from a database connectivity problem. This is particularly useful when the issue appears: On the first connection after startup. After a token expires. Only with Managed Identity or Workload Identity. Intermittently, while SQL authentication connections remain unaffected. Check 3: Test from the application environment A successful connection from a laptop does not validate the path used by an application running in: Azure App Service. Azure Functions. Azure Kubernetes Service. A virtual machine. An on-premises application server. A container or integration runtime. The laptop and the application may use different DNS servers, routes, firewalls, proxies and identities. Connectivity and DNS tests should therefore be performed from the environment that is actually failing. This becomes especially important when Private Endpoint is used. The application should continue connecting with: <server>.database.windows.net It should not use the Private Endpoint IP address or the privatelink.database.windows.net hostname directly. Direct login attempts using the private IP or the private-link FQDN fail; the normal logical-server FQDN must remain in the connection string. From the affected environment, confirm that: The expected DNS server answers the request. The server FQDN resolves to the expected private IP. The Private Endpoint connection is approved. The Private DNS zone is linked correctly. The resolved address is reachable through the intended route. A test from an unrelated machine is still useful for comparison, but it does not prove that the application path is healthy. Observed symptom Likely investigation area Timeout while obtaining a connection from the pool Application connection pooling Server name cannot be resolved DNS TCP connection to the endpoint cannot be established Network path, firewall or routing Error during the pre-login handshake TLS, driver, network interruption or pre-login processing Authentication or access-token error Microsoft Entra authentication, identity or token acquisition Timeout during the post-login phase Login completion, session initialization or server-side processing Execution or command timeout after connecting Query execution and database performance Avoid changing several things at once During a production incident, it is tempting to: Increase the timeout. Add firewall rules. Change the connection policy. Upgrade the driver. Restart the application. Clear connection pools. Applying several changes together makes it difficult to determine which one helped, and some may only hide the symptom. A better approach is to define one hypothesis: We believe DNS in the application environment is resolving the public endpoint instead of the Private Endpoint. Then define: The evidence supporting the hypothesis. One controlled change. The expected result. How the result will be measured. How the change will be reverted. Azure SQL supports Proxy and Redirect connection policies, which determine how traffic flows after reaching the Azure SQL gateway. The policy is configured for the logical server, so it should be verified before making firewall assumptions or changes. What should we collect before opening a support request? A small but precise evidence package can avoid several rounds of questions: Complete error and inner exception. Exact UTC timestamps. Application platform and location. Public or Private Endpoint. Server FQDN used by the application. Driver and version. Authentication method. Token, pool, connection and command durations. DNS result from the affected environment. Whether the issue is constant, intermittent or limited to the first connection. Recent application, network, identity or configuration changes.HostNameInCertificate changes in Azure SQL Managed Instance affecting client connectivity
Azure SQL Managed Instance is changing how TLS certificates are stored and handled in managed instances. One of those certificates was specifically tailored to support migration scenarios where SQL clients retain the server name, while updating its record in DNS so that it resolves to the managed instance instead. This was supported with an instance certificate that we are now replacing in favor of a more complete solution. When does this change take effect? New managed instances already contain certificates with a reduced list of SANs. Existing managed instances will have their certificates revoked and replaced with reduced certificates during the first week of August 2026. Am I affected? Your SQL clients and applications might be unable to connect if all of the below is true: The client is connecting over the VNet-local endpoint, and The client attempts to establish a Redirect connection, and Client settings contain the HostNameInCertificate connection parameter. The exact error message depends on your application, client, and driver. For example: The target principal name is incorrect. The certificate chain was issued by an authority that is not trusted. The certificate's CN name does not match the passed value. The remote certificate is invalid according to the validation procedure. Failed to validate the server name in a certificate hostname verification failed certificate verify failed: Hostname mismatch My clients are affected. What should I do? If your clients are affected, find an appropriate solution in the table below. If the client is... Solution Connecting to the managed instance's VNet-local endpoint with Redirect using the instance's original VNet-local domain name Remove HostNameInCertificate from client's connection string; or Deploy a private endpoint and ensure your client is connecting to it. Connecting to the managed instance’s VNet-local endpoint with Redirect using a different domain name (for example, via DNS CNAME) Set the instance’s connection type to Proxy; or Deploy a private endpoint and ensure your client is connecting to it. Connecting via private endpoint No action is needed. Connecting via public endpoint No action is needed. Connecting with Proxy connection type No action is needed. What else should I know? Microsoft recommends you adhere to the security best practices for data in flight: Only allow network access to known networks and hosts; see Connecting to a managed instance. Authorize using safe credentials, ideally by using Microsoft Entra where possible. Always use TLS encryption (Encrypt=Strict or Encrypt=Mandatory). Monitor suspicious network activity throughout your network topology. Follow the principle of least privilege. Ensure that your SQL clients and applications have a network path to fetch the latest CRL and/or connect to OCSP for certificate validation.Announcing Automatic Backup Immutability for Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance
Built-in protection for your most recent backups - enabled automatically Today, we're excited to announce General Availability of automatic backup immutability up to the most recent 7 days of point-in-time restore (PITR) backups in Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance, at no additional cost. With this release, up to most recent 7 days of backups are automatically protected with immutability by default, regardless of your configured PITR retention period. No configuration changes, policy creation, or administrative action are required. This enhancement provides an additional layer of protection for one of your most critical recovery assets - your backups. Why backup immutability matters Cyberattacks continue to evolve, with ransomware increasingly targeting not only production data, but also backup systems. Attackers understand that if backups can be deleted, modified, or corrupted, recovery becomes significantly more difficult and costly. Traditional backup strategies focus on creating recoverable copies of data. Modern cyber-resilience strategies go further by ensuring those backups themselves cannot be altered or removed during a protected period. Immutable backups help ensure that recovery points remain available when you need them most - even in the face of malicious actions, accidental deletion, or compromised administrative credentials. What is changing? Starting with this release: Up to the most recent 7 days of Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance PITR backups are automatically protected by immutability Protection is enabled by default for all databases, with no additional cost No configuration or onboarding is required Protection applies regardless of the database's configured PITR retention setting Because this capability is built directly into the Azure SQL backup service, customers automatically benefit from stronger protection without changing existing backup, restore, or operational workflows. Designed for modern cyber resilience Organizations across industries increasingly require stronger safeguards around backup data as part of broader cyber-resilience programs. Automatic backup immutability helps customers: Improve protection against ransomware attacks Reduce the risk of accidental backup deletion Strengthen recovery readiness Increase confidence that recent recovery points remain available during an incident Simplify adoption of immutable backup practices without additional deployment effort This capability is particularly valuable because the backups most often used during recovery operations are typically the most recent ones. Supporting compliance and governance requirements Many industries must maintain records in a protected, tamper-resistant manner to satisfy regulatory and governance requirements. Azure Storage immutable storage capabilities have been validated for compliance scenarios involving requirements such as: SEC Rule 17a-4(f) CFTC Rule 1.31(d) FINRA record-retention requirements These regulations commonly require records to be retained in a nonerasable, non-rewritable format for a defined period of time. Azure immutable storage uses a Write Once, Read Many (WORM) model that helps organizations meet these requirements. Azure SQL database backups leverage this WORM capability from Azure storage to achieve immutability for the backups. While compliance requirements vary by organization and jurisdiction, automatic backup immutability provides an additional foundational control that can support broader security, governance, and resilience objectives. No additional complexity One of our goals with this release is to deliver stronger security without increasing operational burden. You don't need to: Create immutability policies Configure storage accounts Manage retention locks Extract data The protection is integrated directly into the Azure SQL managed backup service and works automatically for all Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance databases. Pricing and Availability Automatic backup immutability up to the most recent 7 days of point-in-time restore (PITR) backups is available for all Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance databases. There is no additional cost to use this capability. The protection is built into the Azure SQL managed backup service and is automatically applied to the most recent 7 days of backups. No configuration, policy management, or separate licensing is required. By enabling immutable protection by default and at no additional charge, Azure SQL helps customers strengthen their cyber-resilience posture, improve protection against ransomware and accidental deletion, and gain the benefits of immutable backups without added operational complexity. Building on Azure SQL's data protection foundation Automatic backup immutability is the latest enhancement in Azure SQL's ongoing investment in data protection, security, and business continuity. By combining automated backups, point-in-time restore capabilities, geo-redundant backup options, soft delete protection for your Azure SQL logical server and now automatic backup immutability for recent backups, Azure SQL continues to help organizations strengthen their resilience against both operational accidents and modern cyber threats. This is just the beginning. Azure SQL hyperscale backup immutability and a host of other additional capabilities are coming soon. FAQs Q: What is changing? A: Microsoft Azure SQL will start protecting the short-term retention backups for all Azure SQL DB and Azure SQL managed instance databases with immutability to protect against ransomware attacks. Q: Are all my backups protected? A: In this release, up to most recent 7 days of short-term retention backups are immutable, regardless of the configured retention period. For example, if the configured retention period is 7 or less, then all the backups are immutable. If the configured retention period is 35 days, then the most recent 7 days of backups are immutable. Q: Is there any additional cost for this feature? A: No. Immutability for the backups is being provided as a security feature natively. Q: When will this be available? A: The code to enable immutable policy is already in progress in all Azure regions worldwide. In the next few weeks all backups will be on immutable storage. Q: Do I need to do anything to enable/configure immutability? A: No. There is no action needed on your end. The backups will automatically be immutable once the enablement is complete. Q: How can I verify if my backups are immutable? A: In a future release, immutability status will be exposed as a database property. Q: How can I get immutability for my backups beyond 7 days? A: In this release backups up to most recent 7 days are immutable. Immutability for additional retention period will be added in a future release. Limitations Immutability for Azure SQL hyperscale is not included in this release but will be available soon. Learn more To learn more about immutable storage concepts and WORM (Write Once, Read Many) protection in Azure, see: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/storage/blobs/immutable-storage-overview We are excited to bring this protection to every Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance customer automatically, helping you improve backup security and recovery readiness with no additional effort. Documentation updates More details at https://aka.ms/auto-immutability Looking ahead We are just getting started on this journey of ransomware protection. Additional flexibility and configuration options coming in future releases.Generally Available: SQL Migration to SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines in Azure Architecture
One Migration Experience, More Flexibility Modernizing SQL Server estates is rarely a single-step journey. Organizations often operate across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments while balancing application dependencies, operational requirements, and modernization goals. SQL Server migration enabled by Azure Arc simplifies this process by bringing migration activities into a single experience in the Azure portal. With the July 2026 release, we are announcing General Availability of SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines as a migration target in Azure Arc, allowing customers to have a greater flexibility to choose Azure destination that best aligns with to your needs without introducing additional tools or migration processes. Whether migrating to the fully managed Azure SQL Managed Instance service or to SQL Server running on Azure VMs, the experience remains consistent and familiar. Unified Migration Workflow A key benefit of SQL Server migration enabled by Azure Arc is that the entire migration lifecycle is managed from a single tool in Azure portal. After a SQL Server instance is enabled by Azure Arc, customers can: Assess migration readiness Select a migration target Configure migration settings Monitor migration progress Validate results Perform final cutover All of these activities are performed directly from the Azure portal using a guided workflow designed to simplify migration planning and execution. The prerequisite remains unchanged: source SQL Server instances must be enabled by Azure Arc before migration can begin. The result is a flexible, scalable, and consistent migration experience that supports hybrid realities, reduces operational overhead, and helps customers modernize SQL Server estates at their own pace. Consistent Experience Across Azure SQL Targets Migration to SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines follows the same operational model already available for Azure SQL Managed Instance migration scenarios. Customers use the same migration dashboard, monitoring experience, and guided workflow regardless of the destination. This consistency reduces learning curves, simplifies operational processes, and enables teams to select the most appropriate Azure SQL platform without changing migration methodology. Online Migration Using Backup and Log Shipping Migration to SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines uses backup and restore with log shipping to support online migration scenarios while minimizing downtime. The process begins with a full database backup that is restored to the target SQL Server instance running on an Azure Virtual Machine. Transaction log backups that are uploaded continuously by your workflows to Azure Blob Storage are continuously applied to the target database, keeping it closely synchronized with the source environment. Azure Blob Storage serves as the intermediary staging location between source and target systems. To support efficient data movement and restore operations, both the Azure Blob Storage account and the target SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines must reside in the same Azure region. Within the Azure Arc migration experience, customers select the Azure Blob Storage container that stores the backup files. Azure Arc automatically restores the full backup and continuously applies transaction log backups as they become available. Customers are responsible for configuring and maintaining the continuous upload of transaction log backups to Azure Blob Storage. Customer-Controlled Cutover When the customer is ready to complete migration, upon customer initiated cutover, Azure Arc performs the final synchronization by applying the last uploaded backup and bringing the target database online. This approach gives organizations full control over the migration timeline and cutover window, allowing downtime to be planned according to business requirements while reducing operational complexity. Learn More To learn more about SQL Server migration enabled by Azure Arc, see: Migration Overview For information about migrating to SQL Server in Azure VM, see: Migrate to SQL Server in Azure VMGenerally Available: SQL Migration to SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines in Azure Architecture
One Migration Experience, More Flexibility Modernizing SQL Server estates is rarely a single-step journey. Organizations often operate across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments while balancing application dependencies, operational requirements, and modernization goals. SQL Server migration enabled by Azure Arc simplifies this process by bringing migration activities into a single experience in the Azure portal. With the July 2026 release, we are announcing General Availability of SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines as a migration target in Azure Arc, allowing customers to have a greater flexibility to choose Azure destination that best aligns with to your needs without introducing additional tools or migration processes. Whether migrating to the fully managed Azure SQL Managed Instance service or to SQL Server running on Azure VMs, the experience remains consistent and familiar. Unified Migration Workflow A key benefit of SQL Server migration enabled by Azure Arc is that the entire migration lifecycle is managed from a single tool in Azure portal. After a SQL Server instance is enabled by Azure Arc, customers can: Assess migration readiness Select a migration target Configure migration settings Monitor migration progress Validate results Perform final cutover All of these activities are performed directly from the Azure portal using a guided workflow designed to simplify migration planning and execution. The prerequisite remains unchanged: source SQL Server instances must be enabled by Azure Arc before migration can begin. The result is a flexible, scalable, and consistent migration experience that supports hybrid realities, reduces operational overhead, and helps customers modernize SQL Server estates at their own pace. Consistent Experience Across Azure SQL Targets Migration to SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines follows the same operational model already available for Azure SQL Managed Instance migration scenarios. Customers use the same migration dashboard, monitoring experience, and guided workflow regardless of the destination. This consistency reduces learning curves, simplifies operational processes, and enables teams to select the most appropriate Azure SQL platform without changing migration methodology. Online Migration Using Backup and Log Shipping Migration to SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines uses backup and restore with log shipping to support online migration scenarios while minimizing downtime. The process begins with a full database backup that is restored to the target SQL Server instance running on an Azure Virtual Machine. Transaction log backups that are uploaded continuously by your workflows to Azure Blob Storage are continuously applied to the target database, keeping it closely synchronized with the source environment. Azure Blob Storage serves as the intermediary staging location between source and target systems. To support efficient data movement and restore operations, both the Azure Blob Storage account and the target SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines must reside in the same Azure region. Within the Azure Arc migration experience, customers select the Azure Blob Storage container that stores the backup files. Azure Arc automatically restores the full backup and continuously applies transaction log backups as they become available. Customers are responsible for configuring and maintaining the continuous upload of transaction log backups to Azure Blob Storage. Customer-Controlled Cutover When the customer is ready to complete migration, upon customer initiated cutover, Azure Arc performs the final synchronization by applying the last uploaded backup and bringing the target database online. This approach gives organizations full control over the migration timeline and cutover window, allowing downtime to be planned according to business requirements while reducing operational complexity. Learn More To learn more about SQL Server migration enabled by Azure Arc, see: Migration Overview For information about migrating to SQL Server in Azure VM, see: Migrate to SQL Server in Azure VM3 Reasons Enterprise SQL Server Migrations Slow Down - and How to Avoid Them
Summary Many of Enterprises around the globe have relied on SQL Server for over 3 decades to run their mission critical business applications. Their SQL Server estates face pressure from downtime risk, cost volatility, end of support timelines and modernization demands. As these customers get ready to modernize their data to use the latest capabilities of A.I and cloud native application trends, they want to migrate and modernize their SQL Servers to use Azure SQL with a modernization strategy built on confidence of customer success. Enterprise migrations rarely fail because of migration tools. They slow down because organizations struggle to answer three questions: How much downtime can we tolerate? What will it cost after migration? Are we choosing the right target platform? The organizations that answer these questions early move faster and with less risk. For the DB Administrators, Data architects, application architect and cloud-cost decision makers there are important technical considerations before, during and after data modernization to avoid long term costs and operational concerns. The Microsoft SQL Team has helped many customers modernize their SQL. We discuss important guidelines that can help resolve the 3 major concerns that block or slow SQL Server migration and modernization in Enterprises. This is covered in the episode of DataExposed for which this companion blog goes into the details. What are important triggers that cause customers and partners to consider SQL modernization? There are many business triggers that force Enterprises to migrate their data to public cloud. As SQL Server 2012 to SQL Server 2016 are already in the end of support stage of their lifecycle, customers need to upgrade SQL Server in place or migrate to AzureSQL. Due to cyber security threats, customers are feeling more vulnerable to attackers. Moving their data into a secure environment is essential for protecting not just their data but their business. Customers are reporting the need to free up IT dollars to invest into other parts of the business that may need it more. These may be anything from datacenter contract expirations, need for Hardware refreshes to software license renewals. As the business grows or becomes cyclical, there is surge in demand. Capacity constraints become a barrier for such expansions. These are triggers that cause them to rethink their data modernization strategy. Data modernization and moving the data to a elastic, scalable, secure and resilient data platform such as Azure SQL, becomes essential. The Three Migration Blockers However, data modernization and migration is not without any risk. Based on our customers experience, here are three key reasons that we have commonly encountered that halt or slow down SQL modernization. 1. Downtime Risk Business stakeholders often require strict service level commitments before authorizing production cutovers. Even when migrations are technically feasible, organizations may delay projects if they believe downtime windows could impact revenue, customer experience, or regulatory obligations. Most customers are still offered offline migration paths which can take hours to days, even though zero-downtime migrations are possible which take seconds to minutes. 2. Cost uncertainty Many modernization projects are approved based on expected cost savings. However, if infrastructure sizing, licensing assumptions, storage consumption, or disaster recovery requirements are not evaluated properly, the actual operational cost can exceed initial expectations. Cost uncertainty often slows executive approval processes and extends migration timelines. 3. Compatibility and Feature Fit When migrating SQL Server, Azure SQL has several deployment offerings from IaaS to PaaS. These include SQL Server on Azure VM, Azure SQL Managed Instance, Azure SQL DB Hyperscale and Azure SQL in Microsoft Fabric. Many customers maybe using SQL Server features like Cross-database queries, CLR, SSIS, SQL Agent, and linked servers. They make a safe decision to lift and shift migrate to SQL Server on Azure VMs IaaS instead of modernizing to a PaaS service like Azure SQL Managed Instance. However, in the process, they lose the opportunity to use the PaaS capabilities, manageability and AI/Fabric capabilities in Azure by making this choice. Enterprise Architects, Application Architects, Database developers and DB Administrators have to make the right choice taking both development as well as operational costs and compatibility when they make their SQL modernization decisions. Here are best practices some of the biggest and successful SQL migrations have used to make the migration and modernization journey with confidence. While we cannot disclose specific customer names, these guidelines are based on helping many large to small Enterprise customers. Azure SQL Managed Instance as the Resiliency Anchor Azure SQL Managed Instance is often the platform that helps organizations overcome all three concerns simultaneously because it combines near-full SQL Server compatibility with platform-as-a-service benefits. Azure SQL Managed Instance (Azure SQL MI) Next-gen General Purpose is now generally available, bringing a built-in performance and scale upgrade for General Purpose workloads, including up to 500 databases per instance, up to 32 TB storage, lower latency, and higher IOPS. The release also adds more flexible cost-performance tuning with independent vCore, IOPS, and memory scaling, plus faster management operations to adapt to changing workload demand. For enterprise SQL Server modernization, this positions Azure SQL MI as a stronger path for high-compatibility migrations that need better price-performance without moving to a full replatform. Let us dive deeper into how this helps address the downtime risk concerns by enables three levels of resiliency and high availability features. Local Redundancy Azure SQL Managed Instance provides first layer of Local Redundancy — built into every Azure SQL MI instance at no extra cost. Azure SQL Managed Instance uses local redundancy by default to keep workloads available during node, VM, rack, maintenance, and other local failures within a single datacenter, with Service Fabric orchestrating failover. In General Purpose (including Next-gen GP), this is implemented as stateless compute plus remote stateful storage; during failover, the engine process moves to another compute node and reattaches data, which can cause temporary performance impact due to cold cache. In Business Critical, local redundancy uses multiple synchronized replicas with local SSD storage (Always On-like architecture), enabling fast failover and read scale-out on secondaries.Next-gen General Purpose is an architectural upgrade to the existing General Purpose service tier that uses an upgraded remote storage layer that stores instance data and log files on Elastic SAN instead of page blobs and maintains it locally. Local redundancy protects against local infrastructure issues. This gives you a 99.99% SLA but not full datacenter/zone disasters, so zone redundancy (where supported) or disaster recovery (DR) options like failover groups/geo-restore are needed for broader resilience. Zone Redundancy The second layer is Zone Redundancy, which is accomplished placing data replicas across availability zones. Your Azure SQL MI resources are distributed across multiple availability zones within a region. This protects against the failure of an entire datacenter because each Azure availability zone is a separate physical location with independent power, cooling and networking. It relies on synchronous replication using zone-redundant storage for General Purpose. For Business critical, it uses Always On Availability group replicas across zones for Business Critical. Always On availability group technology replicates data changes from the primary instance to standby replicas in other availability zones. In the event of an outage, there's an automatic failover that seamlessly transitions one of the standby replicas to be prima. These replicas are always in sync — which means zero data loss. Failover typically happens in under 30 seconds, and your SLA jumps to 99.995%. Failover Groups The third layer is Failover Groups. This is your cross-region disaster recovery solution. It asynchronously replicates all user databases to a secondary Azure SQL MI instance in a different Azure region. Because it is asynchronous replication, there is potential for momentary data loss in the case of a datacenter outage. But it still protects the data against the worst case failure — a full regional outage. If the replica is a standby replica, there is no license required and it is used only for disaster recovery. Using these options, business stakeholders can get their assurance that they have Enterprise grade availability and resiliency platform of AzureSQL for running their mission critical workloads. You can read more about these HA and Resiliency options in Microsoft Learn. Cost Governance for Enterprise Buyers The total cost of data modernization and migration is not a one-time estimate but an ongoing one. In this case, Azure SQL MI provides Enterprise DB Administrators many levers through pricing model choice, right-sizing, elasticity, serverless options and dev/test free tiers. Let us explore how these can be combined for smart cost estimations. Lets also look at the best offering for the cost-conscious Enterprises - Azure SQL DB Hyperscale. With Azure SQL DB Hyperscale, you get the SQL Server engine, T-SQL compatibility, High Availability, Disaster recovery, security, backups, and management all bundled into the service price. No separate cost for SQL Server license. Hyperscale separates compute and storage that can scale independently and does not force you to overprovision. You have to only pay what you use which is ideal for seasonal workloads, Dev/Test, SaaS applications, predictable daytime trends, and up to 60% savings when you use Elastic pools. Azure Hybrid benefit (AHB)- Azure Hybrid Benefit lets you bring your existing SQL Server investments to Azure and reduce compute costs, accelerating your ROI from cloud migration while preserving all the benefits of Azure SQL Azure SQL DB Free offer – is the strongest product offering. Enterprises can use all features of Azure SQL at no cost for up to 10 Azure SQL DB free-tier. 100,000 vCore-seconds of serverless compute per month, 32GB data storage, 32 GB backup storage, serverless auto-scaling and auto-pause if you hit the limit per month. Run your POCs at no cost and evaluate before you move to Azure SQLDB, especially SMB& some enterprise Azure SQL Managed Instance also offers 1 free Azure SQL MI instance per Azure subscription giving you 720vCore hours per month, 64GB storage, up to 500 databases, automated backups and 12 months free. And if data migration is not possible due to data compliance or data proximity purposes, Azure Arc Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) gives you cloud-style SQL licensing for servers running anywhere—on-premises, at the edge, or in other clouds. Instead of making large up-front licensing investments, you only pay for SQL Server while it's running, while still gaining access to Azure Arc management, security, monitoring, and modernization capabilities. For seasonal, variable, or growth-oriented workloads, PAYG can improve cash flow and reduce licensing complexity. Reserved instances allow Enterprise customers to commit to using Azure SQL resource for a period of one or three years to receive a significant discount. This option combined with AHB can save you even more up to 80%. We have a comprehensive licensing guide for on-premises SQL Server for your reference. Azure SQL enables a variety of cloud cost-models for a wide range of enterprise workload needs to help Enterprise cloud cost decision makers and DB Administrators make the right choice for their workloads. Target selection guidance While Azure SQL has multiple deployment options to migrate your on-premises work loads, it is critical to make the right choice long term. Customers can install SQL Server on-premises, they can use Azure SQL deployment options, and also run SQL Server in other clouds like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. If there is an Enterprise workload that is not ready to modernize, you have the ability to lift and shift into SQL Server in Azure VM. It is a low cost migration option, because the application does not need any modification and it gives DB Administrators full control over the SQL server and underlying Windows or Linux OS. This can be a first step to modernization for some customers who are risk-averse. For those Enterprise customers who are willing to modernize their workloads and SQL Server instances, Azure SQL DB Hyperscale is the best option. Azure SQL Database Hyperscale helps organizations modernize their most demanding database workloads with virtually unlimited growth, high performance, and cloud-scale economics. Customers can scale storage and compute independently, support large multi-terabyte databases, accelerate application performance with read-scale replicas, and eliminate the operational complexity of managing infrastructure, backups, patching, and high availability. They can build cloud-native applications or cloud-enable existing applications. However, if Enterprise customers want good compatibility with their on-premises SQL Server but continue down the modernization path - their best option is Azure SQL Managed Instance. They can modernize the instance and not impact the application as there is no application change required. Applications will continue to work and the DB Administrators do not need to worry about managing infrastructure and all the overhead that comes with managing, self-managing your SQL Server virtual machines. For SQL Server customers, PostgreSQL may look like an attractive low cost option. However, it requires re-platforming that could add significant hidden cost due to retraining all their DBAs and their developers to do performance optimization, performance best practices and operational maintenance. Lastly, our same SQL engine is also available to customers as a SaaS-ified version, Fabric SQL database as well. All these options use the exact same SQL engine which makes it easier for Database developers and DB Administrators continue to use the same expertise, tools and process. Making the right choice of Azure SQL deployment is not just on the fastest way to modernize but the right long term approach. Conclusion and Next steps Enterprise SQL Server migrations rarely stall because of migration technology. More often, they are delayed by concerns around downtime, cost predictability, and platform selection. Organizations that address these questions early can accelerate modernization while reducing operational risk. Azure SQL provides multiple modernization paths—from SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines to Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure SQL Database—allowing organizations to balance compatibility, operational simplicity, resiliency, and cost efficiency based on their business requirements. As modernization initiatives accelerate, the most successful projects are those that treat migration not as a one-time infrastructure event, but as a long-term platform strategy. Whether its the newest and the fastest way for us to migrate customers, we have all the comprehensive Copilot enabled AI-assisted migration tooling, technical training and support you need. Look for more blogs, whitepapers, guides and training based on best practices used real-world data modernization projects.Azure SQL DB Fabric Mirroring with Private Endpoint
Introduction Overview steps for configuration of Mirroring between Azure SQL Database to Fabric Mirrored Database over Private Endpoint and Public Connectivity Disabled on source. Prerequisites #1 - The minimum requirement for the source Azure SQL Database tier is - it is Standard Tier with DTUs equal or greater than 100. Free, Basic Tier, or <100 DTUs are NOT supported. All vCore model tiers supported. #2 - System Assigned Managed Identity (SAMI) must be enabled on the Azure SQL logical server. #3 - Microsoft.PowerPlatform should be registered as a source provider at the subscription level. If this step is not completed, you'll face error in the next steps, while creating the 'Virtual Network Data Gateway', example below. #4 - The Virtual Network Subnet of the configured Private Endpoint should have the following selected. Select Microsoft.PowerPlatform/netaccesslinks for the Subnet Delegation tab. This is a required step, otherwise the subnet is grayed out to select while configuration of the Virtual Network Data Gateway at Fabric level. High Level Configuration Steps #1 - Go to Fabric Portal > Settings Click on Settings button on top right > Click on Manage Connections and Gateways Go to 'Virtual Network Data Gateway' tab > Click New In the new page, Select your Capacity, Subscription, Resource Group, VNET and Subnet of the source Azure SQL DB and create it. #2 - Go back to your workspace, and click new item > Search 'Mirrored Azure SQL Database' #3 - Here, in Data Gateway section, chose your new created gateway which we created in previous step, and fill the required source Azure SQL Database details and click connect. #4 - Select the tables to be mirrored in the next steps and you will be able to successfully mirror from Azure SQL Database to Mirrored Azure SQL Database without Public Connectivity and using Private Endpoint.Generally Available: Microsoft Entra Server Principals and Server Roles for Azure SQL Database
The problem we're solving Previously, Microsoft Entra identities in Azure SQL Database could only be created as contained database users - principals scoped to a single database with no server-level presence. That meant: No granular server-level delegation. You couldn't assign a server role such as ##MS_ServerStateReader## (to query DMVs across databases) or ##MS_LoginManager## (to manage logins) to an Entra principal. Only the Entra admin or a SQL login could perform these server-scoped tasks. Per-database provisioning overhead. Each Entra principal had to be created separately as a contained database user in every database that required access, with no way to inherit server-scoped permissions. No centralized “disable” switch. Offboarding meant tracking down a contained database user in every database - there was no server-level login to disable. These gaps forced many teams to keep SQL authentication for administrative tasks, even when they wanted to go password-less with Entra. What changes with GA Microsoft Entra logins become first-class server principals in the logical master database, just like SQL logins. This capability has been in public preview on Azure SQL Database (and is already generally available on Azure SQL Managed Instance and SQL Server 2022+); with this release it reaches general availability on Azure SQL Database, unlocking three things for production use: 1. Server role assignment for Entra identities Azure SQL Database's seven fixed server-level roles can be assigned to Entra server principals(logins). These roles cover database connectivity, database management, definition and security-definition reads, login management, and server-state read/manage. This means you can give your monitoring service principal read-only DMV access across all databases (##MS_ServerStateReader##), delegate login management to a security team member (##MS_LoginManager##), or let a DevOps app create databases (##MS_DatabaseManager##). All without SQL auth, all with Entra identities. 2. Server-wide login model Instead of provisioning contained users independently in every database, you can create database users mapped to a server login (CREATE USER ... FROM LOGIN). These users inherit server-scoped permissions automatically. One login, many databases — managed from a single place. For the T-SQL syntax, see Create and utilize Microsoft Entra server logins. 3. Centralized logins enable/disable ALTER LOGIN [user@contoso.com] DISABLE - one command blocks that identity from connecting to every database on the server. No more hunting down per-database users during an offboarding or incident response. When you re-enable the login, access is restored everywhere. Note: ALTER LOGIN ... DISABLE applies only to login-based users, not contained database users. It blocks new connections only; existing sessions remain active until terminated with KILL if needed. For immediate effect, see cache propagation. Microsoft Entra group logins are not supported; see the server principals documentation for alternatives. What does this unlock for your organization Ability to go password-less. With server principals and roles now generally available, organizations can adopt Entra-only authentication without a remaining server-level functionality gap. Entra logins bring parity with SQL logins closer, making it practical to disable SQL authentication entirely and using Entra as the sole authentication path. Least-privilege administration. Server-level roles simplify permission management by enabling customers to delegate common management and monitoring responsibilities without requiring admin privileges, enabling adherence to least privilege and separation of duties at scale, while making administration across databases on the same logical server much easier. Server roles let you scope access precisely, previously, the only server-wide option for an Entra identity was the all-powerful Entra admin. Give your security auditors ##MS_SecurityDefinitionReader## role instead of 'db_owner'. Give your monitoring tools ##MS_ServerStateReader## instead of an over-privileged administrator role. Zero-touch DevOps. A service principal with ##MS_DatabaseManager## and ##MS_LoginManager## can automate database and user provisioning end-to-end. After the initial Entra admin bootstrap, no human needs to be in the loop for routine operations. Faster incident response. When a principal is compromised, disable the login at the server level. New connections are blocked across all databases immediately - without needing to know which databases the user had access to. To cut off active sessions immediately, flush the authentication caches and KILL existing sessions. Geo-replica support. Entra logins created on the primary server are automatically available on geo-replicas, with read-only access to replicated databases. Key things to know Bootstrap requirements. The Microsoft Entra admin must create the first Entra login. After that, any Entra principal with ALTER ANY LOGIN or ##MS_LoginManager## membership can create additional logins. Entra admin takes precedence. If a principal is both the Entra admin and has a login, the admin permissions win. The login permissions have no additional effect. Cache propagation. Role membership and permission changes take effect on the next connection. For immediate effect, clear the auth cache with DBCC FLUSHAUTHCACHE and DBCC FREESYSTEMCACHE('TokenAndPermUserStore'). EXECUTE AS LOGIN is not supported for Entra logins on Azure SQL Database (it is supported on Managed Instance). Get started Configure a Microsoft Entra admin on your logical server Create your first Entra login and assign server roles (step-by-step tutorial) Understand the server roles and their permissions Consider enabling Entra-only authentication to eliminate SQL auth entirely Ready to migrate from SQL Authentication? If you're looking to move your existing SQL logins to Entra, check out Securing Azure SQL Database with Microsoft Entra password-less authentication - migration guide. It walks through the end-to-end journey from SQL auth to Entra, including how to identify SQL login dependencies, convert them to Entra principals, and enable Entra-only mode. Learn more Microsoft Entra server principals (logins) - full reference: syntax, permissions, limitations. Azure SQL Database server roles - role descriptions, permission matrix, examples. Microsoft Entra authentication overview - how Entra auth works with Azure SQL. Manage logins and users - login lifecycle management.
