Unlocking AI-Driven Data Access: Azure Database for MySQL Support via the Azure MCP Server
Step into a new era of data-driven intelligence with the fusion of Azure MCP Server and Azure Database for MySQL, where your MySQL data is no longer just stored, but instantly conversational, intelligent and action-ready. By harnessing the open-standard Model Context Protocol (MCP), your AI agents can now query, analyze and automate in natural language, accessing tables, surfacing insights and acting on your MySQL-driven business logic as easily as chatting with a colleague. It’s like giving your data a voice and your applications a brain, all within Azure’s trusted cloud platform. We are excited to announce that we have added support for Azure Database for MySQL in Azure MCP Server. The Azure MCP Server leverages the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to allow AI agents to seamlessly interact with various Azure services to perform context-aware operations such as querying databases and managing cloud resources. Building on this foundation, the Azure MCP Server now offers a set of tools that AI agents and apps can invoke to interact with Azure Database for MySQL - enabling them to list and query databases, retrieve schema details of tables, and access server configurations and parameters. These capabilities are delivered through the same standardized interface used for other Azure services, making it easier to the adopt the MCP standard for leveraging AI to work with your business data and operations across the Azure ecosystem. Before we delve into these new tools and explore how to get started with them, let’s take a moment to refresh our understanding of MCP and the Azure MCP Server - what they are, how they work, and why they matter. MCP architecture and key components The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an emerging open protocol designed to integrate AI models with external data sources and services in a scalable, standardized, and secure manner. MCP dictates a client-server architecture with four key components: MCP Host, MCP Client, MCP Server and external data sources, services and APIs that provide the data context required to enhance AI models. To explain briefly, an MCP Host (AI apps and agents) includes an MCP client component that connects to one or more MCP Servers. These servers are lightweight programs that securely interface with external data sources, services and APIs and exposes them to MCP clients in the form of standardized capabilities called tools, resources and prompts. Learn more: MCP Documentation What is Azure MCP Server? Azure offers a multitude of cloud services that help developers build robust applications and AI solutions to address business needs. The Azure MCP Server aims to expose these powerful services for agentic usage, allowing AI systems to perform operations that are context-aware of your Azure resources and your business data within them, while ensuring adherence to the Model Context Protocol. It supports a wide range of Azure services and tools including Azure AI Search, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Storage, Azure Monitor, Azure CLI and Developer CLI extensions. This means that you can empower AI agents, apps and tools to: Explore your Azure resources, such as listing and retrieving details on your Azure subscriptions, resource groups, services, databases, and tables. Search, query and analyze your data and logs. Execute CLI and Azure Developer CLI commands directly, and more! Learn more: Azure MCP Server GitHub Repository Introducing new Azure MCP Server tools to interact with Azure Database for MySQL The Azure MCP Server now includes the following tools that allow AI agents to interact with Azure Database for MySQL and your valuable business data residing in these servers, in accordance with the MCP standard: Tool Description Example Prompts azmcp_mysql_server_list List all MySQL servers in a subscription & resource group "List MySQL servers in resource group 'prod-rg'." "Show MySQL servers in region 'eastus'." azmcp_mysql_server_config_get Retrieve the configuration of a MySQL server "What is the backup retention period for server 'my-mysql-server'?" "Show storage allocation for server 'my-mysql-server'." azmcp_mysql_server_param_get Retrieve a specific parameter of a MySQL server "Is slow_query_log enabled on server my-mysql-server?" "Get innodb_buffer_pool_size for server my-mysql-server." azmcp_mysql_server_param_set Set a specific parameter of a MySQL server to a specific value "Set max_connections to 500 on server my-mysql-server." "Set wait_timeout to 300 on server my-mysql-server." azmcp_mysql_table_list List all tables in a MySQL database "List tables starting with 'tmp_' in database 'appdb'." "How many tables are in database 'analytics'?" azmcp_mysql_table_schema_get Get the schema of a specific table in a MySQL database "Show indexes for table 'transactions' in database 'billing'." "What is the primary key for table 'users' in database 'auth'?" azmcp_mysql_database_query Executes a SELECT query on a MySQL Database. The query must start with SELECT and cannot contain any destructive SQL operations for security reasons. “How many orders were placed in the last 30 days in the salesdb.orders table?” “Show the number of new users signed up in the last week in appdb.users grouped by day.” These interactions are secured using Microsoft Entra authentication, which enables seamless, identity-based access to Azure Database for MySQL - eliminating the need for password storage and enhancing overall security. How are these new tools in the Azure MCP Server different from the standalone MCP Server for Azure Database for MySQL? We have integrated the key capabilities of the Azure Database for MySQL MCP server into the Azure MCP Server, making it easier to connect your agentic apps not only to Azure Database for MySQL but also to other Azure services through one unified and secure interface! How to get started Installing and running the Azure MCP Server is quick and easy! Use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code to gain meaningful insights from your business data in Azure Database for MySQL. Pre-requisites Install Visual Studio Code. Install GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat extensions. An Azure Database for MySQL with Microsoft Entra authentication enabled. Ensure that the MCP Server is installed on a system with network connectivity and credentials to connect to Azure Database for MySQL. Installation and Testing Please use this guide for installation: Azure MCP Server Installation Guide Try the following prompts with your Azure Database for MySQL: Azure Database for MySQL tools for Azure MCP Server Try it out and share your feedback! Start using Azure MCP Server with the MySQL tools today and let our cloud services become your AI agent’s most powerful ally. We’re counting on your feedback - every comment, suggestion, or bug-report helps us build better tools together. Stay tuned: more features and capabilities are on the horizon! Feel free to comment below or write to us with your feedback and queries at AskAzureDBforMySQL@service.microsoft.com.Azure Database for MySQL triggers for Azure Functions (Public Preview)
Developers can now accelerate development time and focus only on the core business logic of their applications, for developing event-driven applications with Azure Database for MySQL as the backend data store. We are excited to announce that you can now invoke an Azure Function based on changes to an Azure Database for MySQL table. This new capability is made possible through the Azure Database for MySQL triggers for Azure Functions, now available in public preview. Azure Database for MySQL triggers The Azure Database for MySQL trigger uses change tracking functionality to monitor a MySQL table for changes and trigger a function when a row is created or updated enabling customers to build highly-scalable event-driven applications. Similar to the Azure Database for MySQL Input and Output bindings for Azure Functions, a connection string for the MySQL database is stored in the application settings of the Azure Function to trigger the function when a change is detected on the tables. Note: In public preview, Azure Database for MySQL triggers for Azure Functions are available only for dedicated and premium plan of Azure Functions To enable change tracking on an existing Azure Database for MySQL table to use trigger bindings for an Azure Function, it is necessary to alter the table structure, for example, enabling change tracking on an employees data table: ALTER TABLE employees ADD COLUMN az_func_updated_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP; Azure Database for MySQL trigger uses the 'az_func_updated_at' and column's data to monitor the table for any changes on which change tracking is enabled. Changes are then processed in the order that they were made, with the oldest changes being processed first. Important: If changes to multiple rows are made at once, then the exact order they're sent to the function is determined on the ascending order of the az_func_updated_at and the primary key columns. If multiple changes are made to a row in-between an iteration, then only the latest changes for that particular rows are considered. The following example demonstrates a C# function that is triggered when changes occur in the employees table. The MySQL trigger uses attributes for the table name and the connection string. using System.Collections.Generic; using Microsoft.Azure.WebJobs; using Microsoft.Azure.WebJobs.Extensions.MySql; using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging; namespace EmployeeSample.Function { public static class EmployeesTrigger { [FunctionName(nameof(EmployeesTrigger))] public static void Run( [MySqlTrigger("Employees", "MySqlConnectionString")] IReadOnlyList<MySqlChange<Employee>> changes, ILogger logger) { foreach (MySqlChange<Employee> change in changes) { Employee employee= change. Item; logger.LogInformation($"Change operation: {change.Operation}"); logger.LogInformation($"EmployeeId: {employee.employeeId}, FirstName: {employee.FirstName}, LastName: {employee.LastName}, Company: {employee. Company}, Department: {employee. Department}, Role: {employee. Role}"); } } } } Join the preview and share your feedback! We are eager for you to try out the new Azure Database for MySQL triggers for Azure Functions and build highly scalable event-driven and serverless applications. For more information refer https://aka.ms/mysqltriggers about using MySQL triggers for all the supported programming frameworks with detailed step-by-step instructions If you have any feedback or questions about the information provided above, please leave a comment below or email us at AskAzureDBforMySQL@service.microsoft.com. Thank you!Ignite 2025: Advancing Azure Database for MySQL with Powerful New Capabilities
At Ignite 2025, we’re introducing a wave of powerful new capabilities for Azure Database for MySQL, designed to help organizations modernize, scale, and innovate faster than ever before. From enhanced high availability and seamless serverless integrations to AI-powered insights and greater flexibility for developers, these advancements reflect our commitment to delivering a resilient, intelligent data platform. Join us as we unveil what’s next for MySQL on Azure - and discover how industry leaders are already building the future with confidence. Enhanced Failover Performance with Dedicated SLB for High-Availability Servers We’re excited to announce the General Availability of Dedicated Standard Load Balancer (SLB) for HA-enabled servers in Azure Database for MySQL. This enhancement introduces a dedicated SLB to High Availability configurations for servers created with public access or private link. By managing the MySQL data traffic path, SLB eliminates the need for DNS updates during failover, significantly reducing failover time. Previously, failover relied on DNS changes, which caused delays due to DNS TTL (30 seconds) and client-side DNS caching. What’s new with GA: The FQDN consistently resolves to the SLB IP address before and after failover. Load-balancing rules automatically route traffic to the active node. Removes DNS cache dependency, delivering faster failovers. Note: This feature is not supported for servers using private access with VNet integration. Learn more Build serverless, event-driven apps at scale – now GA with Trigger Bindings for Azure Functions We’re excited to announce the General Availability of Azure Database for MySQL Trigger bindings for Azure Functions, completing the full suite of Input, Output, and Trigger capabilities. This feature lets you build real-time, event-driven applications by automatically invoking Azure Functions when MySQL table rows are created or updated - eliminating custom polling and boilerplate code. With native support across multiple languages, developers can now deliver responsive, serverless solutions that scale effortlessly and accelerate innovation. Learn more Enable AI agents to query Azure Database for MySQL using Azure MCP Server We’re excited to announce that Azure MCP Server now supports Azure Database for MySQL, enabling AI agents to query and manage MySQL data using natural language through the open Model Context Protocol (MCP). Instead of writing SQL, you can simply ask questions like “Show the number of new users signed up in the last week in appdb.users grouped by day.”, all secured with Microsoft Entra authentication for enterprise-grade security. This integration delivers a unified, secure interface for building intelligent, context-aware workflows across Azure services - accelerating insights and automation. Learn more Greater networking flexibility with Custom Port Support Custom port support for Azure Database for MySQL is now generally available, giving organizations the flexibility to configure a custom port (between 25001 and 26000) during new server creation. This enhancement streamlines integration with legacy applications, supports strict network security policies, and helps avoid port conflicts in complex environments. Supported across all network configurations - including public access, private access, and Private Link - custom port provisioning ensures every new MySQL server can be tailored to your needs. The managed experience remains seamless, with all administrative capabilities and integrations working as before. Learn more Streamline migrations and compatibility with Lower Case Table Names support Azure Database for MySQL now supports configuring lower_case_table_names server parameter during initial server creation for MySQL 8.0 and above, ensuring seamless alignment with your organization’s naming conventions. This setting is automatically inherited for restores and replicas, and cannot be modified. Key Benefits: Simplifies migrations by aligning naming conventions and reducing complexity. Enhances compatibility with legacy systems that depend on case-insensitive table names. Minimizes support dependency, enabling faster and smoother onboarding. Learn more Unlock New Capabilities with Private Preview Features at Ignite 2025 We’re excited to announce that you can now explore two powerful capabilities in early access - Reader Endpoint for seamless read scaling and Server Rename for greater flexibility in server management. Scale reads effortlessly with Reader Endpoint (Private Preview) We’re excited to announce that the Reader Endpoint feature for Azure Database for MySQL is now ready for private preview. Reader Endpoint provides a dedicated read-only endpoint for read replicas, enabling automatic connection-based load balancing of read-only traffic across multiple replicas. This simplifies application architecture by offering a single endpoint for read operations, improving scalability and fault tolerance. Azure Database for MySQL supports up to 10 read replicas per primary server. By routing read-only traffic through the reader endpoint, application teams can efficiently manage connections and optimize performance without handling individual replica endpoints. Reader endpoints continuously monitor the health of replicas and automatically exclude any replica that exceeds the configured replication lag threshold or becomes unavailable. To enroll in the preview, please submit your details using this form. Limitations During Private Preview: Only performance-based routing is supported in this preview. Certain settings such as routing method and the option to attach new replicas to the reader endpoint can only be configured at creation time. Only one reader endpoint can be created per replica group. Including the primary server as a fallback for read traffic when no replicas are available is not supported in this preview. Get flexibility in server management with Server Rename (Private Preview) We’re excited to announce the Private Preview of Server Rename for Azure Database for MySQL. This feature lets you update the name of an existing MySQL server without recreating it, migrating data, or disrupting applications - making it easier to adopt clear, consistent naming. It provides a near zero-downtime path to a new hostname of the server. To enroll in the preview, please submit your details using this form. Limitations During Private Preview: Primary server with read replicas: Renaming a primary server that has read replicas keeps replication healthy. However, the SHOW SLAVE STATUS output on the replicas will still display the old primary server's name. This is a display inconsistency only and does not affect replication. Renaming is currently unsupported for servers using Customer Managed Key (CMK) encryption or Microsoft Entra Authentication (Entra Id). Real-World Success: Azure Database for MySQL Powers Resilient Applications at Scale Factorial Factorial, a leading HR software provider, uses Azure Database for MySQL alongside Azure Kubernetes Service to deliver secure, scalable HR solutions for thousands of businesses worldwide. By leveraging Azure Database for MySQL’s reliability and seamless integration with cloud-native technologies, Factorial ensures high availability and rapid innovation for its customers. Learn more YES (Youth Employment Service) South Africa’s largest youth employment initiative, YES, operates at national scale by leveraging Azure Database for MySQL to deliver a resilient, centralized platform for real-time job matching, learning management, and career services - connecting thousands of young people and employers, and helping nearly 45 percent of participants secure permanent roles within six months. Learn more Nasdaq At Ignite 2025, Nasdaq will showcase how it uses Azure Database for MySQL - alongside Azure Database for PostgreSQL and other Azure products - to power a secure, resilient architecture that safeguards confidential data while unlocking new agentic AI capabilities. Learn more These examples demonstrate that Azure Database for MySQL is trusted by industry leaders to build resilient, scalable applications - empowering organizations to innovate and grow with confidence. We Value Your Feedback Azure Database for MySQL is built for scale, resilience, and performance - ready to support your most demanding workloads. With every update, we’re focused on simplifying development, migration, and management so you can build with confidence. Explore the latest features and enhancements to see how Azure Database for MySQL meets your data needs today and in the future. We welcome your feedback and invite you to share your experiences or suggestions at AskAzureDBforMySQL@service.microsoft.com Stay up to date by visiting What's new in Azure Database for MySQL, and follow us on YouTube | LinkedIn | X for ongoing updates. Thank you for choosing Azure Database for MySQL!PostgreSQL for the enterprise: scale, secure, simplify
This week at Microsoft Ignite, along with unveiling the new Azure HorizonDB cloud native database service, we’re announcing multiple improvements to our fully managed open-source Azure Database for PostgreSQL service, delivering significant advances in performance, analytics, security, and AI-assisted migration. Let’s walk through nine of the top Azure Database for PostgreSQL features and improvements we’re announcing at Microsoft Ignite 2025. Feature Highlights New Intel and AMD v6-series SKUs (Preview) Scale to multiple nodes with Elastic Clusters (GA) PostgreSQL 18 (GA) Realtime analytics with Fabric Mirroring (GA) Analytical queries inside PostgreSQL with the pg_duckdb extension (Preview) Adding Parquet to the azure_storage extension (GA) Meet compliance requirements with the credcheck, anon & ip4r extensions (GA) Integrated identity with Entra token-refresh libraries for Python AI-Assisted Oracle to PostgreSQL Migration Tool (Preview) Performance and scale New Intel and AMD v6 series SKUs (Preview) You can run your most demanding Postgres workloads on new Intel and AMD v6 General Purpose and Memory Optimized hardware SKUs, now availble in preview These SKUs deliver massive scale for high-performance OLTP, analytics and complex queries, with improved price performance and higher memory ceilings. AMD Confidential Compute v6 SKUs are also in Public Preview, enabling enhanced security for sensitive workloads while leveraging AMD’s advanced hardware capabilities. Here’s what you need to know: Processors: Powered by 5th Gen Intel® Xeon® processor (code-named Emerald Rapids) and AMD's fourth Generation EPYC™ 9004 processors Scale: VM size options scale up to 192 vCores and 1.8 TiB IO: Using the NVMe protocol for data disk access, IO is parallelized to the number of CPU cores and processed more efficiently, offering significant IO improvements Compute tier: Available in our General Purpose and Memory Optimized tiers. You can scale up to these new compute SKUs as needed with minimal downtime. Learn more: Here's a quick summary of the v6 SKUs we’re launching, with links to more information: Processor SKU Max vCores Max Mem Intel Ddsv6 192 768 GiB Edsv6 192 1.8 TiB AMD Dadsv6 96 384 GiB Eadsv6 96 672 GiB DCadsv6 96 386 GiB ECadsv6 96 672 GiB Scale to multiple nodes with Elastic clusters (GA) Elastic clusters are now generally available in Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Built on Citus open-source technology, elastic clusters bring the horizontal scaling of a distributed database to the enterprise features of Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Elastic clusters enable horizontal scaling of databases running across multiple server nodes in a “shared nothing” architecture. This is ideal for workloads with high-throughput and storage-intensive demands such as multi-tenant SaaS and IoT-based workloads. Elastic clusters come with all the enterprise-level capabilities that organizations rely upon in Azure Database for PostgreSQL, including high availability, read replicas, private networking, integrated security and connection pooling. Built-in sharding support at both row and schema level enables you to distribute your data across a cluster of compute resources and run queries in parallel, dramatically increasing throughput and capacity. Learn more: Elastic clusters in Azure Database for PostgreSQL PostgreSQL 18 (GA) When PostgreSQL 18 was released in September, we made a preview available on Azure on the same day. Now we’re announcing that PostgreSQL 18 is generally available on Azure Database for PostgreSQL, with full Major Version Upgrade (MVU) support, marking our fastest-ever turnaround from open-source release to managed service general availability. This release reinforces our commitment to delivering the latest PostgreSQL community innovations to Azure customers, so you can adopt the latest features, performance improvements, and security enhancements on a fully managed, production-ready platform without delay. ^Note: MVU to PG18 is currently available in the NorthCentralUS and WestCentralUS regions, with additional regions being enabled over the next few weeks Now you can: Deploy PostgreSQL 18 in all public Azure regions. Perform in-place major version upgrades to PG18 with no endpoint or connection string changes. Use Microsoft Entra ID authentication for secure, centralized identity management in all PG versions. Enable Query Store and Index Tuning for built-in performance insights and automated optimization. Leverage the 90+ Postgres extensions supported by Azure Database for PostgreSQL. PostgreSQL 18 also delivers major improvements under the hood, ranging from asynchronous I/O and enhanced vacuuming to improved indexing and partitioning, ensuring Azure continues to lead as the most performant, secure, and developer-friendly PostgreSQL managed service in the cloud. Learn more: PostgreSQL 18 open-source release announcement Supported versions of PostgreSQL in Azure Database for PostgreSQL Analytics Real-time analytics with Fabric Mirroring (GA) With Fabric mirroring in Azure Database for PostgreSQL, now generally available, you can run your Microsoft Fabric analytical workloads and capabilities on near-real-time replicated data, without impacting the performance of your production PostgreSQL databases, and at no extra cost. Mirroring in Fabric connects your operational and analytical platforms with continuous data replication from PostgreSQL to Fabric. Transactions are mirrored to Fabric in near real-time, enabling advanced analytics, machine learning, and reporting on live data sets without waiting for traditional batch ETL processes to complete. This approach eliminates the overhead of custom integrations or data pipelines. Production PostgreSQL servers can run mission-critical transactional workloads without being affected by surges in analytical queries and reporting. With our GA announcement Fabric mirroring is ready for production workloads, with secure networking (VNET integration and Private Endpoints supported), Entra ID authentication for centralized identity management, and support for high availability enabled servers, ensuring business continuity for mirroring sessions. Learn more: Mirroring Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server Adding Parquet support to the azure_storage extension (GA) In addition to mirroring data directly to Microsoft Fabric, there are many other scenarios that require moving operational data into data lakes for analytics or archival. The complexity of building and maintaining ETL pipelines can be expensive and time-consuming. Azure Database for PostgreSQL now natively supports Parquet via the azure_storage extension, enabling direct SQL-based read/write to Parquet files in Azure Storage. This makes it easy to import and export data in Postgres without external tools or scripts. Parquet is a popular columnar storage format often used in big data and analytics environments (like Spark and Azure Data Lake) because of its efficient compression and query performance for large datasets. Now you can use the azure_storage extension to can skip an entire step: just issue a SQL command to write to and query from a Parquet file in Azure Blob Storage. Learn more: Azure storage extension in Azure Database for PostgreSQL Analytical queries inside PostgreSQL with the pg_duckdb extension (Preview) DuckDB’s columnar engine excels at high performance scans, aggregations and joins over large tables, making it particularly well-suited for analytical queries. The pg_duckdb extension, now available in preview for Azure Database for PostgreSQL combines PostgreSQL’s transactional performance and reliability with DuckDB’s analytical speed for large datasets. Together pg_duckdb and PostgreSQL are an ideal combination for hybrid OLTP + OLAP environments where you need to run analytical queries directly in PostgreSQL without sacrificing performance., To see the pg_duckdb extension in action check out this demo video: https://aka.ms/pg_duckdb Learn more: pg_duckdb – PostgreSQL extension for DuckDB Security Meet compliance requirements with the credcheck, anon & ip4r extensions (GA) Operating in a regulated industry such as Finance, Healthcare and Government means negotiating compliance requirements like HIPAA and PCI-DSS, GDPR that include protection for personalized data and password complexity, expiration and reuse. This week the anon extension, previously in preview, is now generally available for Azure Database for PostgreSQL adding support for dynamic and static masking, anonymized exports, randomization and many other advanced masking techniques. We’ve also added GA support for the credcheck extension, which provides credential checks for usernames, and password complexity, including during user creation, password change and user renaming. This is particularly useful if your application is not using Entra ID and needs to rely on native PostgreSQL users and passwords. If you need to store and query IP ranges for scenarios like auditing, compliance, access control lists, intrusion detection and threat intelligence, another useful extension announced this week is the ip4r extension which provides a set of data types for IPv4 and IPv6 network addresses. Learn more: PostgreSQL Anonymizer credcheck – PostgreSQL username/password checks IP4R - IPv4/v6 and IPv4/v6 range index type for PostgreSQL The Azure team maintains an active pipeline of new PostgreSQL extensions to onboard and upgrade to Azure Database for PostgreSQL For example, another important extension upgraded this week is pg_squeeze which removes unused space from a table. The updated 1.9.1 version adds important stability improvements. Learn more: List of extensions and modules by name Integrated identity with Entra token-refresh libraries for Python In a modern cloud-connected enterprise, identity becomes the most important security perimeter. Azure Database for PostgreSQL is the only managed PostgreSQL service with full Entra integration, but coding applications to take care of Entra token refresh can be complex. This week we’re announcing a new Python library to simplify Entra token refresh. The library automatically refreshes authentication tokens before they expire, eliminating manual token handling and reducing connection failures. The new python_azure_pg_auth library provides seamless Azure Entra ID authentication and supports the latest psycopg and SQLAlchemy drivers with automatic token acquisition, validation, and refresh. Built-in connection pooling is available for both synchronous and asynchronous workloads. Designed for cross-platform use (Windows, Linux, macOS), the package features clean architecture and flexible installation options for different driver combinations. This is our first milestone in a roadmap to add token refresh for additional programming languages and frameworks. Learn more, with code samples to get started here: https://aka.ms/python-azure-pg-auth Migration AI-Assisted Oracle to PostgreSQL Migration Tool (Preview) Database migration is a challenging and time-consuming process, with multiple manual steps requiring schema and apps specific information. The growing popularity, maturity and low cost of PostgreSQL has led to a healthy demand for migration tooling to simplify these steps. The new AI-assisted Oracle Migration Tool preview announced this week greatly simplifies moving from Oracle databases to Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Available in the VS Code PostgreSQL extension the new migration tool combines GitHub Copilot, Azure OpenAI, and custom Language Model Tools to convert Oracle schema, database code and client applications into PostgreSQL-compatible formats. Unlike traditional migration tools that rely on static rules, Azure’s approach leverages Large Language Models (LLMs) and validates every change against a running Azure Database for PostgreSQL instance. This system not only translates syntax but also detects and fixes errors through iterative re-compilation, flagging any items that require human review. Application codebases like Spring Boot and other popular frameworks are refactored and converted. The system also understands context by querying the target Postgres instance for version and installed extensions. It can even invoke capabilities from other VS Code extensions to validate the converted code. The new AI-assisted workflow reduces risk, eliminates significant manual effort, and enables faster modernization while lowering costs. Learn more: https://aka.ms/pg-migration-tooling Be sure to follow the Microsoft Blog for PostgreSQL for regular updates from the Postgres on Azure team at Microsoft. We publish monthly recaps about new features in Azure Database for PostgreSQL, as well as an annual blog about what’s new in Postgres at Microsoft.Announcing Azure HorizonDB
Affan Dar, Vice President of Engineering, PostgreSQL at Microsoft Charles Feddersen, Partner Director of Program Management, PostgreSQL at Microsoft Today at Microsoft Ignite, we’re excited to unveil the preview of Azure HorizonDB, a fully managed Postgres-compatible database service designed to meet the needs of modern enterprise workloads. The cloud native architecture of Azure HorizonDB delivers highly scalable shared storage, elastic scale-out compute, and a tiered cache optimized for running cloud applications of any scale. Postgres is transforming industries worldwide and is emerging as the foundation of modern data solutions across all sectors at an unprecedented pace. For developers, it is the database of choice for building new applications with its rich set of extensions, open-source API, and expansive ecosystems of tools and libraries. At the same time, but at the opposite end of the workload spectrum, enterprises around the world are also increasingly turning to Postgres to modernize their existing applications. Azure HorizonDB is designed to support applications across the entire workload spectrum from the first line of code in a new app to the migration of large-scale, mission-critical solutions. Developers benefit from the robust Postgres ecosystem and seamless integration with Azure’s advanced AI capabilities, while enterprises can gain a secure, highly available, and performant cloud database to host their business applications. Whether you’re building from scratch or transforming legacy infrastructure, Azure HorizonDB empowers you to innovate and scale with confidence, today and into the future. Azure HorizonDB introduces new levels of performance and scalability to PostgreSQL. The scale-out compute architecture supports up to 3,072 vCores across primary and replica nodes, and the auto-scaling shared storage supports up to 128TB databases while providing sub-millisecond multi-zone commit latencies. This storage innovation enables Azure HorizonDB to deliver up to 3x more throughput when compared with open-source Postgres for transactional workloads. Azure HorizonDB is enterprise ready on day one. With native support for Entra ID, Private Endpoints, and data encryption, it provides compliance and security for sensitive data stored in the cloud. All data is replicated across availability zones by default and maintenance operations are transparent with near-zero downtime. Backups are fully automated, and integration with Azure Defender for Cloud provides additional protection for highly sensitive data. All up, Azure HorizonDB offers enterprise-grade security, compliance, and reliability, making it ready for business use today. Since the launch of ChatGPT, there has been an explosion of new AI apps being built, and Postgres has become the database of choice due in large part to its vector index support. Azure HorizonDB extends the AI capabilities of Postgres further with two key features. We are introducing advanced filtering capabilities to the DiskANN vector index which enable query predicate pushdowns directly into the vector similarity search. This provides significant performance and scalability improvements over pgvector HNSW while maintaining accuracy and is ideal for similarity search over transactional data in Postgres. The second feature is built-in AI model management that seamlessly integrates generative, embedding, and reranking models from Microsoft Foundry for developers to use in the database with zero configuration. In addition to enhanced vector indexing and simplified model management to build powerful new AI apps, we’re also pleased to announce the general availability of Microsoft’s PostgreSQL Extension for VS Code that provides the tooling for Postgres developers to maximize their productivity. Using this extension, GitHub Copilot is context aware of the Postgres database which means less prompting and higher quality answers, and in the Ignite release, we’ve added live monitoring with one-click GitHub Copilot debugging where Agent mode can launch directly from the performance monitoring dashboard to diagnose Postgres performance issues and guide users to a fix. Alpha Life Sciences are an existing Azure customers “I’m truly excited about how Azure HorizonDB empowers our AI development. Its seamless support for Vector DB, RAG, and Agentic AI allows us to build intelligent features directly on a reliable Postgres foundation. With Azure HorizonDB, I can focus on advancing AI capabilities instead of managing infrastructure complexities. It’s a smart, forward-looking solution that perfectly aligns with how we design and deliver AI-powered applications.” Pengcheng Xu, CTO Alpha Life Sciences For enterprises that are modernizing their applications to Postgres in the cloud, the security and availability of Azure HorizonDB make it an ideal platform. However, these migrations are often complex and time consuming for large legacy codebase conversions. To simplify this and reduce the risk, we’re pleased to announce the preview of GitHub Copilot powered Oracle migration built into the PostgreSQL Extension for VS Code. Built into VS Code, teams of engineers can work with GitHub Copilot to automate the end-to-end conversion of complex database code using rich code editing, version control, text authoring, and deployment in an integrated development environment. Azure HorizonDB is the next generation of fully managed, cloud native PostgreSQL database service. Built on the latest Azure infrastructure with state-of-the-art cloud architecture, Azure HorizonDB is ready to for the most demanding application workloads. In addition to our portfolio of managed Postgres services in Azure, Microsoft is deeply invested into the open source Postgres project and is one of the top corporate upstream contributors and sponsors for the PostgreSQL project, with 19 Postgres project contributors employed by Microsoft. As a hyperscale Postgres vendor, it’s critical to actively participate in the open-source project. It enables us to better support our customers down to the metal in Azure, and to contribute our learnings from running Postgres at scale back to the community. We’re committed to continuing our investment to push the Postgres project forward, and the team is already active in making contributions to Postgres 19 to be released in 2026. Ready to explore Azure HorizonDB? Azure HorizonDB is initially available in Central US, West US3, UK South and Australia East regions. Customers are invited to apply for early preview access to Azure HorizonDB and get hands-on experience with this new service. Participation is limited, apply now at aka.ms/PreviewHorizonDBBuilding brighter futures: How YES tackles youth unemployment with Azure Database for MySQL
YES leverages Azure Database for MySQL to power South Africa’s largest youth employment initiative, delivering scalable, reliable systems that connect thousands of young people to jobs and learning opportunities.Exciting things on the horizon for PostgreSQL fans @ Ignite 2025
If you’re passionate about PostgreSQL or just curious about what’s new, you’ll want to join us at Microsoft Ignite 2025. We have a packed lineup, including sessions exploring cutting-edge features and exclusive giveaways at the PostgreSQL on Azure booth. Haven’t registered yet? Now’s the time – sign up for Microsoft Ignite and start building your schedule. Below are the must-see PostgreSQL on Azure activities, with highlights of what you’ll learn at each. Add these to your agenda today. Sessions can fill up fast! Theater sessions: get a first look, fast I know from experience that attention spans can start to wane after hours-long keynotes, content-rich sessions, and conference socializing. Luckily, we have a couple of theater sessions that offer snackable but substantial information in less time than it will take to grab lunch. And they’re located conveniently on the main conference floor. PostgreSQL on Azure: Your launchpad for intelligent apps and agents (THR705) - See how we’re making PostgreSQL AI-aware for developers to drive app and agent innovation. Includes a demo of vector similarity search, semantic operators baked into Postgres, and more! Simplifying scale-out of PostgreSQL for performant multi-tenant apps (THR706) - Discover a smarter, simpler way to scale PostgreSQL using the new Elastic Clusters feature. If your app or service is growing fast (or you want it to!), add this breakout to learn how Azure makes it easier to scale Postgres and keep it reliable. These talks are a great way to sample what’s new and decide where to dive deeper. Plus, they’re fun and demo-heavy, and who doesn’t love a good demo? Breakout sessions: a deep dive into Postgres innovations Led by Azure product leaders and executives from organizations driving innovation backed by PostgreSQL, these breakout sessions will dive into the coolest new capabilities and real-world use cases. If you want rich, technical content and more live demos, these are for you. Build mission-critical apps that scale with PostgreSQL on Azure (BRK127) - Get a closer look at the next generation of PostgreSQL on Azure. Add this session, if you’re curious about how we’re taking Postgres to the next level to support your mission-critical AI workloads. Modern data, modern apps: Innovation with Microsoft Databases (BRK134) - Gain insider knowledge on the latest innovations across open-source, SQL, and NoSQL databases, and understand how Microsoft’s integrated database portfolio supports next-gen innovation. Nasdaq Boardvantage: AI-driven governance on PostgreSQL and AI Foundry (BRK137) - Discover how a Fortune 100 merges trust with cutting-edge AI leveraging Azure’s AI-enriched and enterprise-ready solutions, including Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure Database for MySQL, Azure AI Foundry, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and API Management. AI-assisted migration: The path to powerful performance on PostgreSQL (BRK123) - A before and after migration journey from Oracle to Azure Database for PostgreSQL. See how the new AI-assisted migration experience delivers conversion in a few clicks and minimal downtime. The blueprint for intelligent AI agents backed by PostgreSQL (BRK130) - If you’re into AI development, this session will spark ideas on bridging the gap between raw data and AI reasoning. You’ll leave with practical tips to turbocharge your AI agents with PostgreSQL. Each breakout session is 45 minutes with live demos and Q&A, so you’ll get plenty of detail and interaction with Postgres experts. Hands-on lab: experience coding with Azure superpowers Do you learn best by doing? Then our guided workshop, Build advanced AI agents with PostgreSQL (Lab515), is for you. In each 75-minute session, you’ll get to create a fully functional AI-powered application backed by PostgreSQL on Azure with step-by-step guidance and expert insight on the latest innovations enabling intelligent app development. All the tools and instructions you’ll need are provided. Labs have limited capacity, so be sure to reserve your seat for any of the four labs in advance. This lab is a great way to understand how all the pieces come together on Azure. And you’ll gain practical skills you can apply to your own projects, whether it’s customer support bots, intelligent search in your app, or any scenario where PostgreSQL + AI collide. Expert meet-up booth: meet the team, grab some swag If you still want more Postgres (or a little Postgres souvenir), you can stop by the PostgreSQL on Azure Expert Meetup booth in the Ignite Hub. This will be our homebase on the show floor, where you can: Meet the team: I’ll be there in person, along with engineers, program managers, cloud solution architects, and advocates from our team. Whether you have a burning technical question, want to share feedback, or need guidance for your specific use case, come chat with us. Get a quick demo re-run: Sometimes a 5-minute demo is worth a thousand words, especially after you’ve sat through all those words already in a keynote. The booth will have a monitor and a live environment so we can walk you through select use cases if you have questions - no appointment needed. Swag and giveaways: Ah yes, the goodies! We know conference swag is part of the fun, so we’ve got some special PostgreSQL-themed giveaways at the booth. I won’t spoil all the surprises, but rumor has it there are some limited-edition items up for grabs. Network with peers: The expert meet-up area is also a magnet for PostgreSQL enthusiasts. You might bump into other attendees at the booth who are tackling similar projects or challenges. Ignite is about community as much as content, so come by and spark up a conversation. Meet you there? Ignite is our largest event of the year. We love sharing what we’ve been working on and, most of all, hearing from you, the community. So, on behalf of the Azure for PostgreSQL team, thank you for your interest and support. We can’t wait to show you what’s new and to help you continue to succeed with Postgres. See you in San Francisco!
