Cumulative Update #9 for SQL Server 2025 RTM
The 9th cumulative update release for SQL Server 2025 RTM is now available for download at the Microsoft Downloads site. Please note that registration is no longer required to download Cumulative updates. To learn more about the release or servicing model, please visit: CU9 KB Article: https://support.microsoft.com/help/5122048 Starting with SQL Server 2017, we adopted a new modern servicing model. Please refer to our blog for more details on Modern Servicing Model for SQL Server Microsoft® SQL Server® 2025 RTM Latest Cumulative Update: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=10a21237-8b59-4fcd-b878-bfe8fcabdc7a Update Center for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updatesSecurity Update for SQL Server 2025 RTM CU8
The Security Update for SQL Server 2025 RTM CU8 is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2025 RTM CUs, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article. Security Bulletins: CVE-2026-67378 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - Microsoft SQL Server Denial of Service Vulnerability Security Update of SQL Server 2025 RTM CU8 KB Article: KB5122769 Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=65b5f47b-53bf-4b54-89e7-6aefaad8dc51 Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5122769 Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updatesSecurity Update for SQL Server 2025 RTM
The Security Update for SQL Server 2025 RTM GDR is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2025 RTM, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article. Security Bulletins: CVE-2026-67378 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - Microsoft SQL Server Denial of Service Vulnerability Security Update of SQL Server 2025 RTM GDR KB Article: KB5122770 Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=0d644af6-717c-45d7-bf71-ce7e309d2ad7 Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5122770 Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updatesMove to Modern SQL Server Licensing with Confidence
Why eligible customers should move to pay-as-you-go licensing (PAYG) For eligible SQL Server workloads, PAYG should be the preferred licensing approach when moving away from licenses and Software Assurance. It aligns billing with measured usage, adapts as the estate changes, and reduces the operational burden of managing fixed license quantities. The transition requires deliberate resource-configuration updates, but the result is a more flexible and manageable licensing model. Align cost with measured usage: Adopt consumption-based billing for eligible SQL Server resources instead of maintaining fixed license allocations. Scale without repeated license true-ups: Let billing adjust as workloads are added, removed, migrated, resized, or used intermittently. Manage licensing through Azure: Use Azure-based controls to review resource-level licensing and improve visibility across the estate. Reduce license administration: Spend less time tracking fixed quantities and aligning individual resources with license inventory. Optimize committed consumption: After establishing stable PAYG usage, evaluate applicable Azure savings plans or reservations to help reduce costs. Guidance for transitioning your resource settings Once your organization decides to adopt PAYG for eligible SQL Server workloads, update the license configuration on each resource so billing reflects that decision. A commercial or licensing change alone does not update resource-level settings. Plan this configuration work as part of the transition rather than treating it as a follow-up. Starting early gives teams time to validate security, networking, Azure Arc connectivity, billing, and operational processes before switching the broader estate. Automate the transition to pay-as-you-go SQL licensing at scale Choose the transition approach that fits your estate PowerShell for a controlled bulk change Use PowerShell when you need a targeted transition across a defined tenant, subscription, resource group, or resource scope. Discover and review resources before making changes. Test the transition with a limited scope. Update eligible resources in bulk when the organization is ready. Validate the resulting license configuration and billing signals. Azure Policy for ongoing governance Use Azure Policy to transition existing SQL resources to PAYG and continuously enforce the desired licensing configuration. Azure Policy helps identify configuration drift, maintain compliance, and automatically remediate non-compliant resources at scale. Define the approved license configuration for eligible resources. Assign policy at the appropriate subscription or resource group scope. Monitor compliance through centralized Azure views. Remediate resources that drift from the approved configuration. Recommended path to PAYG Commit to the PAYG target. Confirm which eligible workloads will move and identify the teams responsible for licensing, Azure, security, networking, and SQL operations. Prepare the estate. For SQL Server running outside of Azure, connect to Azure Arc. Inventory eligible SQL resources and confirm that Azure Arc connectivity and required organizational approvals are in place. Prove the transition. Test resource updates and billing behavior in a limited resource group or subscription. Move at scale. Use PowerShell for a controlled bulk transition, then apply Azure Policy for ongoing governance where appropriate. Verify and operate. Review the resulting configuration, monitor compliance, and reassess as the SQL estate grows or changes. Evaluate commitment-based savings. After establishing a stable PAYG usage pattern, assess whether an applicable Azure savings plan or reservation could reduce costs. Review eligibility, coverage, and commitment terms with your Microsoft representative. Learn more Automate the transition to pay-as-you-go SQL licensing at scale Manage licensing and billing of SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc Pricing guidance for SQL Server on Azure VMs Azure SQL Database pricing Eligibility, billing treatment, prerequisites, and available licensing options vary by resource and licensing arrangement. Review the applicable Microsoft terms and product guidance, and consult your Microsoft representative or licensing specialist as needed.Cumulative Update #8 for SQL Server 2025 RTM
The 8th cumulative update release for SQL Server 2025 RTM is now available for download at the Microsoft Downloads site. Please note that registration is no longer required to download Cumulative updates. To learn more about the release or servicing model, please visit: CU8 KB Article: https://support.microsoft.com/help/5104822 Starting with SQL Server 2017, we adopted a new modern servicing model. Please refer to our blog for more details on Modern Servicing Model for SQL Server Microsoft® SQL Server® 2025 RTM Latest Cumulative Update: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=10a21237-8b59-4fcd-b878-bfe8fcabdc7a Update Center for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updatesMicrosoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server 5.13.3: PIE support on every platform
Version 5.13.3 of the Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server is now available on PIE, the PHP Installer for Extensions, the official replacement for the deprecated PECL installer. You can now install SQLSRV and PDO_SQLSRV on Linux, macOS, and Windows through the same Composer-style tooling you already use for your PHP dependencies. This release completes the PIE rollout that started in 5.13.2. That release also carried two PDO_SQLSRV security fixes, so we recommend upgrading regardless of how you install. Install with PIE After installing PIE, install either or both drivers with their Packagist package names: pie install microsoft/sqlsrv pie install microsoft/pdo_sqlsrv The drivers require PHP 8.3 or later and the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 or 18 for SQL Server. PDO_SQLSRV also requires the PDO extension, which is included with PHP by default. PIE itself needs PHP 8.1 or later to run, and it can target any other PHP version you have installed. On Linux and macOS, PIE builds the extension from source and will offer to install any missing build tools first. On Windows, PIE downloads a prebuilt DLL matching your PHP version, thread-safety mode, and architecture, so no build toolchain is needed. Windows support arrived in 5.13.3. If you tried pie install on Windows with 5.13.2 and hit This extension does not support the "windows" operating system family, upgrading resolves it. PECL still works You don't have to switch today. Version 5.13.3 is published to PECL as usual, alongside the downloadable release archives, so pecl install sqlsrv and pecl install pdo_sqlsrv continue to work. PIE is where we recommend new installations start. Security updates Version 5.13.2 included two PDO_SQLSRV security fixes, both carried forward in 5.13.3: PDO::lastInsertId($name) now uses a parameterized query when looking up a sequence name. This prevents the supplied name from changing the query and also fixes lookups for sequence names containing non-ASCII characters. Binary parameters containing embedded NUL (0x00) bytes are no longer silently truncated when PDO emulated prepares are used with PDO::SQLSRV_ENCODING_BINARY. If your application uses PDO_SQLSRV and you are on 5.13.1 or earlier, upgrade. Additional fixes 5.13.2 also: Fixes a Windows thread-safe shared-build linker failure. Clears stale unixODBC INI cache data when the module shuts down on Linux and macOS. Fixes an AddressSanitizer One Definition Rule violation when SQLSRV and PDO_SQLSRV are loaded together. Addresses CodeQL static-analysis findings. Get version 5.13.3 Install SQLSRV from Packagist with PIE. Install PDO_SQLSRV from Packagist with PIE. Download the 5.13.3 release packages. Review the full changelog. Read the Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server documentation. Please report issues and share feedback in the msphpsql GitHub repository.mssql-python 1.13.0: Arrow Bulk Copy, Smarter Tokens, Slimmer Wheels
mssql-python 1.13.0 is now available on PyPI. This release adds an Apache Arrow fast path for bulk copy, first-class support for azure-identity credential objects, identity-aware connection pooling, and it completes the move of the ODBC driver binaries into the standalone mssql-python-odbc package. pip install --upgrade mssql-python Highlights Apache Arrow bulk copy Loading data that already lives in Arrow no longer has to round-trip through Python tuples. The new Cursor.bulkcopy_arrow() reads each batch's typed Arrow buffers directly in the Rust TDS core and streams them into the bulk-load packets, releasing the GIL for the duration of the transfer. import pyarrow as pa from mssql_python import connect conn = connect("Server=<server>.database.windows.net;Database=<database>;Encrypt=yes") cursor = conn.cursor() table = pa.table({"id": [1, 2, 3], "name": ["a", "b", "c"]}) result = cursor.bulkcopy_arrow("dbo.MyTable", table) print(result["rows_copied"], result["rows_per_second"]) Source accepts any of the following: pyarrow.Table, pyarrow.RecordBatch, or pyarrow.RecordBatchReader Any object exposing the Arrow C Data Interface (__arrow_c_stream__ or __arrow_c_array__), which covers polars, pandas 2.2+, DuckDB, and ADBC results Any iterable of record batches A polars DataFrame, a pandas 2.2+ DataFrame, or a DuckDB relation can be passed straight to bulkcopy_arrow() with no explicit conversion step. Everything else carries over from the classic bulkcopy(): same schema handling, same column mappings, same options, same statistics dictionary in return. Bulkcopy() now raises TypeError when passed an Arrow object, with a message pointing at bulkcopy_arrow(), so there is no silent slow path. token_provider= for Microsoft Entra ID credentials connect() accepts a token_provider argument: any object with a .get_token(scope) method that returns an object with a .token attribute. Every azure-identity credential qualifies. from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential from mssql_python import connect conn = connect( "Server=<server>.database.windows.net;Database=<database>", token_provider=AzureCliCredential(), ) Use this when you need explicit control over token acquisition, such as excluding specific providers, using a credential that is not in the built-in map, or passing custom options to the credential constructor. For environment-portable code, Authentication=ActiveDirectoryDefault in the connection string remains the simpler choice. token_provider= is mutually exclusive with Authentication= and with a raw token in attrs_before[SQL_COPT_SS_ACCESS_TOKEN]. The token scope is fixed to the Azure commercial cloud. For sovereign clouds, acquire the token yourself and pass it through attrs_before. Identity-aware connection pooling The connection pool now keys on the security context of a connection, not just the connection string. Two consequences: Connections established under different identities (access tokens, integrated auth) can no longer be handed to the wrong caller. Token acquisition is deferred until a pool miss, so a pool hit no longer pays for a round trip to the identity provider on every connect(). Pooled connections whose token is close to expiry are refreshed automatically rather than being reused until the server rejects them. ODBC driver ships exclusively via mssql-python-odbc v1.12.0 introduced the standalone mssql-python-odbc package while keeping the bundled libs/ tree as a fallback. That fallback is now removed. mssql-python hard-depends on mssql-python-odbc==18.6.2.1, so pip install mssql-python continues to pull the driver transparently, with no extra step for users. Why it matters: Smaller mssql-python wheels. ODBC binary updates ship on their own cadence, independent of mssql-python releases. If your environment installs packages from a private index or an offline mirror, make sure mssql-python-odbc is mirrored alongside mssql-python before upgrading. Bug fixes executemany() could silently insert zero rows. Numeric array parameter binding (TINYINT, SMALLINT, INT, FLOAT) left indicator slots uninitialized when a NULL appeared partway through a batch, which could drop the batch without raising. SQL_WVARCHAR output converters no longer act as a catch-all. The fallback is now gated on columns whose mapped type is str or bytes, so a converter registered for wide strings stops intercepting numeric and date columns. Integer-keyed output converters now fire. add_output_converter(SQL_DECIMAL, ...) and other integer ODBC SQL type codes dispatch correctly, matching pyodbc behavior. RecordBatchReader.close() works for Arrow result sets. Cursor.arrow_reader() returns a wrapper whose close() cancels any in-flight fetch, releases the server-side cursor and its locks, drains diagnostics into cursor.messages, and leaves the parent cursor usable. Teardown also runs on normal exhaustion, on with-block exit, and on garbage collection. No more AttributeError from Cursor.__del__. Cursor.__init__ sets closed and hstmt before anything can raise, and __del__ uses sys.is_finalizing() as its interpreter-shutdown guard. Upgrading For most users, pip install --upgrade mssql-python is all that is needed. Two things to check: Offline or private-index installs need mssql-python-odbc==18.6.2.1 available alongside mssql-python. bulkcopy() now rejects Arrow-shaped input. Anything exposing __arrow_c_stream__ or __arrow_c_array__, which includes pandas 2.2+ and polars DataFrames as well as pyarrow containers, raises TypeError pointing at bulkcopy_arrow(). Those inputs never loaded correctly through bulkcopy(), so this replaces a confusing failure with a clear one. Any code that was catching the old error will see an actionable message. Feedback Full release notes are on the releases page. File issues and feature requests at github.com/microsoft/mssql-python/issues, or email us at mssql-python@microsoft.com.mssql-django 1.8.0: Django 6.1 Support within 48 Hours of Django 6.1 GA
Django 6.1 GA'd on August 5. mssql-django 1.8.0 was on PyPI within 48 hours. This is the first time the backend has shipped support for a new Django release in lockstep with Django itself. If you run SQL Server, Azure SQL, or SQL database in Microsoft Fabric, you can move to 6.1 today without code changes. pip install --upgrade mssql-django Django How it shipped this fast The work started in June, against the 6.1 beta. The beta went into the full CI matrix weeks before GA, we knew about every backend API break in June. Fixes were developed on an integration branch and validated on live CI against real 6.1 builds on SQL Server 2025. By GA day, the release was tested and ready to publish. What's new Django 6.1 changed several parts of the database backend API. Every change here is version-gated, so earlier Django versions are unaffected. Query compilation for 6.1's sliced and offset queries. Django 6.1 deprecated SQLCompiler.quote_name_unless_alias() in favor of SQLCompiler.quote_name(); sliced querysets and OFFSET ... FETCH now compile without Django 7.0 deprecation warnings. Database introspection. get_relations() returns 6.1's expanded shape, including the database-level ON DELETE rule, so inspectdb keeps working. Upfront errors for the 6.1 features SQL Server cannot support. Regression tests, CI, and packaging for 6.1 on Windows and Linux with Python 3.12, 3.13, and 3.14. What doesn't work on 6.1 Two 6.1 features are unavailable: Database-level referential actions (DB_CASCADE, DB_SET_NULL, DB_SET_DEFAULT). SQL Server disallows multiple cascade paths to the same table, and that is still true in SQL Server 2025. Using one fails Django's system checks with fields.E324; use Django's on_delete handling instead. Bitwise aggregates (BitAnd, BitOr, BitXor). SQL Server has no native bitwise aggregate function, and the backend doesn't emulate one yet, so these raise NotSupportedError. If this is important to you, drop a comment on issue #572 with your use case. Supported versions Component Supported versions Django 3.2, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 6.0, 6.1 Python 3.8 through 3.14; Django 6.0 and 6.1 require Python 3.12+ SQL Server All supported versions Azure SQL Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance Microsoft Fabric SQL database in Microsoft Fabric This matrix is wider than it should be. Django 5.1 and earlier and Python 3.9 and earlier are already past end of life upstream. A separate upcoming release will narrow this list to the versions their own projects still support. Upgrading pip install --upgrade mssql-django Django 1.8.0 release notes: https://github.com/microsoft/mssql-django/releases/tag/1.8.0 README: https://github.com/microsoft/mssql-django#supportability Django 6.1 release notes: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/6.1/releases/6.1/ PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/mssql-django/ Issues: https://github.com/microsoft/mssql-django/issuesAnnouncing Public Preview of DiskANN in SQL Server 2025
We are excited to announce the public preview of DiskANN in SQL Server 2025, a significant advancement in our AI capabilities. This release comes with full vector support, enabling the storing and querying of embeddings, which are essential for modern AI applications.
