We're pleased to share a summary of the Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server feature updates and announcements from last month, as well as the latest roadmap of upcoming features!
April 2024 Live webinar
These feature updates are also covered in our Monthly Live Webinar on YouTube (Click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel!), which streams the second Wednesday of every month, at 7:30 AM Pacific time. Below is a link to the session recording of the live webinar we delivered this week:
March 2024 updates and announcements
Microsoft Defender for Cloud support - General Availability
We’re excited to announce the general availability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud support for Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server. The Defender for Cloud Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) feature simplifies security management of your MySQL flexible server by enabling effortless threat prevention, detection, and mitigation through increased visibility into and control over harmful events.
With the Defender for Cloud ATP feature, you don’t need to be a security expert to safeguard your MySQL flexible server against today’s growing threat landscape. ATP uses integrated security monitoring to detect anomalous database access and query patterns, as well as suspicious database activities, to provide security recommendations and alerts.
Learn more: Demo video | Announcement blog
Long Term Retention of Backups - Public Preview
Long Term Retention of backups is now in Public Preview! You can use long-term retention independently or in addition to the automated (and on-demand) backup solution offered by Azure Database for MySQL flexible server, which offers retention of up to 35 days. Automated backups are snapshot backups suited for operational recoveries, especially when you want to restore from the latest backups. Long-term backups help you with your compliance needs and auditing needs.
Learn more: Documentation | Demo video
Reminder: Upgrade your Azure Database for MySQL - Single Server instance to Flexible Server today!
With Azure Database for MySQL – Single Server retirement scheduled for September 16, 2024, it’s time to move your MySQL workloads to Azure Database for MySQL – Flexible Server. We support an easy migration process for your high-performance online transaction processing (OLTP) applications, and with the move, you'll experience improved performance and get better value.
With a new and improved architecture, Azure Database for MySQL – Flexible Server advances the computation, availability, scalability, and performance capabilities of this fully managed MySQL service. You get better performance across all service tiers and more ways to control your costs and ensure business continuity.
In recent benchmark testing by Principled Technologies, Flexible Server, when compared to Single Server, delivered up to:
- 266 percent better performance per dollar.
- 117 percent better performance.
- 54 percent lower latency.
Learn more: What's happening to Azure Database for MySQL single server?
Latest feature roadmap
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Feature
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Description
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Release status
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Coming soon!
(Tentative*)
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On-demand backup and export
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This feature provides you with the ability to export at-moment physical backup of the server to an Azure storage account (Azure blob storage) using an Azure CLI command. After export, these backups can be used for data recovery, migration, data redundancy and availability, or auditing.
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Private Preview
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Public Preview
in Q2 CY24
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Support for 32TB storage
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This feature provides you with the ability to expand the storage for your workloads using the Business-Critical service tier up to 32TB.
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Private Preview
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General Availability
in Q2 CY24
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Azure MySQL Import for external migrations
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Azure MySQL Import enables you to migrate your MySQL on-premises or Virtual Machine (VM) workload seamlessly to Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server. It uses a user-provided physical backup file and restores the source server's physical data files to the target server offering a simple and fast migration path. Based on user-inputs, it takes up the responsibility of provisioning your target Flexible Server and then restoring the user-provided physical backup of the source server stored in the Azure Blob storage account to the target Flexible Server instance. Learn more.
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Public Preview
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General Availability
in Q2 CY24
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Flexible maintenance options
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Building upon our existing system-managed and custom-managed maintenance windows, the following new flexible maintenance options aim to elevate user convenience and operational flexibility in server maintenance:
Learn more.
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Public Preview
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General Availability
in Q2 CY24
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Near-zero downtime maintenance for HA servers
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This feature is designed to substantially reduce maintenance downtime for HA-enabled servers, ensuring that in most cases, maintenance downtime is expected to be between 40 to 60 seconds. This capability is pivotal for businesses that demand high availability and minimal interruption in their database operations. Learn more.
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Public Preview
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General Availability
in Q2 CY24
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Long Term Retention of Backups
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Previously, Azure Database for MySQL allowed for retaining automated backups and on-demand backups up to 35 days. With Long Term Retention, you can now retain the backups up to 10 years, further aiding your audit and compliance needs. Learn more.
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Public Preview
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General Availability
in Q2 CY24
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Accelerated Logs
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This feature, available with the Business Critical service tier and designed for mission-critical workloads, provides a significant performance boost by minimizing latency, which results in faster query execution and more responsive interactions. Take advantage of an impressive increase in throughput of up to two times (2x) for your applications at no additional cost! Learn more.
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Public Preview
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General Availability
in early Q3 CY24
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Error Logs (in Server Logs)
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This feature allows you to maintain MySQL error log files under Server logs feature and download them for up to seven days. These error logs will help you efficiently identify and troubleshoot performance and reliability issues, and proactively detect and respond to unauthorized access attempts, failed login attempts and other security-related events. Learn more.
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Public Preview
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General Availability
in early Q3 CY24
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MySQL Discovery & Assessment in Azure Migrate
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With this functionality, you can use Azure Migrate to discover MySQL servers in your environment, assess them by identifying their compatibility for moving to Azure Database for MySQL, and receive compute and storage SKU recommendations along with their costs. Learn more.
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Private Preview
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Public Preview
in early Q3 CY24
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*The roadmap features and dates are tentative and subject to changes. Please stay tuned for continuous updates.
Conclusion
As we continue to work on new features and functionalities, your feedback is very critical for our improvement. If you wish to enroll in Private Preview for any of the above features, or if you have any suggestions for or queries about our service, email us at AskAzureDBforMySQL@service.microsoft.com.
To learn more about what's new with Flexible Server, see What's new in Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server. Stay tuned for more updates and announcements by following us on social media: YouTube | LinkedIn | X.
