Azure updates
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August 2019
Azure SQL provides a unified management experience
Azure SQL is a modern SQL platform that serves developers and enterprises by offering a rich selection of deployment options, powered by an industry-leading SQL Server engine.
SQL Data Discovery and Classification for Azure SQL Database is now available
SQL Data Discovery and Classification, which provides advanced capabilities built into Azure SQL Database for discovering, classifying, labelling and protecting sensitive data, is now available.
Update to Azure SQL Database serverless increases compute scale limits by 4x
We are now announcing the max vcore limit has increased by 4x to 16 vcores and provides greater compute scaling headroom for serverless databases with more demanding workloads.
July 2019
Managed Instance enhances security with network traffic containment within Azure cloud
The network traffic of Azure SQL Database Managed Instance is now contained within Azure cloud by default. This update enhances the security and prevents exfiltration of data via Internet.
SQL Server CTP 3.2 big data cluster is now in preview
Big data clusters, one of the hero features for SQL Server 2019, is now available in preview. It combines SQL Server with Apache Spark and Hadoop Distributed File System for a unified data platform that enables analytics and AI over all data, relational and non-relational.
Introducing UTF-8 support for Azure SQL Database
Support for the widely used UTF-8 character encoding is now available as preview in Azure SQL Database, as a database-level or column-level default encoding for Unicode string data.
Azure SQL Database published the first-in-the-industry business continuity SLA for a relational database service
Azure SQL database service has updated its service-level agreement (SLA) offering guarantees for common disaster recovery metrics.
Update to Azure SQL Database serverless provides even greater price optimisation
The minimum configurable auto-pause delay has decreased to 1 hour, providing even greater price optimisation opportunities for serverless databases.
Azure Cosmos DB ExpressRoute BGP Community now available
We are now announcing the addition of the Azure Cosmos DB community on ExpressRoute, which will allow for regional advertising of Azure Cosmos DB.
June 2019
New Active geo-replication optimisation is coming to production soon in Azure SQL DB
Target availability: Q3 2019
New Active geo-replication optimisation is coming to production in Azure SQL DB
New Managed Instance Contributor role enhances security of Azure SQL Database Managed Instance
Azure SQL Database Managed Instance now introduces new Azure RBAC role Managed Instance Contributor designed with a minimum set of permissions required to provision and operate managed instance.
Public endpoint for data traffic is globally available for Azure SQL Database Managed Instance
Public endpoint enabling data traffic from the Internet and outside the virtual network is now globally available for Azure SQL Database Managed Instance. This capability unlocks new enterprise integration scenarios between Managed Instance and other information systems such as multi-tenant Azure services Power BI, Azure App service, CRM, DWH and numerous other services on the Internet.
Enhanced management capabilities to release unused subnets and create databases available for Azure SQL Database Managed Instance
Azure SQL Database Managed Instance now offers new management capabilities: Immediate release of network subnet upon deletion of the last Managed Instance residing in it, and new options to create instance databases through Azure Portal, API and PowerShell.
Default backup retention period for DTU-based Azure SQL databases is changing soon
Target availability: Q3 2019
The default retention period for DTU-based Azure SQL databases is changing to 7 days
Azure SQL Database default configuration changing soon
Target availability: Q2 2019
With the latest Gen 5 hardware in place, we are making a change to the default configuration for all new Azure SQL databases and elastic pools.
Dev/test pricing option for individual Visual Studio subscribers is now available for Azure SQL Database Managed Instance
Dev/test pricing option for individual Visual Studio subscribers is now available for Azure SQL Database Managed Instance.
General availability: 4 vCore Azure SQL Database Managed Instances on Gen5 hardware
Four vCore Azure SQL Database Managed Instances are now available on Gen5 hardware for the General Purpose and Business Critical Service tiers.
Azure SQL Database Managed Instance now supports larger regional resource limitations
Azure SQL Database Managed Instance has increased both types of regional limits – the maximum number of subnets and maximum number of instances that could be deployed per region, allowing much larger managed instance deployments without the need to request quota increase through Azure support tickets.
May 2019
General availability: Zone-redundant SQL databases and elastic pools are now generally available in three additional regions
Target availability: Q2 2019
Zone-redundant SQL databases and elastic pools are now generally available in these additional regions: UK South, East US and East US 2.
General availability: Time zone choice for Azure SQL Database Managed Instance
Time zone choice for Azure SQL Database Managed Instance eliminating need for any changes in the existing applications when migrating to cloud is now generally available.
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