Azure SQL Database—Instance pools are now in preview
Published date: September 04, 2019
Instance pools is a new managed instance option that provides a convenient and cost-effective way to migrate smaller instances to the cloud at scale, reducing or eliminating the extra work of consolidating less compute-intensive workloads. Use instance pools to pre-provision compute according to your requirements (for example, eight vCores), and migrate instances up to your pre-provisioned compute level (such as two 2-vCore and one 4-vCore instances). Instance pools will be available in the following compute sizes: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 64, and 80 vCores. The minimum instance size within the pool is two vCores, and during preview the option is only available to managed instance, general purpose service tier on Gen 5 hardware.