Azure SQL Database Version: A Comprehensive Guide

Azure SQL Database is a cloud-based relational database service that offers a range of versions to cater to different needs and budgets.

The oldest version, v12, was first released in 2014 and is still supported today. It's a great option for smaller projects and those on a tight budget.

V12 has a fixed maximum size of 524,288 GB, which is more than enough for most applications. This version also has a fixed maximum number of users, making it suitable for small to medium-sized businesses.

Azure SQL Database offers a free tier, which is perfect for small projects and proof-of-concept environments.

Azure SQL Database offers a fully managed SQL Server database engine, based on the latest stable Enterprise Edition of SQL Server. This means you don't have to worry about configuration or maintenance.

One of the key benefits of Azure SQL Database is its pay-as-you-go pricing model, which allows you to scale up or out for greater power with no interruption. This is a significant advantage over traditional SQL Server, where built-in features and functionality often require extensive configuration.

Azure SQL Database has some additional features that aren't available in SQL Server, such as built-in high availability, intelligence, and management. These features help ensure that your database is always available and running smoothly.

Azure SQL Database offers two main deployment options: a single database and an elastic pool. A single database is optimized for modern application development of new cloud-born applications, while an elastic pool is optimized for modern application development of new cloud-born applications using the multitenant SaaS application pattern.

Here are the key features of each deployment option:

The advanced database engine in Azure SQL Database is a game-changer for modern cloud applications. It's based on the most recent stable version of the Microsoft SQL Server database engine.

This means you get access to advanced query processing tools like intelligent query processing and in-memory technology. These features can significantly improve the performance and efficiency of your database.

One of the key benefits of Azure SQL Database is its built-in high availability, intelligence, and management features. These features aren't available in SQL Server, and they can save you a lot of time and effort in terms of configuration and maintenance.

Azure SQL Database also offers a fully managed SQL Server database engine, based on the latest stable Enterprise Edition of SQL Server. This means you don't have to worry about the underlying hardware and software, as Microsoft owns, hosts, and maintains it.

Here are the deployment options available for Azure SQL Database:

These deployment options are optimized for modern application development, and they provide a cost-effective solution for managing the performance of multiple databases with variable usage patterns.

The SERVERPROPERTY function is a useful tool for retrieving version information about your SQL Server instance. It returns individual properties related to the version information.

The results of the SERVERPROPERTY function include the product version, product level, and edition. For example, the product version might be 16.0.4135.4, the product level might be RTM, and the edition might be Developer Edition (64-bit).

This function is particularly useful if your application requires individual property strings, as opposed to parsing the results of the @@VERSION function. It's also a good option if you're working with SQL Azure Database instances.

Here are the specific properties that the SERVERPROPERTY function returns:

Note that starting with SQL Server 2014 RTM Cumulative Update 10 and SQL Server 2014 Service Pack 1 Cumulative Update 3, additional properties have been added to the SERVERPROPERTY statement. For more information, see the full list of properties in the SERVERPROPERTY (Transact-SQL) documentation.

Azure SQL Database offers a range of deployment options to suit different needs. You can deploy it as a single database with its own set of resources or as an elastic pool, which is a collection of databases with a shared set of resources.

With Azure SQL Database, you don't have to worry about managing the underlying infrastructure, as Azure administers it for you. This includes replicating data for disaster recovery, configuring and upgrading the database software, and managing load balancing.

In terms of administration, you can still manage your database, but you no longer need to manage the database engine, operating system, or hardware. This includes tasks like configuring high availability, indexing, and query tuning.

Here are some key administration tasks you can continue to manage with Azure SQL Database:

Administration is a crucial aspect of database management, and Azure offers a range of options to simplify the process.

With Azure, you can offload the complexity of administration, freeing up your team to focus on more strategic tasks.

You can continue to administer your database, but you no longer need to manage the database engine, operating system, or the hardware.

Azure administers the underlying infrastructure and automatically replicates all data to provide disaster recovery, configures and upgrades the database software, manages load balancing, and does transparent failover if there's a server failure within a data center.

You can control the size of the VM, the number of disks, and their storage configurations.

Azure allows you to change the size of a VM as needed.

Here are some examples of what you can continue to administer with SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance:

Some automated features are provided to dramatically simplify patching, backup, and high availability with SQL Server on Azure VMs.

When it comes to meeting uptime obligations, IT departments prioritize service-level agreements (SLAs). For Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance, Microsoft provides an availability SLA of 99.99%.

This level of availability is a top priority for many organizations. For SQL Server on Azure VMs, Microsoft provides an availability SLA of 99.95% for two virtual machines in an availability set.

Achieving high availability within VMs requires configuring a supported high availability option in SQL Server, such as Always On availability groups. Using a supported high availability option doesn't provide an additional SLA, but allows you to achieve >99.99% database availability.

The specific SLA requirements for SQL Server on Azure VMs depend on the configuration of the virtual machines. For two virtual machines in different availability zones, the SLA is 99.99%.