SQL server upgradation

  • Hi Experts ,

    We are using SQl server 2012 database for our application . Management is planning to migrate our application to Azure cloud. So we are planning upgrade server to SQl server 2019 or Azure database. So i want to know which one is better on the basis of scalability, which instance has more features , future support, code changes required for migration.

    Thanks

  • All depends.

    You going VM's with SQL installed so theres no difference to your on-prem servers?

    You going to SQL Managed Instances?

    You going to Azure SQL Database?

    They all act and behave differently.  Look at the documentation for each one, its not always about scalability or features, it can come down to cost.

    Running multiple Azure SQL Databases can end up being more costly than a VM, so you need to compare, contrast and deliver what you think is going to be the right option.

    Example of a feature would be (IaaS) VM's will give you the SQL Agent, so if you have a lot of schedules jobs you cant change, well there's your answer.  (PaaS)Azure SQL Database doesn't have an agent so you need to use things like Azure Jobs which is something else to learn.

    The biggest thing though would be the Cardinality Estimator changes which got a major change up in 2014, you need to be testing everything with the new estimator, some queries will be faster, some will be the same, others will end up much worse.

     

  • Good thoughts from Anthony.

    If you are not rewriting the app at all, use a VM. You can get more predictable performance, reserve capacity over time for less $$, and do local dev work on an instance that mimics what's in the cloud.

    If you go Azure SQL Db, it's the same code, but not necessarily the same performance as some things work/don't work across the versions. There also is a much different model for connections and you need good retry logic to handle the variability of any single query. That being said, you can scale up and down in a different way if you need to, quicker. It's not instant, but it does work.

    However, managing this is going to be different as backup, recovery, HA, some things change quite a bit.

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