Don't perform "in-place" upgrades!

You'll want to migrate to an new ( and supported ) OS anyway.

Request   2 OS : 1 temporary - 1 permanent target

• on the temporary, install SQL2014...

In SQLServer you cannot drop a PK when it is being reference by FK(s). It will produce an error.

That being said, as long as you don't change the data type...

Make sure all your consumers are also in the cloud ( to avoid traffic costs ! )

Check bundle prices / volume prices, maybe multiple SQLVMs come better than installing multiple...

Select ....
from msdb..sysjobhistory JH
inner join msdb..sysjobs J
on J.job_id = JH.job_id
Where J.enabled = 1 -- only active jobs
and JH.step_id = 0 
....

Keep in mind, you can launch disbled...

Keep in mind you can use DNS-aliasses instead of (client side) sql server aliasses !

If you rely on kerberos, you will have to register SPN(s) using the FQN of the...

no.

Have a look at the database options <snapshot options>

Define duplicate row !

Otherwise, have a look at ranking functions

I recently asked AI to revamp a MERGE statement into the 3 separate regular parts .

Of course, you can copy / paste and execute that generated code directly into production,...

remove the " not " from your where clause

What have you tested ?

Here is an example ( but you'd still have to validate performancewise in your environment )

drop table #test

CREATE TABLE #test
   ...

Check your SQLMI instance / Compute + storage / Backup section

Perplexity has a nice explenation and steps to try resolve the issue(s):

SSPI handshake failed error code 0x80090311

Hugo Kornelis provided a nice update on the Merge problem cases in Sep 2023 "an-update-on-merge"

there should not be a column with csv content in a 4 NF relational table.

Have a look at parent - child relationships in Codd's relational theory with normalforms