They would be able to delay updates in  Azure.. Though not forever.

I'm still unsure of your complaint. If they hadn't done something that allowed you to workaround a change, you'd be upset? It sounds like you want to complain about the...

It's unlimited from the SQL Server point of view. If you keep adding disk space, it continues to grow. There is a max file size, but that could change in...

Dropping the event means the session exists. Dropping the event session removes all the meta data and memory targets, but not the file targets.

I agree. I'd expect 18.04 support now, or at least soon.

As Scott mentioned, this isn't going to work.

What I'd say is build a view that aggregates things. Dbs change? Use a proc that can re-read the list...

Should be inplace only.

The  restore process should take backups from 2005+

Mentions 2005 - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/statements/restore-statements-transact-sql?view=sql-server-2017#compatibility-support

16.04 here

You are correct. Use roles in SQL, equivalent to groups in AD. Always do this, even with AD groups. Use a SQL role for permissions and then add the AD...

If you get 823/824/825, you likely have some hardware/driver issue. You should really stress the system, especially storage, and use HammerDB, SQLIO, something to be sure you have everything working....

Failover manually. First sentence: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/availability-groups/windows/failover-and-failover-modes-always-on-availability-groups?view=sql-server-2017

Interesting and thanks for the note. Glad things are working for you.