While most of SQL Server’s core features are available on both Windows and Linux, a few capabilities that are currently particularly dependent on Windows’ features aren’t in the Linux version. But for the most part, SQL Server for Linux is a drop-in replacement for the Windows version, with the same APIs, the same features, and the same management tools.
That same compatibility has also been extended to the Azure cloud. The Azure SQL Database has always been similar to SQL Server, but, with Managed Instances (released in preview at Build), developers can now move applications to use Azure SQL Databases with no code changes and full compatibility. Microsoft is also introducing a new service, the Azure Database Migration Service, that’ll migrate data from on-premises databases to the cloud.
The company maintains that its hybrid cloud platform is without parallel. Systems such as Azure Stack and Azure SQL Managed Instances mean that local and cloud applications and deployments are not merely similar but truly consistent and integrated.
Azure itself continues to pick up new features willy-nilly: announced today are reserved virtual machine instances, offering up to a 72-percent discount on virtual machines given a one or three-year commitment; Azure Cost Management services, free for all Azure customers to make it easier to keep track of cloud expenditure; and integration between Cosmos DB, Microsoft’s new NoSQL database, and Azure Functions, for developing highly scalable event-driven, serverless applications.