Azure: How to choose right SQL option that fits for your Data Migration Strategy

Choosing a right SQL deployment option is the key success for on-premises data migration journey to Cloud platform. Microsoft Azure offers distinct and highly-scalable services that fit for every data migration scenario. When it comes to SQL server data migration, Azure offers three types of deployment options namely, SQL Databases, SQL Managed Instances and SQL Virtual Machines. As a Cloud architect, if you design a migration-solution for your on-premises databases to Azure then you should get familiar with these SQL options first.

When comes to SQL server data migration, Azure offers three types of deployment options namely,

SQL Databases, SQL Managed Instances and SQL Virtual Machines.

However, how to decide out of these options to fit for your business or solution requirements? what key factors need to be considered while choosing the SQL option? what are the different IaaS/PaaS services offered by Azure and its capabilities? These questions must be explored with consideration of your solution requirements.

Let's read the article further to find out more in detail with my solution recommendations and use-cases explained.

Features at a glance

Firstly, the SQL Databases option,

• It's a fully managed running as a hosted service in PaaS instance.
• As we know, the PaaS is built on standardized hardware and software that is owned, hosted and fully managed by Microsoft, so the best part is it comes with in-built capabilities like auto scaling, 99.99% availability, backup and restore and so.
• Microsoft takes care of everything hence only less administration may be required from consumers.
• It offers up to 100 TB of storage for a single database.

Next, let’s look at the features of SQL Managed Instances,

• It’s kind of a standard SQL version that we generally use on-premises.
• As it runs on PaaS infrastructure, so comes with inbuilt support to auto scale, high availability and backup features like SQL databases.
• It is an instance that can hold up to 100 databases and you can cross querying between them directly. It gives 8 TB as Maximum instance reserved storage
• It does support running the SQL jobs.
• It offers BYO-hybrid licensing for your on-premise products and discounted pricing for dev/test environments.
• It can be connected through a Private IP address within Azure Vnet.

Finally, let’s look at the features of SQL Virtual Machines,

• SQL VM instance is an IaaS cloud model, that means with this option you can get full control on the VM and its underlying OS, attached storage as well.
• It supports running SQL job agents.
• Allows BYOL license versions of the VM images and offers Up to 256 TB of storage.
• It may require high administration basically for configuring, hosting and managing a database. However, it is specifically optimized for migrating on-premise applications to Azure hybrid deployments.

A Key Question

With consideration of all the features discussed above, you should also find the answer to a key question below. 

Remember! The answer is a key driver to your data migration.

Decision Factors Summary

The decision on choosing the SQL option clearly depends on various factors. From a solution architectural perceptive, here are some key factors to think about before deciding a migration approach.

The SQL databases option is best for modern cloud applications, this option should be considered 

• if the application requires latest stable SQL features and advanced cloud offerings
• when the organization is already familiar with Platform as a service (PaaS) model.

The SQL managed instances option is best for most migrations to the cloud, this option should be considered,

• for lift-and-shift with 100% migration compatibility 
• if application requires multi database mode with cross querying feature 
• if the application wants to enable SQL jobs 
• when an organization thinks it's time to cloud and market.

The SQL virtual machines option is best for migrations, this option should be considered

• when an application requiring OS level access
• when organization thinks time to cloud and also to simulate an AS-IS environment
• as an easier and quicker migration approach compared to other SQL deployment options.

As a final note, 

In addition to the above key factors, a detailed technical fitment analysis also should be done before finalizing any SQL option in order to realize other non-functional requirements such as data security, performance, high-availability, backup, fail-over and so. This would help you to make a more informed decision on finalizing the data migration strategy.

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Happy Solutioning!!