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• Windows
• Linux

This article provides an overview of SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) on the Windows platform.

If you're new to SQL Server on Azure VMs, check out the SQL Server on Azure VM Overview video from our in-depth Azure SQL video series:

[!VIDEO https://learn.microsoft.com/shows/Azure-SQL-for-Beginners/SQL-Server-on-Azure-VM-Overview-4-of-61/player]

SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines enables you to use full versions of SQL Server in the cloud without having to manage any on-premises hardware. SQL Server virtual machines (VMs) also simplify licensing costs when you pay as you go.

Azure virtual machines run in many different geographic regions around the world. They also offer various machine sizes. The virtual machine image gallery allows you to create a SQL Server VM with the right version, edition, and operating system. This makes virtual machines a good option for many different SQL Server workloads.

When you register your SQL Server on Azure VM with the SQL IaaS Agent extension you unlock a number of feature benefits. Registering with the extension is completely free.

The following table details the benefits unlocked by the extension:

[!INCLUDE SQL VM feature benefits]

To get started with SQL Server on Azure VMs, review the following resources:

• Create SQL VM: To create your SQL Server on Azure VM, review the Quickstarts using the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell or an ARM template. For more thorough guidance, review the Provisioning guide.
• Connect to SQL VM: To connect to your SQL Server on Azure VMs, review the ways to connect.
• Manage SQL VM from the portal: You can manage SQL Server settings directly from the Azure portal by using the SQL virtual machines resource.
• Migrate data: Migrate your data to SQL Server on Azure VMs from SQL Server, Oracle, or Db2.
• Best practices: View the Best practices checklist to configure your SQL Server VM for optimized security and performance.
• Pricing: For information about the pricing structure of your SQL Server on Azure VM, review the Pricing guidance.
• Frequently asked questions: For commonly asked questions, and scenarios, review the FAQ.

For videos about the latest features to optimize SQL Server VM performance and automate management, review the following Data Exposed videos:

• Caching and Storage Capping (Ep. 1)
• Automate Management with the SQL Server IaaS Agent extension (Ep. 2)
• Use Azure Monitor Metrics to Track VM Cache Health (Ep. 3)
• Get the best price-performance for your SQL Server workloads on Azure VM
• Using PerfInsights to Evaluate Resource Health and Troubleshoot (Ep. 5)
• Best Price-Performance with Ebdsv5 Series (Ep.6)
• Optimally Configure SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines with SQL Assessment (Ep. 7)
• New and Improved SQL Server on Azure VM deployment and management experience (Ep.8)

On top of the built-in high availability provided by Azure virtual machines, you can also use the high availability and disaster recovery features provided by SQL Server.

To learn more, see the overview of Always On availability groups, and Always On failover cluster instances. For more details, see the business continuity overview.

To get started, see the tutorials for availability groups or preparing your VM for a failover cluster instance.

To get started, choose a SQL Server virtual machine image with your required version, edition, and operating system. The following sections provide direct links to the Azure portal for the SQL Server virtual machine gallery images. Change the licensing model of a pay-per-usage SQL Server VM to use your own license. For more information, see How to change the licensing model for a SQL Server VM.

Azure only maintains one virtual machine image for each supported operating system, version, and edition combination. This means that over time images are refreshed, and older images are removed. For more information, see the Images section of the SQL Server VMs FAQ.

The following table provides a matrix of pay-as-you-go SQL Server images.

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To see the available SQL Server on Linux virtual machine images, see Overview of SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines (Linux).

It's possible to deploy an older image of SQL Server that isn't available in the Azure portal by using PowerShell. To view all available images by using PowerShell, use the following command:

$Location = "<location>"
Get-AzVMImageOffer -Location $Location -Publisher 'MicrosoftSQLServer'

For more information about deploying SQL Server VMs using PowerShell, view How to provision SQL Server virtual machines with Azure PowerShell.

The Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) is enabled by default. This periodically sends reports to Microsoft to help improve SQL Server. There's no management task required with CEIP unless you want to disable it after provisioning. You can customize or disable the CEIP by connecting to the VM with remote desktop. Then run the SQL Server Error and Usage Reporting utility. Follow the instructions to disable reporting. For more information about data collection, see the SQL Server Privacy Statement.

Since SQL Server on Azure VMs is integrated into the Azure platform, review resources from related products and services that interact with the SQL Server on Azure VM ecosystem:

• Windows virtual machines: Azure Virtual Machines overview
• Storage: Introduction to Microsoft Azure Storage
• Networking: Virtual Network overview, IP addresses in Azure, Create a Fully Qualified Domain Name in the Azure portal
• SQL: SQL Server documentation, Azure SQL Database comparison

Get started with SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines:

• Create a SQL Server VM in the Azure portal

Get answers to commonly asked questions about SQL Server VMs:

• SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines FAQ

View Reference Architectures for running N-tier applications on SQL Server in IaaS

• Windows N-tier application on Azure with SQL Server
• Run an N-tier application in multiple Azure regions for high availability