News and technical articles about Microsoft’s SQL Server
Get started faster with common SQL workflows and resources in one place. The MSSQL extension for VS Code v1.46 introduces a new Getting Started page experience in Public Preview with quick actions, guided walkthroughs, dev container templates, and one-click installation of the latest Microsoft SQL agent skills for GitHub Copilot. Available to all customers starting with this release, the […]
We’re pleased to share that SQLAlchemy 2.1.0 is now generally available, with built-in support for mssql-python, Microsoft’s Python driver for SQL Server. You can now use it with SQLAlchemy’s ORM and Core APIs through the first-party mssql+mssqlpython dialect. If SQLAlchemy is already part of how you build, we want this to feel like a natural
SQLAlchemy 2.1 brings built-in support for mssql-python Continue Reading
Welcome to SQL First, welcome to SQL! You’re going to like this. Upgrading from PostgreSQL is real work, and depending on your old PostgreSQL, that process can vary widely in complexity. You’re going to love the mindful and modern features of SQL. Take your time, make the most of the resources built to help you
I went looking for Azure SQL Database in a recent coding agent benchmark, honestly unsure whether Microsoft SQL would show up. Armature ran a study where real coding agent CLIs (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor) were dropped into six synthetic-but-realistic repositories and asked to pick a database, then actually build with it. 356 runs were completed across
Coding agents are picking Azure SQL Database Continue Reading
Application developers already know what happens when one method does everything: it becomes difficult to read, test, reason over, and safely change. We use patterns like decomposition, encapsulation, and explicit dependencies because they solve those problems. T-SQL does not give us classes, inheritance, interfaces, or polymorphism in the same way C# does, but that does
Schema change is inevitable. We do not get everything right the first time, and even when we do, the world around the database keeps changing. Requirements mature, products evolve, and assumptions that made sense years ago eventually stop matching reality. Businesses change too. We acquire companies, merge with other customers and systems, enter new markets,
Advocating for Uptime: The 6 Phases of Change Continue Reading
When you need to move an entire database or move the objects in a database, bacpac and dacpac files often come up because of all of the tooling options to interact with them. Bacpac and dacpac files share some core similarities as well as some major differences in how they’re used in SqlPackage and other
Bacpac and Dacpac, the similarities and differences Continue Reading
The 2002 release of the original .NET Framework shipped ADO.NET and System.Data.SqlClient, the driver for SQL Server that gave .NET applications a standard connection approach. Over the years, updates, enhancements, and patches solidified these BCL classes as an integral dependency for millions of line-of-business applications that fueled innovation, business, and the world economy. Then in
Try the new SqlClient and Retry connections natively Continue Reading
Bob Ward and I recently released a series of videos, read more in the original blog post or go directly to the series on YouTube. The Azure SQL Database Foundations series are four videos that take you from your first Hyperscale database to AI features running against your own operational data. We also included how to assess
New Azure SQL Foundations video series with GitHub samples Continue Reading
If you’ve been building local prototypes, internal tools, web backends, or lightweight services on SQL Server Express, you know the routine: it’s free, familiar, and gets the job done – until you hit hardware limits or spend weekends manual backup scripts and handling OS patches. Learn how to upgrade from SQL Server Express to Azure
Outgrowing SQL Server Express? Upgrade to Azure SQL Database Free Tier in 3 Steps Continue Reading
