November 2022 Feature Wave for Azure SQL Managed Instance

November 2022 introduced a wave of new features and automatic benefits for Azure SQL Managed Instance.

The benefits in the feature wave include:

• Relaxed networking requirements: simplifies the connectivity architecture of SQL Managed Instance.
  
• Enhanced virtual cluster: improves the functionality of the underlying virtual cluster.
  
• 30-min provisioning for the first instance in a subnet: reduces the time it takes to deploy an instance from several hours to approximately 30 min.
  
  • The 30 min provisioning feature will become available in mid-December 2022.
    

The new features introduced in the feature wave are:

• Instance start/stop: a feature in preview that allows you to start and stop your instance at your discretion to save on billing costs for vCores and SQL licensing.
  
• Zone redundancy: a feature in preview that lets you deploy your managed instance across multiple availability zones and improve the availability of your service.
  
• DTC (Distributed Transaction Coordinator): a feature in preview that lets you run distributed transactions in mixed environments.
  

How to get access to November 2022 feature wave

Rollout of the November 2022 Feature Wave is happening over the course of several months. The initial rollout for the feature wave will cover:

• Instances that belong to Azure Dev/Test subscriptions (more details in the Q&A section below)
  
• Most public Azure Regions, except: Australia Central 2, Germany West Central and West India
  

Other subscription types and remaining regions will be onboarding in subsequent months.

The onboarding experience is different for new instances and existing instances:

• New instances that belong to eligible subscriptions created in new or empty subnets will automatically be enrolled in the feature wave and get access to all new benefits and features.
  
• Existing instances created prior to November 2022 can opt into the feature wave to unlock the new benefits and features.
  

Onboarding an existing SQL managed instance to November 2022 feature wave

Onboarding existing instances to November 2022 feature wave will happen gradually and automatically in subsequent months. However, you can choose to opt in your existing instance early if the following conditions are met:

• Your instance is hosted in a subscription type that is ready for November 2022 feature wave (currently only Dev/Test subscriptions are supported)
  
• You can update the virtual network subnet to one of the supported types: new subnet, empty subnet or a subnet that’s hosting only instances onboarded to the feature wave
  

Here’s a walkthrough of how to onboard an existing managed instance to November 2022 feature wave using Azure Portal.

Step 1: Open the Overview page for your managed instance. For instances hosted on a subscription type that is ready for November 2022 feature wave, two new UI elements will be shown:

• New status bar which shows feature wave eligibility
  
• New menu item for the feature wave
  

Click on the new status bar or the new menu item to open the feature wave details page

Step 2: On the “November 2022 feature wave details” page, click on the “Open Virtual network” button to open the “Virtual network / subnet” page

Step 3: Open the “Virtual network / subnet” dropdown and either select “Create new” or select an option from the “Ready for November 2022 feature wave” category. Click Save. This will move your managed instance to the chosen subnet

Step 4: Once the subnet is updated, your managed instance will be enrolled to the feature wave and get access to all the features and benefits. Status bar will show the following message:

Onboarding a new SQL managed instances to November 2022 feature wave

Here’s a simple workflow in Azure Portal that allows you to create a new instance which meets the requirements to be enrolled into the feature wave:

• Select a subscription, a region and a subnet that are ready for the feature wave (UI will assist you in doing so, see the steps below)
  
• Configure all other parameters as required
  
• Review your settings and click “Create”
  

Step 1: Open the Create Managed Instance page. Note the new Status Bar which shows feature wave eligibility. Clicking on the Status Bar will open the Feature Wave Details page.

Step 2: Use the subscription dropdown to select a subscription that is ready for the feature wave. Compatible subscriptions are shown at the top in the new “Ready for November 2022 feature wave” category

Step 3: Use the region dropdown to select a region that is ready for the feature wave. Regions where feature wave is available are shown at the top in the new “Ready for November 2022 feature wave” category

Step 4: On the “Networking” tab, select a subnet that is eligible for the feature wave. Eligible subnet types are the following:

• A newly created subnet (default choice)
  
• Existing subnets that are empty
  
• Existing subnets that only contain the instances already onboarded to the feature wave
  

Step 5: Review your settings and click “Create”. There’s a new section on this tab to help you ensure that all config options are compatible with November 2022 feature wave:

Q&A

Q: What Azure offers and subscription types are enabled for the November 2022 Feature Wave?

Initially, only the Azure Dev/Test offers and subscriptions that are designated for Dev/Test workloads are enabled for the November 2022 Feature Wave.

Supported offer types include:

• Enterprise Dev/Test (MS-AZR-0148P)
  
• Pay-As-You-Go Dev/Test (MS-AZR-0023P)
  
• Visual Studio Test Professional Credit (MS-AZR-0060P) (*)
  
• Other Offer IDs that are eligible for DevTest workload types
  

(*) Customers using MS-AZR-0060P may not have regional quota by default, if that's the case, customers should Request a quota increase

You can check the offer type for your subscription on Azure Portal on the subscription page:

Q: How can I onboard a subscription that is not part of the already enabled subscription types?

The support for other types of subscriptions, including subscriptions designated for Production workloads, will become available over the course of the next several months. Unsupported subscription types cannot be enabled individually.

Q: How can I onboard using a region that is not yet supported?

Most Azure public regions are already supported for the November 2022 feature wave, with the support for the remaining ones coming soon.

Support for Azure government and sovereign clouds is coming in the calendar year 2023.

Q: Why is the rollout of the November 2022 feature wave slower than typical Azure SQL rollouts?

A: Feature pack contains significant new capabilities and benefits, so the rollout process needs to take longer than usual. Therefore, we’re enabling the November 20222 feature wave incrementally, instead of all-at-once.

Summary

In this article, we introduced the November 2022 feature wave and how you can enroll your Azure SQL managed instances to get access to all the new features and passive benefits.

Next steps:

• Get started with SQL Managed Instance with our Quick Start reference guide.
  
• Learn more about November 2022 feature wave and the related features.
  
• Learn more about the latest innovation in Azure SQL Managed Instance announced in Nov 2022.
  

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