SQL Server 2025 is here

Microsoft announced the general availability of SQL Server 2025 at its Ignite developer conference. The most important innovation: the database software integrates AI functions directly into the engine for the first time. Developers can thus use vector search, semantic queries, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) directly via T-SQL.

The AI integration supports multiple backend services: in addition to Microsoft's own Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft Foundry, OpenAI models and the open-source framework Ollama can also be connected directly. Model changes should be possible without code modifications. Bindings for LangChain and Semantic Kernel are also available for developers.

Further innovations include native JSON support, REST APIs, as well as regular expressions and fuzzy string matching. New Change Event Streaming enables event-driven architectures without the overhead of classic Change Data Capture mechanisms. SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is available in version 22 and receives AI assistance and ARM64 support. A new Python driver called mssql-python complements the toolchain.

Changes to Editions and Licenses

Microsoft is significantly adjusting the product portfolio: the Standard edition now supports up to 32 cores and 256 GB of RAM, and the Resource Governor is now included. A new Standard Developer Edition is intended to enable more realistic development and test environments. The Express edition grows to a maximum of 50 GB per database, and the Advanced variant is integrated.

The Web edition, on the other hand, is being discontinued; SQL Server 2022 remains the last version with this license. The Power BI Report Server will be included in all editions except Express in the future. For Linux environments, SQL Server 2025 brings TLS 1.3, signed container images, and support for RHEL 10 and Ubuntu 24.04. The tempdb database can now be stored on tmpfs, and there is also VS Code integration for local container deployments.

Regarding performance and security, Microsoft promises improvements through Entra Managed Identities for more modern authentication, optimized locking for higher concurrency, Tempdb governance against runaway queries, and more stable query performance through optional parameter plan optimization. Always-On Availability has been revised and is intended to enable faster failovers. For hybrid scenarios, integration with Azure Arc ensures unified management across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.

An overview of the new features can be found in the announcement from Microsoft.

(fo)