Microsoft Corp. today announced new cloud-hosted versions of its SQL Server database service as two older on-premises varieties finally will see the end of extended support Tuesday.

The guidance provided then still works, but changes in the Google Cloud mean that organizations wanting a cloud-based infrastructure supporting SQL Server at 99.99 percent availability levels now ...

SQL on Azure’s service-level agreements (SLA) have been upgraded as well, added Guthrie. “We are extending the availability SLA of all of the new SQL Database tiers to be 99.95%,” he stated.

Cloud services, like Microsoft Azure, can provide the server and the necessary database infrastructure without the need to supply, maintain, and secure physical hardware.

Organizations that want to run SQL Server on Microsoft’s cloud can either buy the database as a service or install it on a virtual machine that’s then deployed on Azure.

In the cloud era, you may wonder why Microsoft is investing big into an "on-premises" product like SQL Server. It is a complex question I wanted to answer through the lens of some of the new ...

Data Management Using Hybrid Cloud- and Earth-Based SQL Server Databases I described some of the innovations Microsoft is making in the cloud in previous articles, such as one last January in which I ...

Microsoft announced five Windows Azure improvements yesterday, including SQL Server AlwaysOn support. Most of the improvements to Microsoft's cloud-based Windows Azure are at the "general ...