Migrate managed databases to Azure SQL

Patrick 1

We have multiple instances of SQL Managed Instances running and are looking to move our databases to Azure SQL with an elastic pool. I see documentation on migrating from on premise to Azure SQL but what is the best method to bring over databases from an Azure SQL Managed Instance?

Mike Ubezzi 2,776 Reputation points

2020-09-16T18:34:49.13+00:00

To be quite honest, @Patrick , the most efficient means for this migration scenario is to run an export to an Azure Storage account an then import these to an existing or newly deployed Azure SQL Database instance. There are other options depending on the maintenance window available to complete this migration effort?! Do you have a real-time migration requirement? You can use Transactional Replication for a real-time migration solution and then remove the Data Sync + metadata once complete. Please let me know what specific path you need to take and I can craft a more specific answer for you, or you can move this comment to an answer.

Regards,
Mike
Ronen Ariely 15,191 Reputation points

2020-09-16T18:57:44.67+00:00

Docs: Azure SQL Data Sync does not support Azure SQL Managed Instance at this time.

Sync occurs only between an Azure Database serves as a hub database and individual members in the sync group which can be either Azure SQL Databases or databases in instances of SQL Server. The Sync Metadata Database also has to be an Azure SQL Database.
Mike Ubezzi 2,776 Reputation points

2020-09-17T16:37:45.423+00:00

Thank you for point this out, @Ronen Ariely . Transactional Replication is the option here. Not Data Sync. My mistake.
Mike Ubezzi 2,776 Reputation points

2020-09-23T05:57:11.51+00:00

Hi @Patrick - Did you find the information you are seeking? Please let us know if you require additional information to complete your assessment. Regards, Mike.

1 answer

Ronen Ariely 15,191 Reputation points

2020-09-17T12:43:12.467+00:00

Good day @Patrick ,

It's great question and you are probably right. I made a short search and I did not found any documentation on doing so. With that being said, this is really simple and there are multiple option to make a copy of the database but if you want to take the safe road then your best solution is probably to create Transactional replication and to push the data to the Azure SQL Database. For more information about Transactional replication with Azure SQL Managed Instance, check the following document:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/managed-instance/replication-transactional-overview

Note 1: Azure SQL Data Sync does not support Azure SQL Managed Instance.

Note 2: Using Export and import is not a safe way since using bacpak does NOT guarantee transactional consistency ! You might lose data or worse get data which is not consistent
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Migrate managed databases to Azure SQL

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