Alternates for Azure Data Sync

Question

I currently use Azure Data Sync to provide data from an on- premises SQL Server to an Azure hosted website for a company's customers. With Data Sync ending I need to find the best method to retain the function of having data access available to the web app. The database is less than 1GB and active on a daily basis. The Azure account runs in an S0 or S1 environment easily. Are there suggestions for this replacement, or white papers comparing options?

Answer 1

Hi @ Bob Fischer

Greetings!!

With Azure Data Sync being retired, there are several alternatives you can consider for synchronizing your on-premises SQL Server with an Azure-hosted database.

Here are some options suitable to your scenario:

Azure Data Factory: This is a robust option for data integration and transformation. It allows you to copy data from on-premises SQL Server to Azure SQL Database using pipelines. You can schedule and automate these processes for daily updates.

Transactional Replication: This SQL Server feature enables you to replicate data from your on-premises SQL Server to Azure SQL Database. It works well for scenarios requiring near real-time synchronization.

Azure SQL Managed Instance Link: If you are open to using Azure SQL Managed Instance, this feature allows seamless data synchronization between on-premises SQL Server and the cloud.

Read Replicas: For read-heavy workloads, you can use read replicas in Azure SQL Database to offload queries from the primary database.

Custom Solutions with Azure Functions: You can create custom synchronization logic using Azure Functions to handle specific requirements.

Microsoft provides a detailed guide on migrating from SQL Data Sync, which includes alternative solutions and their use cases. You can find it here.

Hope this helps. Do let us know if you any further queries.

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Answer 2

A commercial alternative you can test and will probably fit your requirements is Symmetric DS. It works very well with Azure SQL databases.