Alternative to Linked Servers

Daniel Nascimento 281 Reputation points
2021-10-14T17:25:43.457+00:00

Hello,

We are thinking about migrating our SQL Server databases to PaaS service, the fact is that those services do not support Linked services which is a requirement (for now) in our environment.

We really want to use the PaaS (either managed instance or Azure SQL database), is there any workaround to this? I know managed instance supports linked server to other SQL Databases, but we want to configure the linked server to IBM Informix wich is how we currently have it on-premises.

Is there any alternative for linked server that is supported by Managed instance?

Azure SQL Database
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  1. Alberto Morillo 32,796 Reputation points MVP
    2021-10-14T18:12:05.03+00:00

    When creating a linked server on Azure Managed Instance, you are only able to use the SQL provider (driver) to connect to Azure SQL Database, SQL Server, Azure Synapse, SQL serverless or Azure SQL Managed Instance. This is explained here and here.

    You cannot install other providers on Azure Managed Instance. It is a limitation. To have more information about limitations of linked servers on Azure Managed Instances please click here.

    My suggestion is to use a SQL Server IaaS VM instead if linked servers are important .