How to migrate 'SQL Server on Azure VM' to Azure SQL managed Instance?

Question

Looking for some inputs on How to migrate 'SQL Server on Azure VM' to Azure SQL managed Instance. Can you please share any of your inputs based on experiences, Lessons learned etc.

Answer 1

Hi REDDYSTANLEYCTR-4071,

I recently co-ordinated this process and there are many lessons that we learned throughout the process. Too many to write about here. However, this article was an excellent start point:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dms/tutorial-sql-server-managed-instance-online-ads

Using the Data Studio was by far the best way forward.

I hope this answers your question.

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Answer 2

Hi, @REDDY, STANLEY (CTR) Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Thanks for posting your query.

As we understand the ask here is you want to migrate SQL Server on Azure VM' to Azure SQL managed Instance.
Migrating from SQL Server on Azure VM to Azure SQL Managed Instance is relatively easier compared to migrating from on-premises SQL Server. I would recommend leveraging the capabilities of the Azure SQL migration extension in Azure Data Studio to assess, get the right sized recommendations and migrate to SQL MI. Given the backups for SQL Server on Azure VM are already on Azure, there is no need to install any integration runtime or on-premises agents to migrate the backups.
You can follow this document how-to guide and Tutorial

Can you tell me what is the SQL server source version?

Please let me know if you need additional information.

Regards
Geetha

Answer 3

Thank you very much Geetha. I shall go through the documentation in Detail. Our current scope of work is as follows.

Upgrade OS on VM:

 Windows server 2012 to Windows server 2019

 [Current] Windows server 2012
o OS Name: Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
o OS Version: 6.2.9200 N/A Build 9200

 [Target] Windows Server 2019
o OS Name: Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Datacenter
o OS Version: 1809
o Build 17763.107

Upgrade Virtual machines: (2)

 Host Name: VM-Data-Server
o Operating System: Windows
o Type: (OS Only)
o Tier: Standard
o Category: Storage optimized
o Instance Series: Lsv2-series
o Instance: L8s v2: 8vCPUs, 64 GB RAM

 Host Name: VM-App-Server
o Operating System: Windows
o Type: (OS Only)
o Tier: Standard
o Category: Storage optimized
o Instance Series: Lsv2-series
o Instance: L8s v2: 8vCPUs, 64 GB RAM

Upgrade SQL Server:

 Instance: 8 vCore
 SQL Server 2017 to SQL Server 2019

 [Current] SQL Server Version
o Microsoft SQL Server 2017 (RTM-GDR) (KB4583456) - 14.0.2037.2 (X64)
 [Target] SQL Server Version
o Microsoft SQL Server 2019 (CU8-GDR) (KB4583459) - 15.0.4083.2 (X64)

OR

 Migrate SQL Server on Azure VM to Azure SQL managed Instance