--- title: Ground to Cloud to Fabric: The State of Microsoft SQL description: This Microsoft talk presents the current state of Microsoft SQL, spanning SQL Server 2025, Azure SQL and Fabric SQL database, all built on one shared engine.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ground-to-cloud-to-fabric-the-state-of-microsoft-sql-etvmfnolv twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Ground to Cloud to Fabric: The State of Microsoft SQL | daily.dev og:description: This Microsoft talk presents the current state of Microsoft SQL, spanning SQL Server 2025, Azure SQL and Fabric SQL database, all built on one shared engine.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ground-to-cloud-to-fabric-the-state-of-microsoft-sql-etvmfnolv og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ETvmfnolV.png og:image:alt: Ground to Cloud to Fabric: The State of Microsoft SQL og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Ground to Cloud to Fabric: The State of Microsoft SQL **[Microsoft Developer](https://daily.dev/sources/microsoftdeveloper)** · 30 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary This Microsoft talk presents the current state of Microsoft SQL, spanning SQL Server 2025, Azure SQL and Fabric SQL database, all built on one shared engine. Highlights include automatic index compaction (now generally available) and automatic index creation in Azure SQL Hyperscale, native JSON types, regex support, and vector indexing for AI workloads. Hyperscale now supports serverless auto-pause/resume, scaling to 192 vcores, higher-density elastic pools, and up to 30 named replicas. A demo shows vector search staying fast at over 1 billion rows, and a free tier offers 10 databases per subscription at no cost. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### what does automatic index compaction do in Azure SQL Hyperscale Automatic index compaction finds sparse, bloated index pages caused by heavy deletes and inserts, and compacts them into denser pages with background threads. This reduces the number of logical reads needed to serve a query, restoring faster performance without manual index maintenance. It is enabled with an ALTER DATABASE command and became generally available recently. _Teams fighting slow dashboards from index bloat can follow Azure SQL Hyperscale coverage on daily.dev._ ### how fast is vector search in Azure SQL Hyperscale at scale Vector search in Azure SQL Hyperscale stays in the millisecond range even after a table grows past 1 billion rows, scaling from a 4,000-row pilot up to 192 vcores and about 8 terabytes. Named replicas sharing the same page servers and vector index add read scale without copying data or rebuilding the index, with up to 30 replicas supported. _Developers evaluating databases for AI-scale vector search can track these benchmarks on daily.dev._ ### what is included in the Azure SQL database free tier The Azure SQL database free tier is free forever and allows up to 10 free databases per subscription, intended for dev/test use, trying new applications, and getting started with Azure SQL. It is meant to let developers dip into Azure SQL capabilities, including Hyperscale features, without committing to paid compute. _Anyone weighing cloud database options for a new project can follow free-tier updates on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [What’s new across Microsoft SQL at SQLCon/FabCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/what-s-new-across-microsoft-sql-at-sqlcon-fabcon-europe-2026-wtdkrys0v) · DevBlogs · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#database](https://daily.dev/tags/database), [#azure](https://daily.dev/tags/azure), [#vector-search](https://daily.dev/tags/vector-search), [#microsoft-sql-server](https://daily.dev/tags/microsoft-sql-server), [#microsoft-fabric](https://daily.dev/tags/microsoft-fabric) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ground-to-cloud-to-fabric-the-state-of-microsoft-sql-etvmfnolv) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Ground to Cloud to Fabric: The State of Microsoft SQL","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ground-to-cloud-to-fabric-the-state-of-microsoft-sql-etvmfnolv","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ground-to-cloud-to-fabric-the-state-of-microsoft-sql-etvmfnolv"},"datePublished":"2026-10-20T21:25:08.452Z","dateModified":"2026-10-20T21:25:33.188Z","description":"This Microsoft talk presents the current state of Microsoft SQL, spanning SQL Server 2025, Azure SQL and Fabric SQL database, all built on one shared engine....","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bp0Tw00e7oA/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bp0Tw00e7oA/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Microsoft Developer","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Microsoft Developer","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--xZzU3zUq--/f_auto/v1746714872/logos/microsoftdeveloper","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/microsoftdeveloper"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ground-to-cloud-to-fabric-the-state-of-microsoft-sql-etvmfnolv","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"database,azure,vector-search,microsoft-sql-server,microsoft-fabric","timeRequired":"PT30M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ground to Cloud to Fabric: The State of Microsoft SQL","description":"This Microsoft talk presents the current state of Microsoft SQL, spanning SQL Server 2025, Azure SQL and Fabric SQL database, all built on one shared engine....","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bp0Tw00e7oA/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-10-20T21:25:08.452Z","duration":"PT30M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/ETvmfnolV","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/bp0Tw00e7oA"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Microsoft Developer","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/microsoftdeveloper"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Ground to Cloud to Fabric: The State of Microsoft SQL"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ground-to-cloud-to-fabric-the-state-of-microsoft-sql-etvmfnolv#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"what does automatic index compaction do in Azure SQL Hyperscale","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Automatic index compaction finds sparse, bloated index pages caused by heavy deletes and inserts, and compacts them into denser pages with background threads. This reduces the number of logical reads needed to serve a query, restoring faster performance without manual index maintenance. It is enabled with an ALTER DATABASE command and became generally available recently. Teams fighting slow dashboards from index bloat can follow Azure SQL Hyperscale coverage on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"how fast is vector search in Azure SQL Hyperscale at scale","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Vector search in Azure SQL Hyperscale stays in the millisecond range even after a table grows past 1 billion rows, scaling from a 4,000-row pilot up to 192 vcores and about 8 terabytes. Named replicas sharing the same page servers and vector index add read scale without copying data or rebuilding the index, with up to 30 replicas supported. Developers evaluating databases for AI-scale vector search can track these benchmarks on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"what is included in the Azure SQL database free tier","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The Azure SQL database free tier is free forever and allows up to 10 free databases per subscription, intended for dev/test use, trying new applications, and getting started with Azure SQL. It is meant to let developers dip into Azure SQL capabilities, including Hyperscale features, without committing to paid compute. Anyone weighing cloud database options for a new project can follow free-tier updates on daily.dev."}}]} ```