--- title: Move Your SQL Server to Azure VMs. Then Build on It. description: Moving SQL Server workloads to Azure virtual machines gives you more control than managed options like Azure SQL Hyperscale or Managed Instance, while keeping... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/move-your-sql-server-to-azure-vms-then-build-on-it--3rjbw9e0m twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Move Your SQL Server to Azure VMs. Then Build on It. | daily.dev og:description: Moving SQL Server workloads to Azure virtual machines gives you more control than managed options like Azure SQL Hyperscale or Managed Instance, while keeping... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/move-your-sql-server-to-azure-vms-then-build-on-it--3rjbw9e0m og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/3rjBw9e0M.png og:image:alt: Move Your SQL Server to Azure VMs. Then Build on It. 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. # Move Your SQL Server to Azure VMs. Then Build on It. **[Microsoft Developer](https://daily.dev/sources/microsoftdeveloper)** · 27 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Moving SQL Server workloads to Azure virtual machines gives you more control than managed options like Azure SQL Hyperscale or Managed Instance, while keeping the same SQL Server engine you run on premises. Memory-optimized E-series and M-series VMs are recommended, with the EBDSV5 ('double sprinkles') called the best all-purpose SQL Server VM. A newer EBDSV6 ('Stardust') is in preview with more RAM and IOPS. Premium SSD v2 storage is recommended for most workloads, and configurable constrained cores let you reduce SQL Server licensing costs by limiting the cores licensed while keeping full memory and throughput. Migration assessment tools, Copilot, and a SQL AI skills repository help plan and execute migrations. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Which Azure VM series is best for running SQL Server workloads? The E-series VMs, specifically the EBDSV5 (nicknamed 'double sprinkles'), are recommended as the best all-purpose SQL Server VM, offering exceptional price performance. For bigger workloads, M series VMs offer higher memory-to-core ratios (up to 20:1), while compute-intensive FXV2 and FAv7 AMD-based VMs are purpose-built for high-performance OLTP with hyperthreading disabled. A newer EBDSV6 ('Stardust') is in preview with more RAM and IOPS. _Comparing Azure VM sizes for a SQL Server migration is easier when daily.dev surfaces the latest infrastructure guidance._ ### What storage type should I use for SQL Server on Azure VMs? Premium SSD v2 is recommended for most SQL Server production workloads because it offers flexible IOPS and throughput configuration and strong price performance. UltraDisk is an option for even lower latency at a higher cost. Standard storage is only suitable for non-critical dev workloads, and local ephemeral disks are recommended specifically for tempDB since it gets recreated on restart. _Teams planning SQL Server storage architecture can track Azure storage updates like this on daily.dev._ ### How do configurable constrained cores reduce SQL Server licensing costs on Azure VMs? Configurable constrained cores let you deploy a VM size but limit the number of cores available, so you pay SQL Server licensing only for those reduced cores while still getting the full memory and IO throughput of the base VM size. You can also disable simultaneous multi-threading (hyperthreading) to use physical cores only, further cutting licensing costs without halving performance. _Developers optimizing cloud database costs follow licensing tricks like constrained cores on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Azure IaaS: Deploy high-performance workloads with a system-level approach](https://daily.dev/posts/azure-iaas-deploy-high-performance-workloads-with-a-system-level-approach-8xmcc5pmk) · Microsoft Azure · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [AWS targets a longtime cloud migration blocker with SQL Server license portability](https://daily.dev/posts/aws-targets-a-longtime-cloud-migration-blocker-with-sql-server-license-portability-0geu35ibv) · InfoWorld · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#database](https://daily.dev/tags/database), [#azure](https://daily.dev/tags/azure), [#microsoft-sql-server](https://daily.dev/tags/microsoft-sql-server) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/move-your-sql-server-to-azure-vms-then-build-on-it--3rjbw9e0m) ```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":"Move Your SQL Server to Azure VMs. Then Build on It.","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/move-your-sql-server-to-azure-vms-then-build-on-it--3rjbw9e0m","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/move-your-sql-server-to-azure-vms-then-build-on-it--3rjbw9e0m"},"datePublished":"2026-10-20T21:25:09.112Z","dateModified":"2026-10-20T21:25:37.472Z","description":"Moving SQL Server workloads to Azure virtual machines gives you more control than managed options like Azure SQL Hyperscale or Managed Instance, while keeping...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BSzLmThmnqw/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BSzLmThmnqw/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/move-your-sql-server-to-azure-vms-then-build-on-it--3rjbw9e0m","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"database,azure,microsoft-sql-server","timeRequired":"PT27M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Move Your SQL Server to Azure VMs. Then Build on It.","description":"Moving SQL Server workloads to Azure virtual machines gives you more control than managed options like Azure SQL Hyperscale or Managed Instance, while keeping...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BSzLmThmnqw/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-10-20T21:25:09.112Z","duration":"PT27M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/3rjBw9e0M","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/BSzLmThmnqw"}} {"@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":"Move Your SQL Server to Azure VMs. Then Build on It."}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/move-your-sql-server-to-azure-vms-then-build-on-it--3rjbw9e0m#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Which Azure VM series is best for running SQL Server workloads?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The E-series VMs, specifically the EBDSV5 (nicknamed 'double sprinkles'), are recommended as the best all-purpose SQL Server VM, offering exceptional price performance. 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