We manage SQL Server wherever it runs
On-premises, Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, or a combination that grew up over the years without anyone planning it. We work across all of them.
What changes between platforms is the detail, and the detail is where the decisions get made.
Platform as a Service
Azure SQL Database and AWS RDS both hand the infrastructure to the provider. Microsoft or Amazon manage the servers and the patching; you look after what’s in the database.
Less work for your team, with constraints worth knowing before you commit. An Azure SQL Database tops out at 4TB, with Hyperscale extending that to 100TB. It has no SQL Agent jobs and no cross-database querying, which for some applications settles the decision on its own.
Azure SQL Managed Instance
The closest thing in the cloud to your on-premises environment. You keep multiple databases, SQL Agent jobs and cross-database querying, while Microsoft manages the infrastructure and patching underneath.
For most organisations moving off on-premises without rewriting the application, this is the practical landing spot.
Infrastructure as a Service
SQL Server on a virtual machine, whether that’s an Azure VM or an AWS EC2 instance. It behaves much as it did on-premises, with some networking differences.
Storage capacity is enormous, you keep full control of the instance, and for certain workloads and performance requirements it remains the right answer.
Which one is right for you
That depends on your workload, your application, and what you’re trying to achieve. It’s a conversation rather than a product recommendation, and if the answer is that you should stay where you are, we’ll tell you that.
Further reading: PaaS or IaaS: what the brochures leave out – the constraints that actually decide it.