Microsoft plans to release a 'General Purpose' version of its Azure Arc-enabled SQL Managed Instance (MI) at the 'general availability' (GA) commercial-release stage, 'starting July 30, 2021.' ...

However, it's somewhat limited in that it can only operate on Azure SQL Database. Elastic Jobs also requires you to create an Azure SQL Database to manage the jobs.

The ability to run Azure SQL Managed Instance -- a cloud version of SQL Server -- on non-Azure clouds, and even on-premises, will be generally available and production-ready on July 30th, 2021.

Branded as Azure Arc enabled data services, the service supports running Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure PostgreSQL Hyperscale in on-premises data centers, multi-cloud and the edge.

Among the updates to Azure today are the launch of reserved instances and the integration of Cloudyn, which Microsoft acquired earlier this year, into a new cost-management tool.

The clock is ticking on Microsoft’s Extended Support for SQL Server 2008/R2, unless you migrate to the Azure cloud. Here’s how ...