{"id":50789,"date":"2024-07-03T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-03-19T16:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T23:30:21","slug":"announcing-the-retirement-of-sql-server-stretch-database","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/sql-server\/blog\/2024\/07\/03\/announcing-the-retirement-of-sql-server-stretch-database\/","title":{"rendered":"Announcing the retirement of SQL Server Stretch Database"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ever since Microsoft introduced SQL Server Stretch Database in 2016, our guiding principles for such hybrid data storage solutions have always been affordability, security, and native Azure integration. Customers have indicated that they want to reduce maintenance and storage costs for on-premises data, with options to scale up or down as needed, greater peace of mind from advanced security features such as Always Encrypted and row-level security, and they seek to unlock value from warm and cold data stretched to the cloud using Microsoft Azure analytics services<\/a>.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During recent years, Azure has undergone significant evolution, marked by groundbreaking innovations like Microsoft Fabric<\/a> and Azure Data Lake Storage. As we continue this journey, it remains imperative to keep evolving our approach on hybrid data storage, ensuring optimal empowerment for our SQL Server customers in leveraging the best from Azure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retirement of SQL Server Stretch Database <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On November 16, 2022, the\u202fSQL Server Stretch Database\u202ffeature was deprecated from SQL Server 2022<\/a>. For in-market versions of SQL Server 2019 and 2017, we had added an improvement<\/a> that allowed the Stretch Database feature to stretch a table to an Azure SQL Database. Effective July 9, 2024, the supporting Azure service, known as SQL Server Stretch Database\u202fedition, is retired.\u202fImpacted versions of SQL Server include SQL Server 2022, 2019, 2017, and 2016.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 2024, SQL Server Stretch Database will be discontinued for SQL Server 2022, 2019, 2017, and 2016. We understand that retiring an Azure service may impact your current workload and use of Stretch Database. Therefore, we kindly request that you either migrate to Azure or bring their data back from Azure to your on-premises version of SQL Server. Additionally, if you\u2019re exploring alternatives for archiving data to cold and warm storage in the cloud, we\u2019ve introduced significant new capabilities in SQL Server 2022<\/a>, leveraging its data virtualization suite.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SQL Server in Microsoft Fabric? Use CETaS to move data!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The path forward <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SQL Server 2022 supports a concept named CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE AS SELECT<\/a> (CETaS). It can help customers archive and store cold data to Azure Storage. The data will be stored in an open source file format named Parquet<\/a>. It operates well with complex data in large volumes. With its performant data compression, it turns out to be one of the most cost-effective data storage solutions. Using OneLake shortcuts, customers then can leverage Microsoft Fabric to realize cloud-scale analytics on archived data.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our priority is to empower our SQL Server customers with the tools and services that leverage the latest and greatest from Azure. If you need assistance in exploring how Microsoft can best empower your hybrid data archiving needs, please contact us<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New solution FAQs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s CETaS? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Creates an external table and then exports, in parallel, the results of a Transact-SQL SELECT statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n