Public preview: Link feature in Azure SQL MI for SQL Server 2016
Published date: June 22, 2022
The new link feature connects your SQL Server 2016 hosted anywhere to Azure SQL Managed Instance, providing the ultimate hybrid flexibility and database mobility. With an approach that uses near real-time data replication to the cloud, you can offload workloads to a read-only secondary in Azure to take advantage of Azure-only features, performance, and scale. After a disastrous event, you can continue running your read-only workloads on SQL Managed Instance in Azure. You can also choose to migrate one or more applications from SQL Server 2016, 2019, and 2022 to SQL Managed Instance at the same time, at your own pace, and with the best possible minimum downtime compared to other solutions in Azure today.