Gen4 hardware deprecation update impacting SQL database, SQL elastic pools and SQL Managed Instance

This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Microsoft Tech Community - Latest Blogs - .

As announced on December 2019, After January 31st 2023, the Intel E5-2673 (Haswell) v3-based CPU and Gen4 hardware will no longer be supported, and existing databases will be moved to an available and supported hardware configuration. If you are still using Gen4 vCore- based SQL databases, elastic pools, and managed instances, please consider moving them to alternative hardware configurations to experience a wider range of vCore and storage scalability, accelerated networking, best IO performance, and minimal latency.

We strongly encourage early and planned transition on your own to either vCore-based standard-series and premium-series hardware, or DTU-based standard and premium tiers before 31 January 2023 so you can perform any required adjustment in resource sizing, performance testing and pricing validations.

Depending where the Gen4 databases are moved to, performance and pricing may change, resulting in lower or higher resource limits and price than what you are currently paying for your Gen4 database.  For the latest pricing information and available offers, view our pricing pages for SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance. 

Migrating Gen4 databases, elastic pools, and managed instances to alternative HW options

Please refer to following mapping guidance as a reference when considering alternative hardware configurations. The mapping approximates equivalent performance across options but your individual results may vary depending on your specific workloads, performance and price expectations, and other factors.  For best results, we encourage customers to validate their selection by testing it thoroughly and be prepared to scale up to down to right-size their deployments.

SQL DB Mapping Guidance table

Gen4 Service Tier	Gen4 Compute size (service objective)	Potential Standard-Series(Gen5) Compute size (service objective) recommendation	Potential DTU Compute size (service objective) recommendation
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_1	GP_GEN5_2	S3
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_2	GP_GEN5_4	S4
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_3	GP_GEN5_6	S6
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_4	GP_GEN5_6	S6
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_5	GP_GEN5_8	S7
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_6	GP_GEN5_10	S7
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_7	GP_GEN5_10	S7
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_8	GP_GEN5_12	S7
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_9	GP_GEN5_14	S9
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_10	GP_GEN5_14	S9
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_16	GP_GEN5_24	S9
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_24	GP_GEN5_32	S12
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_1	BC_GEN5_2	P1
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_2	BC_GEN5_4	P2
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_3	BC_GEN5_6	P4
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_4	BC_GEN5_6	P4
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_5	BC_GEN5_8	P6
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_6	BC_GEN5_10	P6
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_7	BC_GEN5_10	P6
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_8	BC_GEN5_12	P6
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_9	BC_GEN5_14	P6 or P11
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_10	BC_GEN5_14	P6 or P11
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_16	BC_GEN5_24	P11
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_24	BC_GEN5_32	P11 or P15
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_1	HS_GEN5_2	N/A
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_2	HS_GEN5_4	N/A
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_3	HS_GEN5_6	N/A
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_4	HS_GEN5_6	N/A
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_5	HS_GEN5_8	N/A
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_6	HS_GEN5_10	N/A
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_7	HS_GEN5_10	N/A
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_8	HS_GEN5_12	N/A
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_9	HS_GEN5_14	N/A
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_10	HS_GEN5_14	N/A
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_16	HS_GEN5_24	N/A
Gen4 Hyperscale	HS_GEN4_24	HS_GEN5_32	N/A

SQL MI Mapping Guidance table

Gen4 Service Tier	Gen4 SKU (Service Tier + # of vCores)	Potential Standard-Series (Gen5) SKU recommendation	Potential Premium-Series SKU recommendation
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_8	GP_GEN5_16	GP_G8IM_8
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_16	GP_GEN5_32	GP_G8IM_16
Gen4 General Purpose	GP_GEN4_32	GP_GEN5_64	GP_G8IM_32
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_8	BC_GEN5_16	BC_G8IM_8
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_16	BC_GEN5_32	BC_G8IM_16
Gen4 Business Critical	BC_GEN4_32	BC_GEN5_64	BC_G8IM_32

To learn more about differences between Standard and Premium series hardware, visit SQL Managed Instance resource limits page. Instructions for changing hardware generation can be found on vCore purchasing model - Azure SQL Managed Instance - Hardware configurations.

Please note, after 31 January 2023, any remaining Gen4 database, elastic pool, or managed instance will be migrated to other hardware configurations available including Standard(Gen5) or Premium-series hardware representing the closest fit performance-wise to Gen4.  This may result in an increase in your monthly bill.   

Questions?

Please contact SQLHWPMSupport@microsoft.com

Resource and References

Scale resources - Azure SQL Database | Microsoft Docs

vCore purchasing model - Azure SQL Managed Instance | Microsoft Docs

Pricing Calculator | Microsoft Azure