Ignite 2022 – Continued innovation with Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server

This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: New blog articles in Microsoft Community Hub.

We are committed to making Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server the most advanced Postgres database service for migrating your open-source commercial database workloads and building cloud native applications in Azure. Azure Database for PostgreSQL combines the fully managed community edition of Postgres database with the broadest Postgres extension support for existing or new application development. Flexible server is the top destination for Postgres workloads migrating and modernizing to Azure because of the cost optimization benefits, maximum control over your databases, and a simplified deployment experience.

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In addition to these existing benefits in Azure Database for PostgreSQL, we are excited to share that we have launched new features in flexible server that will provide additional layers of security and control, support for larger databases, and performance and scale enhancements for read-intensive workloads.

 

Achieve an additional layer of security and control with Customer - Managed Keys and Azure Active Directory in Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server

 

Today we are announcing the public preview for encryption at rest with customer-managed keys (CMK). Customer-managed keys offer customers an additional layer of control by enabling central management of encryption keys, addressing specific security and compliance requirements, and putting organizations in full control of a key’s usage permissions and lifecycle. Customer-managed keys are stored in the Azure Key Vault, which is a centralized key-management service that provides additional security, high availability, and disaster recovery capabilities. This feature is offered in all regions where Flexible Server is offered.  Learn more about CMK.


Additionally, we are announcing the public preview of Azure Active Directory (AAD) that is now available in Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server. AAD authentication allows you to improve database security by delegating credential management to a centralized identity provider. AAD supports advanced security features, such as second factor authentication options, password lifecycle management, managed identities, and conditional access. The AAD feature in Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server now provides full support for managed identities, improved group roles and support for invited users and AAD-only authentication mode with the ability to disable local user support. Learn more about AAD.

 

 

Protect your workloads and enjoy peace of mind with geo-redundant backup and fast restore

 

Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server now supports geo-redundant backup and restore to better protect your data against outages. With this feature, customers can protect the primary server and restore their data to another geo-paired region. The geo-redundant backup for Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server is available in select regions at this time. 

Learn more about this feature. 

 

Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server can now perform backup restores from a snapshot without requiring any recovery, which speeds up the overall provisioning time for the restored server. With fast restore, a new server is provisioned and will automatically restore the backup from the snapshot selected. This feature provides a fast and predictable restore experience to spin up instances for data verification, testing, and development use cases.

 

Learn more about this feature.

 

 

Migrate your single server to flexible server

 

In September we announced that support for Postgres version 11 is ending on November 9, 2023. To ensure that customers have ample time to migrate their Postgres single servers to flexible server, we have announced that we will support Postgres version 11 for an additional year (November 2024) past the community end of life date. Please note that PostgreSQL versions 9.5 and 9.6 are retired and  PostgreSQL version 10 is retiring in November 2022.

 

To support our customers in this move, we’d like to highlight the Single to Flexible server migration tool that is in public preview. Flexible server provides more ways to optimize costs, improved uptime with same-zone or zone-redundant high availability, and custom maintenance windows to plan better for server downtime. For more details on how to migrate from single to flexible server, read more about the steps involved for a successful migration.

 

Lastly, we announced that the Hyperscale (Citus) deployment option is now offered with Azure Cosmos DB under a new name: Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL. Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL is a fast and scalable distributed SQL database that is best for high performance cloud-native applications. To learn more, read the blog announcement.

 

Sneak peek of upcoming features

 

Support for storage size up to 32TB (coming soon)

The storage size support on Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server is to be increased from the current 16 TB to 32 TB. This long-awaited feature is best for workloads that are operating on very large databases or migrating to flexible server.

 

Improve the performance and scale of read-intensive workloads with read replicas (coming soon)

We are excited to pre-announce public preview of read replicas are coming soon in Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server. Read replicas enable improved performance and scale of read-intensive workloads and can be replicated to the primary server by up to five replicas deployed either within the same region as the primary server or to a different disaster recovery (DR) region. This feature is best for workloads with high read requirements and can be optimized for regional disaster recovery.

 

In-place major version upgrade (coming soon)

This feature will enable you to perform in-place major version upgrades with just a couple of clicks. You will be able to seamlessly upgrade your PostgreSQL server to any supported higher version. 

 

Stay tuned for more announcements about these features in the coming weeks!

 

Feedback and additional resources

We look forward to hearing about customers’ experience with these new feature enhancements on Flexible server. We’re always eager to hear customer feedback, so please reach out to us at Ask Azure  DB for PostgreSQL.

 

To learn more about our Flexible Server managed service, see the Azure Database for PostgreSQL service page.

 

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