This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: New blog articles in Microsoft Community Hub.
We are excited to announce the preview (in selected regions) of new premium-series hardware configurations for Azure SQL Hyperscale databases.
Based on the latest generation of Intel® Xeon Scalable processors (3rd gen - Ice Lake) and AMD EPYC™ 7763v (Milan) chipsets, this premium-series hardware offers significantly improved performance and scalability over the standard-series (previously known as ‘Gen5’) hardware offerings and allows you to migrate your performance demanding workloads to Azure SQL Database Hyperscale. In addition, a new memory optimized option within the premium-series provides more memory per vCore to meet the needs of your most memory-intensive workloads.
The following table summarizes the key technical details for the new premium-series hardware:
|
Standard-series (Gen5) |
Premium-series (preview) |
Memory optimized premium-series (preview) |
|
|
CPU |
Standard-series Hyperscale databases are hosted on a variety of hardware including:
Intel® E5-2673 v4 (Broadwell); Intel® 8370C (Ice Lake); AMD EPYC™ 7763v (Milan) |
Premium-series Hyperscale databases are hosted only on latest hardware generation from Intel and AMD as follows:
Intel® 8370C (Ice Lake); AMD EPYC™ 7763v (Milan) |
Premium-series memory-optimized Hyperscale databases are hosted only on latest hardware generation from Intel and AMD as follows:
Intel® 8370C (Ice Lake); AMD EPYC™ 7763v (Milan) |
|
Number of vCores |
2-80 vCores |
2-128 vCores |
2-80 vCores |
|
Memory |
5.1 GB per vCore Max 408 GB per instance |
5.1 GB per vCore Max 625 GB per instance |
10.2 GB per vCore Max 830 GB per instance |
|
Maximum data storage |
100 TB |
100 TB |
100 TB |
|
vCore price difference |
- |
Priced similar to standard-series |
Approximately 40% higher compared to premium-series |
|
Performance benefits |
Faster CPU. A 60% increase in the maximum available number of vCores. |
Faster CPU. Memory intensive workloads such as HTAP or analytics can benefit from 2x memory per vCore. |
- Both premium-series hardware options are using latest CPUs and memory technologies from Intel and AMD, which provide a boost to compute performance relative to standard-series hardware.
- Premium-series option offers faster CPU performance compared to Standard-series and the ability to increase vCores by 60% by scaling up to 128 vCores.
- Premium-series memory optimized option offers double the amount of memory relative to premium-series with up to 830 GB of memory at 80 vCores.
- Due to the added memory and lower price, premium-series memory optimized option is a great alternative to M-series hardware in Azure SQL Database, which is to be retired in September 2023.
Comparison Demo
Here is a sample Hammer DB Demo running TBCC like workloads comparing Azure SQL Database Hyperscale Standard (Gen5) series vs Premium Series hardware showing a 20%+ improvement in performance at similar price point.
Some limitations apply during preview
- Premium-series (including memory optimized) public preview is only supported in the following regions initially. We will be expanding regional availability in the coming months.
- Canada Central,
- East US,
- South Central US,
- West US2,
- UK South
- Azure pricing pages and pricing calculators are currently showing premium-series pricing information for all Azure regions. However, availability is limited to the regions listed above.
- Zone redundancy is currently not supported for premium-series and memory optimized premium-series, but will be supported during 2023.
- Azure SQL Database maintenance window is currently not supported for premium-series and memory optimized premium-series, but will be supported during 2023.
How to participate in the preview
- If you’re using Azure SQL Database Hyperscale in one of supported regions, there is no need to sign up. You can start using the new Azure SQL Database Hyperscale premium-series hardware options today!
- Please visit following link for instructions on how to create your premium-series Hyperscale database today.