The cookbook describes various approaches you can use to migrate an on-premises SQL Server database to the latest Azure SQL Database Update (V12). The cookbook can be viewed and downloaded here.

This latest Azure SQL Database Update (V12) brings near-complete SQL Server engine compatibility, even more Premium performance and marks the first step in delivering the next generation of the SQL Database service. Improved T-SQL compatibility with SQL Server 2014 makes it easier to migrate most on-premises databases to the latest Azure SQL Database Update (V12) using tools that you already use today (e.g. SQL Server Management Studio) with a single-click. The cookbook has details on using these updated tools and other approaches based on the features you use in your on-premises database.

In order to use the recipes in the migration cookbook, please make sure you’ve downloaded and installed the latest tools from the links below:

SQL Server Management Studio 2014 Cumulative Update 5

SQL Server Database Tooling Preview for the latest Azure SQL Database Update V12

SQL Database Migration Wizard

Download the migration cookbook and updated tools today and start moving your databases to the cloud.

SQL Server 2005 is approaching the end of its support on April 12, 2016. With end of support, security updates and hotfixes are no longer available from Microsoft. So there’s never been a better time to upgrade and benefit from the dramatic performance gains, higher availability  and scalability and rich BI capabilities  SQL Server 2014 has to offer.

Below is a summary of some of the new capabilities that are available in SQL Server 2014 since SQL Server 2005. If you do come across any vendor applications that do not support SQL Server 2014 please leave a comment and we can work with them to help certify their application with SQL Server 2014.

Thank you for the great in-memories this year with SQL Server 2014 and Powerful insights. It got a little unstructured but it was good to know Polybase was there to make it easy. With Ozure coming online everyone can relax this holiday season knowing your data is safe in Australia.

Thank you for your continued support this year. Wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Look forward to a bigger brighter more insightful 2015.

The PowerBI Update preview is now available at - http://powerbi.com/dashboards/tour. You can experience the new self-service BI solution. The preview is available for customers with a US address. New country support will be coming in months. Existing customers will find a preview option in their current Power BI sites. For those not currently using Power BI, you can sign up for a Power BI preview which includes the new features here.

What's New

• Dashboards - user created to monitor most important data. These can be developed using natural language question and answers and pining the visualisation to a dashboard. These dashboards can also be easily shared.
• New Visualisations  - including combo charts, filled maps, gauges, tree maps, and funnel charts
• Support for popular software as a service application - Dynamics CRM Online, Salesforce, Zendesk, Marketo, SendGrid and GitHub with many more coming in the months ahead. This support not only makes it easy to establish a data connection, but PowerBI also provides pre-build dashboards and reports for each of these applications which can then be customised.
  
• New Power BI Designer - are you still running versions of Excel older than 2013 and as such weren't able to take full advantage of PowerBIs capability, well with the new stand alone PoweBI designer app you don't need to rely/wait on IT to upgrade you to Excel 2013. The New Power BI designer lets you import, model data and then author and publish Power BI reports.
• Native ipad App - the native app for Ipad is available in the Apple App store, with the release of native apps for other platforms such as iPhone, Windows 8 and Android in coming months.
  
• Live Hybrid Connectivity to an on-premise SQL Server Analysis Services Tabular Model - With the new Power BI connector for SQL Server Analysis Services, customers can realize the benefits of a cloud-based BI solution without having to move their data to the cloud. Customers can now create a secure connection to an “on-premises” SQL Server Analysis Services server from Power BI in the cloud. When users view and explore dashboards and reports, Power BI will query the on-premise model using the user’s credentials. With this hybrid solution, organizations can continue to retain, manage and secure their data on-premises, while securely enabling users to benefit from that data via Power BI.

To help you get started take a look at the following video - http://support.powerbi.com/knowledgebase/articles/457043-power-bi-getting-started-video-tutorial

To attain a smooth and trouble-free upgrade to SQL Server 2014, you must plan for the upgrade and address the complexities of your application.This document takes you through the essential technical details for planning and testing an upgrade of existing SQL Server 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, and 2012 instances to SQL Server 2014. You will be presented with best practices for preparation, planning, pre-upgrade tasks, and post-upgrade tasks. All the SQL Server components are covered, each in its own chapter.
This document is a supplement to SQL Server 2014 Books Online. It is not intended to supersede any information in SQL Server Books Online or in the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles.

Link to the 429 page comprehensive technical guide: here. Remember to start planning your upgrades now as the end of extended support for SQL Server 2005 is on April 12, 2016. For more information see - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/sql-server-2005/ and remember if you have any applications that don't support SQL Server 2014, you can nominate them by sending an email to mailto:isvupgrade@microsoft.com with details of the application name, vendor name, version number, etc. Our ISV teams can assist the application vendor with the upgrade process.