What is Azure Hybrid Benefit?

The majority of organizations that use SQL Server do so in an on-premises environment with SQL Server Standard or Enterprise editions running on physical or virtual machines in a datacenter.

With the advent of Azure cloud services, you might be tempted to explore this new world but feel that your investment in on-premises licensing is keeping you from doing so. With Azure Hybrid Benefit, you can make use of Azure services at a reduced cost, provided you have Software Assurance or an equivalent subscription license.

Note

Software Assurance is not a license. Instead, you can think of it as an additional benefit that either comes with the license or something that you purchase as an add-on as part of your volume licensing deal. You can read the Software Assurance Frequently Asked Questions at this Microsoft documentation1.

This unique offering gives you the opportunity to build scalable, highly available, and disaster-resilient solutions for...