Summary

As we worked through this chapter, we had a look at how we can accelerate our adoption of cloud data platforms with SQL Server and Power BI. Microsoft recommends that the fastest way to realize the value of SQL Server in Azure is to lift and shift. This has many benefits from a familiarity perspective, meaning the removal of many barriers.

We looked at how to prepare for and then execute a migration to SQL Server on Azure VMs, highlighting several great free tools that are available to ensure a successful migration. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to migrate from on-premises SQL Server to SQL Server on Azure VMs16.

But this is only the beginning. Once we have got our databases into Azure, we can then look to take the next steps and move from an IaaS solution to PaaS. Many of the tools and techniques we have covered here still apply. There are more considerations on the application front, especially around authentication. But making the step to move to Azure SQL...