Overview

Unveil the data platform of the future with SQL Server 2025—guided by one of its key architects.  With built-in AI for application development and advanced analytics powered by Microsoft Fabric, SQL Server 2025 empowers you to innovate—securely and confidently. This book shows you how. Author Bob Ward, Principal Architect for the Microsoft Azure Data team, shares exclusive insights drawn from over three decades at Microsoft. Having worked on every version of SQL Server since OS/2 1.1, Ward brings unmatched expertise and practical guidance to help you navigate this transformative release. Ward covers everything from setup and upgrades to advanced features in performance, high availability, and security. He also highlights what makes this the most developer-friendly release in a decade: support for JSON, RegEx, REST APIs, and event streaming. Most critically, Ward explores SQL Server 2025’s advanced, scalable AI integrations, showing you how to build AI-powered applications deeply integrated with the SQL engine—and elevate your analytics to the next level. But innovation doesn’t come at the cost of safety: this release is built on a foundation of enterprise-grade security, helping you adopt AI safely and responsibly. You control which models to use, how they interact with your data, and where they run—from ground to cloud, or integrated with Microsoft Fabric. With built-in features like Row-Level Security (RLS), Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), Dynamic Data Masking, and SQL Server Auditing, your data remains protected at every layer. The AI age is here. Make sure your SQL Server databases are ready—and built for secure, scalable innovation.   What You Will Learn ·         Understand why SQL Server 2025 is a unique new release ·         Grasp the fundamentals of AI to leverage AI with your data, using the industry-proven security and scale of SQL Server ·         Utilize AI models of your choice, services, and frameworks to build new AI applications ·         Explore new developer features such as JSON, Regular Expressions, REST API, and Change Event Streaming ·         Discover SQL Server 2025's powerful new engine capabilities to increase application concurrency ·         Examine new high availability features to enhance uptime and diagnose complex HADR configurations ·         Use new query processing capabilities to extend the performance of your application ·         Connect SQL Server to Azure with Arc for advanced management and security capabilities ·         Secure and govern your data using Microsoft Entra ·         Achieve near-real-time analytics with the unified data platform Microsoft Fabric ·         Integrate AI capabilities with SQL Server for enterprise AI ·         Leverage new tools such as SQL Server Management Studio and Copilot experiences to assist your SQL Server journey   Who This Book Is For The SQL Server community, including DBAs, architects, and developers eager to stay ahead with the latest advancements in SQL Server 2025, and those interested in the intersection of AI and data, particularly how artificial intelligence (AI) can be seamlessly integrated with SQL Server to unlock deeper insights and smarter solutions

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Author Information

Bob Ward is a Principal Architect for the Microsoft Azure Data team, overseeing the development of Microsoft SQL from ground to cloud to fabric. With more than 31 years at Microsoft, Bob has contributed to every version of SQL Server, from OS/2 1.1 to SQL Server 2022, including Azure SQL and SQL database in Fabric. A renowned speaker on SQL Server, Azure SQL, AI, and Microsoft Fabric, Bob frequently presents on new releases, internals, and specialized topics at events such as SQLBits, Microsoft Build, Microsoft Ignite, PASS Summit, Fabric Community Conference, and VS Live. You can learn from Bob through his popular series at aka.ms/azuresql4beginners. Follow him on Twitter @bobwardms or connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/bobwardms. Bob is the author of several Apress books, including Pro SQL Server on Linux, SQL Server 2019 Revealed, Azure SQL Revealed, SQL Server 2022 Revealed, and Azure SQL Revealed, 2nd Edition.

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