Microsoft SQL Server 2025 Version Release with Built-In AI

SQL Server 2025 version is going to be released anytime in the year 2025 with a lot of new features. Microsoft SQL Server releases its new versions with some updates & better reliability. However, this one is going to be way bigger than expected. As we all know Microsoft has acquired ChatGPT, it’s going to integrate it directly with T-SQL. This coming SQL Server version in 2025 will most likely be the best of all.

Microsoft SQL Server 2025 What’s New?

Moreover, security, power, support, and availability are going to be upgraded with the new database engine proving the SQL legacy. Near real-time analytics capability is because of the integration of Microsoft fabrics. In addition to this, Microsoft Azure Arc is also there for hybrid data platform requirements.

When we discuss the deployment, then Microsoft offers a unique Ground to Cloud to Fabric model.

In a nutshell, we can say that this SQL Server version 2025 is full of AI, analytics, and development solutions for SQL users. Moreover, the core functions of SQL involve a powerful database engine, security, support, and availability are there off course.

Built-In AI Features Making SQL Server More Powerful

AI is what everybody’s waiting for in this new updated version of SQL Server. Here, users get the capability of executing vector searches for sure. Moreover, getting the benefits of building RAG patterns colocated with the data within the DB engine is another major feature for users.

To get a glimpse of the AI capabilities in the SQL Server 2025, check out the below SQL Server 2025 features –

Native Vector Support: To contribute to the data storage & querying for maximum efficiency, this new SQL supports vector data types.

Advanced SQL Indexing: Advanced & fast indexing is integrated into the name of DiskANN (High-Performance Vector Index) resulting in search similarity.

Model Integration Features: Working within an AI-enabled environment is going to be normal due to platforms Azure Open AI, Open AI, Ollama, and KServe.

Hybrid Search & Framework Integration: Users can combine vector-based and traditional searches. Allows integration with Entity Framework Core, LangChain, & Semantic Kernel.

Embedding Generation and Text Chunking: The New SQL 2025 version allows the generation of embeddings and chunk text directly within the SQL Server T-SQL commands.

Also Read: How to Migrate SQL Server 2012 to 2022 Version

Azure And Fabric Integration in SQL Server 2025

When we talk about integrations, we don’t just mean AI. It’s a lot more to make this 2025 version of SQL a big deal for all. It involves the seamless integration of Azure Arc and Microsoft Fabric along with a hybrid Cloud setup.

Azure Arc Integration – To focus more on scalability and flexibility, integration of Azure Arc with MS SQL Server opened new cloud capabilities & let users deploy SQL Server across hybrid environments without any errors. Therefore, users can get the experience of both on-premise SQL Servers and cloud-based servers as a whole.

Microsoft Fabric Mirroring – The next big feature of this coming 2025 update is fabric mirroring. It offers near real-time analytics data to users just by creating a replica of SQL Server data to Microsoft One Lake. It makes synchronized maintenance of datasets across various environments smooth.

Hybrid Cloud Management – Hybrid cloud management strategies are supported by the SQL Server database 2025 version which focuses on diverse deployment events including various cloud platforms or on-premise.

Introduce Developers to Modern Database Applications

To develop and utilize modern-day applications, users require various tools and interface solutions. We have mentioned the SQL Server 2025 new features below respectively:

• JSON – Availability of JSON type, JSON index, and new JSON T-SQL functions in the server with ease.
• GraphQL – GraphQL support through Data API Builder (DAB) with utmost accuracy.
• T-SQL – Regular expression support in T-SQL and other new T-SQL functions help users quite in depth.
• REST API – The REST API supports the engine with the help of sp_invoke_external_rest_endpoint easily.
• Change Feeds – Change feeds from the transaction log that is utilized by applications in support of the Azure Event Hub and Kafka.

Data Integrity and Security Updates

SQL Server 2025 allow users to enable managed identity support for inbound connections as well as outbound tasks liek backup to Azure storage, and many more. Moreover, security has always been the standard for Microsoft SQL that users can rely on.

Moreover, for security-related problems, SQL Server Recovery Manager is the best utility for users. It acts as an SQL tool kit to fix all security-related corruption issues and missing or lost data issues better than other available solutions.

Additional SQL Server 2025 New Features to Expect

There are some more features that users might expect from this new version of SQL. However, these are not as evident as the Built-in AI, Azure Arc & Fabrix Integration etc. Let’s have a look at them.

Mission Critical Engine: The all-new 2025 SQL encourages availability for apps with a well-optimized locking feature. It also brings changes in performance, reliability on always-on availability groups failover, etc. 

Hybrid Assisted & Optimized: SQL 2025 is optimized with hybrid & assisted operations with the help of Copilots in SSMS. It is optimized for the latest hardware as of now & can even be deployed anywhere like clouds, Windows, Linux, containers, and Kubernetes, and whatnot.

Pre-requisites & Installation Guide

To install this new version, simply go through the following protocols:

Prerequisites – 

• Review SQL server 2025 release date and system requirements and all other technicalities.
• First, users need to Register for it followed by Download and Install. However, the Evaluation edition will expire right after 180 days.

Installation – 

Step-1. Install SQL Server, & download the Latest Service Package.

Step-2. Run the Windows Update to proceed further.

Step-3. Activate the evaluation version within the first 10 days to avoid auto-shutdown.

The Final Say

Now, we hope users know what they must expect from this coming SQL Server 2025 version. What new features are going to be there and how the Azure Arc and MS Fabric is going to be integrated with AI features. To conclude, this new SQL is an amazing package to experience the next-generation RDBMS.