What is Azure SQL Managed Instance?

Azure SQL Managed Instance is the intelligent, scalable cloud database service that combines the broadest SQL Server database engine compatibility with all the benefits of a fully managed and evergreen platform as a service.

Key features of SQL Managed Instance:

Key features and capabilities:

• SQL Managed Instance combines the best features that are available both in Azure SQL Database and the SQL Server database engine.
• PaaS benefits
• Business continuity
• Security and compliance 
• Management

Service tiers:

SQL Managed Instance is available in two service tiers:

• General purpose: Designed for applications with typical performance and I/O latency requirements.
• Business critical: Designed for applications with low I/O latency requirements and minimal impact of underlying maintenance operations on the workload.

Key differences between SQL Server on-premises and SQL Managed Instance:

Some key differences:

• High availability is built in and pre-configured using technology like Always On availability groups.
• There are only automated backups and point-in-time restore. Customers can initiate copy-only backups that do not interfere with the automatic backup chain.
• Specifying full physical paths is unsupported, so all corresponding scenarios must be supported differently: RESTORE DB does not support WITH MOVE, CREATE DB doesn’t allow physical paths, BULK INSERT works with Azure blobs only, etc. ØSQL Managed Instance supports Azure AD authentication as a cloud alternative to Windows authentication.