Forum Discussion
Mirroring Azure SQL
Can someone explain the diffence between mirror azure sql db & azure sql MI ?
Hi Osamelgendy ,
Thanks for reaching out to Fabric Community Forum.
These two services serve different purposes as per the official documentation.
"Mirroring for Azure SQL Database in Microsoft Fabric" is used to replicate data from Azure SQL into Fabric. It creates a continuously synchronized, read-only copy of the source data in OneLake, which is intended for analytics and reporting scenarios within Fabric.
"Azure SQL Managed Instance" is a fully managed SQL Server database engine that is used to host and run application databases in Azure. It provides high compatibility with SQL Server and is designed for application workloads requiring a managed database platform.
Refer these Docs -
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/mirroring/overview
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/mirroring/azure-sql-managed-instance-tutorialThank you
5 Replies
Hi Osamelgendy ,
Thanks for reaching out to Fabric Community Forum.
These two services serve different purposes as per the official documentation.
"Mirroring for Azure SQL Database in Microsoft Fabric" is used to replicate data from Azure SQL into Fabric. It creates a continuously synchronized, read-only copy of the source data in OneLake, which is intended for analytics and reporting scenarios within Fabric.
"Azure SQL Managed Instance" is a fully managed SQL Server database engine that is used to host and run application databases in Azure. It provides high compatibility with SQL Server and is designed for application workloads requiring a managed database platform.
Refer these Docs -
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/mirroring/overview
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/mirroring/azure-sql-managed-instance-tutorialThank you
Hi Osamelgendy ,
I hope the above details help you fix the issue. If you still have any questions or need more help, feel free to reach out. We’re always here to support you
HI Osamelgendy ,
I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.
Hi Osamelgendy ,
These are two completely different concepts that are sometimes confused because both involve SQL data "replication." Let me break each one down:
Fabric Mirroring for Azure SQL MI
This is a Microsoft Fabric feature that continuously replicates data from your Azure SQL Managed Instance into OneLake, in Delta/Parquet format — no ETL required.
Mirroring in Fabric is an enterprise, cloud-based, zero-ETL, SaaS technology. The mirrored database represents a read-only, continuously replicated copy of your chosen databases from Azure SQL MI into OneLake.
Inside Fabric, you can unlock powerful BI, AI, Data Engineering, and Data Science scenarios on top of that replicated data, without piecing together services from multiple vendors.
Geo Disaster Recovery setups are not supported by Mirroring, and it only works against the writable primary database. More: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/mirroring/azure-sql-managed-instance
Azure SQL Managed Instance (the service itself)
This is a PaaS database service in Azure with near 100% compatibility with on-premises SQL Server. It's not a replica of anything — it's your operational database in the cloud.
Azure SQL MI is a cloud-based, fully managed instance of SQL Server, ideal for legacy applications or enterprise systems using advanced features like SQL Agent, cross-database queries, CLR, linked servers, or Service Broker.
More: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/features-comparison
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Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it.
