SQL iaas, change version will reflect bill changes? - azure

We have a SQL Server 2012 enterprise VM on azure, we found it is a bit expensive so we decide to go back to standard, since the VM is already provisioned and configured, we thought the easiest way is to uninstall the SQL Server Enterprise, then download and install SQL Server standard from MSDN.
Question, will this reflect the billing change, which is the goal? Nor we have to provision a new standard instance from gallery. Thanks

No, this will not reflect the billing change. You will need to provision a new standard SQL from the gallery and then employ one of the migration techniques enumerated here (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/jj156165.aspx#move) to migrate the sql data to the newly provisioned VM.

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Azure Update Management - includes Exchange and SQL updates?

There appears to be no mention anywhere in the docs about other Microsoft apps that might be updated as part of Azure Update Management.
Will SQL and Exchange receive updates via this route? I don't expect rollup packages, but at least security updates would be good.
Using Update Management in Azure Automation you can manage operating system updates for your Windows and Linux virtual machines or virtual machine scale sets in Azure, physical or VMs in on-premises environments, and in other cloud environments.
As mentioned in the documentation Update management uses external dependencies to deliver there software updates.
As mentioned in the github , if you are using SQL server on azure VM the SQL updates are deployed through Microsoft Update (MU), so you should be able to utilize either (as long as the machine is configured to install 1st party updates).Not sure if the sql solution supports clustering. Specifically, SQL has Cumulative Updates (CUs) that get published to Microsoft Update. Then MU does automated patching.
We would suggest you to raise a request product feedback using this link.

Azure window server in-place upgrade but plan is still the same

In order to avoid doing some overhead work, I decide to use a work-around to upgrade my VM from server 2016 to 2019. The work around was successful and everything is running fine. One hiccup though is that I still see the plan being set to "2016-Datacenter".
(Correct me if I am wrong) So far doing some digging I see that this is set at the create time of the VM; it corresponds to the sku of the image used to build the VM.
My question is, are there any gotchas if the VM is running server 2019 but the plan is set to "2016-Datacenter"
Plan information is metadata Microsoft uses to track Marketplace offers. If you want to create an image in a shared gallery, using a source that was originally created from an Azure Marketplace image like this, you may need to keep track of purchase plan information. You may face issues when you create a VM from the Azure Marketplace image if there is wrong plan information. Read here for more details.
We are able to do an Azure VM in-place upgrade to Windows Server 2019. Here is the step by step process to update the IaaS VM Windows server to Windows Server 2019 for your reference.
However, it's not recommended to do because Microsoft does not support an upgrade of the operating system of an Azure VM.. It prefers to use a clean uninstallation and installation. To work around this issue, create an Azure VM that's running a supported version of an operating system, and then migrate the workload.

SSRS report deployment on azure

I am using SSRS report in my web application now, I want to deploy SSRS report on azure, I found one option using azure VM but its costly as I am using free account, Is there any other option?
Please suggest me the proper way.
Now spinning a SQL Server VM might result in costs way higher than you might expect (due to licenses), so always make sure you run it on a version of SQL Server Developer, which has all the features of the highest SQL edition, but it is free (not to be run in production). See here.
If you use one of the SQL Gallery Images, then you don't need an additional SQL Server license. See Azure VM pricing here
You can try Pay-As-You-Go option
You need to be more specific - the cost of licensing what? Azure SQL Reporting? Virtual Machines? SQL Server licensing?
you would have to set up SSRS somewhere. Azure-hosted VM depends on a lot of factors such as your budget, on-premise infrastructure capacity, overall cloud strategy of your organization.
Licensing - Azure lets you pay directly for VMs that include SSRS. For example you can get SQL Server Standard 2012 (which includes SSRS) on a "Small" Server 2012 vm for about

Is it possible to downgrade SQL Enterprise to Standard on an Azure VM?

We have a VM set up with SQL Enterprise but are not using the extra features so would like to downgrade to the cheaper standard version. The only place i have seen this possible says that it can be done using separate software but can be risky. is there a safe way for this to be done?
It is not risky, from my point of view. If you created the VM with a SQL Server from the Azure Gallery, then, as far as i know, (Azure does not look into your VM), even if you try to uninstall it, you will be billed for the same software.
So, i would offer to create the new VM from a plain Windows Server image, and install the SQL Server you need.

How do I develop for Azure without using a live SQL Azure instance?

I have a BizSpark account and I get some Azure freebies from Microsoft. But, I'm forced to create a live SQL Azure database to use in my local development. This slows me down a bit because I have to read/write over the wire when I'm developing, and I must remain connected at all times.
Is there a way, or a technique, to build locally and have my deployments access the express edition of SQL Server on my machine? I'm using EF4 to access the database.
First of all, as a part of Bizspark, you get 3 SQL Azure databases for free. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/ee461076.aspx
This will allow you to have 1 DB for testing, 1 for dev, and 1 for production
If this does not work out for you, you CAN develop on your local SQL Express and keep deploying your changes to SQL Azure as you deploy your application to Azure. There are two tools that help you here:
1) open-source SQL Azure Migration Wizard: http://sqlazuremw.codeplex.com/ -- we personally do not use this for deployments, so I am not super knowledgeable to comment on this. It is a decent tool to back your SQL Azure database.
2) You can use Red Gate's SQL Compare product, as of v9.0+, they support synchronizing cross SQL Azure and on-prem SQL servers. We use this for AzureWatch and are very happy. It is commercial product and is somewhat pricey.
HTH
+1 to Igorek's answer - plenty of good suggestions there.
In addition to his advice, if you are a BizSpark licensee then I suggest you deploy full SQL Server 2008 R2 to a local box and develop against that.
There are differences between full SQL Server and SQL Azure - you should read around to be aware of these - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/comparing-sql-server-with-sql-azure.aspx
As long as you are aware of the differences (especially the SQL Azure limitations) then migrating back to SQL Azure later, should be reasonable.

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