Merge branch 'main' of https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/sql-docs-pr into copilotga

Author: markingmyname

.github/workflows/signoff-review.yml

@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ jobs:
                 $ContentLeadsUrl = "[the content lead in your area](https://dev.azure.com/msft-skilling/Content/_dashboards/dashboard/b25043af-cab3-4b2c-8aac-9e8da15a796b)"
                 $PROpenMessage = "Thank you for your contribution! All PRs will be reviewed and approved by the content team. They will remain in a pending state until approved even after they successfully build and stage. When you are ready for the content team to publish this PR, sign off as normal. If you have any questions, please reach out to $ContentLeadsUrl or email the $EscalationEmail."
                 $NeedsContentTeamReviewMessage = "The content team will review this pr and work with you to publish your changes. Thank you for working with us to improve content quality for our customers!`n`n**To expedite your review**, please reach out to $ContentLeadsUrl or email the $EscalationEmail."
-                $CurrentlyInReviewMessage = "This PR is currently assigned to the content team for review. It must be reviewed and approved by the content team before merging.`n`n**To expedite your review**, please reach out to ContentLeadsUrl or email the $EscalationEmail."
+                $CurrentlyInReviewMessage = "This PR is currently assigned to the content team for review. It must be reviewed and approved by the content team before merging.`n`n**To expedite your review**, please reach out to $ContentLeadsUrl or email the $EscalationEmail."
                 $AssignedReviewerMessage = "Assigning the pull request to @!!USER!! for review. #assign: !!USER!!"
                 $CheckFailed = $False
 

azure-sql/includes/virtual-machines-best-practices-storage.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ ms.service: virtual-machines
 ms.topic: include
 ---
 - Monitor the application and [determine storage bandwidth and latency requirements](/azure/virtual-machines/premium-storage-performance#counters-to-measure-application-performance-requirements) for SQL Server data, log, and `tempdb` files before choosing the disk type.
-- If available, configure the `tempdb` [data and log files on the D: local SSD volume](../virtual-machines/windows/storage-configuration.md#new-vms). The SQL IaaS Agent extension handles the folder and permissions needed upon re-provisioning.
+- If available, configure the `tempdb` data and log files on the D: local SSD volume when you deploy a [new virtual machine](../virtual-machines/windows/storage-configuration.md#new-vms), or after you've [installed SQL Server manually](../virtual-machines/windows/tempdb-ephemeral-storage.md). The SQL IaaS Agent extension handles the folder and permissions needed upon re-provisioning.
 - To optimize storage performance, plan for highest uncached IOPS available and use data caching as a performance feature for data reads while avoiding [virtual machine and disks capping](/azure/virtual-machines/premium-storage-performance#throttling).
 - When using the [Ebdsv5 or Ebsv5](/azure/virtual-machines/ebdsv5-ebsv5-series) series SQL Server VMs, use [Premium SSD v2](../virtual-machines/windows/storage-configuration-premium-ssd-v2.md) for the best price performance. You can deploy your SQL Server VM with Premium SSD v2 by using the Azure portal (currently in preview). 
 - If your workload requires more than 160,000 IOPS, use [Premium SSD v2](../virtual-machines/windows/performance-guidelines-best-practices-storage.md#premium-ssd-v2) or [Azure Ultra Disks](../virtual-machines/windows/performance-guidelines-best-practices-storage.md#azure-ultra-disk).
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ ms.topic: include
   - For the log drive plan for capacity and test performance versus cost while evaluating either [Premium SSD v2](/azure/virtual-machines/disks-types#premium-ssd-v2) or Premium SSD [P30 - P80 disks](/azure/virtual-machines/disks-types#premium-ssds)
     - If submillisecond storage latency is required, use either [Premium SSD v2](../virtual-machines/windows/storage-configuration-premium-ssd-v2.md) or [Azure ultra disks](/azure/virtual-machines/disks-types#ultra-disks) for the transaction log.
     - For M-series virtual machine deployments, consider [write accelerator](/azure/virtual-machines/how-to-enable-write-accelerator) over using Azure ultra disks.
-  - Place [tempdb](/sql/relational-databases/databases/tempdb-database) on the temporary disk (the temporary disk is ephemeral, and defaults to `D:\`) for most SQL Server workloads that aren't part of a failover cluster instance (FCI) after choosing the optimal VM size.
+  - Place [tempdb](/sql/relational-databases/databases/tempdb-database) on the [temporary disk](../virtual-machines/windows/tempdb-ephemeral-storage.md) (the temporary disk is ephemeral, and defaults to `D:\`) for most SQL Server workloads that aren't part of a failover cluster instance (FCI) after choosing the optimal VM size.
     - If the capacity of the local drive isn't enough for `tempdb`, consider sizing up the VM. For more information, see [Data file caching policies](../virtual-machines/windows/performance-guidelines-best-practices-storage.md#data-file-caching-policies).
   - For failover cluster instances (FCI) place `tempdb` on the shared storage.
     - If the FCI workload is heavily dependent on `tempdb` disk performance, then as an advanced configuration place `tempdb` on the local ephemeral SSD (default `D:\`) drive, which isn't part of FCI storage. This configuration needs custom monitoring and action to ensure the local ephemeral SSD (default `D:\`) drive is available all the time as any failures of this drive won't trigger action from FCI.

azure-sql/toc.yml

@@ -1675,7 +1675,6 @@
           href: virtual-machines/windows/create-sql-vm-powershell.md
         - name: on Azure confidential VMs
           href: virtual-machines/windows/sql-vm-create-confidential-vm-how-to.md
-
       - name: Manage
         items:
         - name: With the Azure portal
@@ -1688,49 +1687,56 @@
           href: virtual-machines/windows/change-sql-server-edition.md
         - name: Change version
           href: virtual-machines/windows/change-sql-server-version.md
+      - name: SQL IaaS Agent extension
+        displayName: resource provider, registration, sql vm rp
+        items:
+        - name: Automatic registration
+          href: virtual-machines/windows/sql-agent-extension-automatic-registration-all-vms.md
+        - name: Register single VM
+          href: virtual-machines/windows/sql-agent-extension-manually-register-single-vm.md
+        - name: Bulk register multiple VMs
+          href: virtual-machines/windows/sql-agent-extension-manually-register-vms-bulk.md
+        - name: Known issues and troubleshooting
+          href: virtual-machines/windows/sql-agent-extension-troubleshoot-known-issues.md
+      - name: Patching
+        items: 
+        - name: Azure Update Manager
+          href: virtual-machines/azure-update-manager-sql-vm.md
+        - name: Automated patching
+          href: virtual-machines/windows/automated-patching.md
+      - name: Storage
+        items:
         - name: Premium SSD storage
           href: virtual-machines/windows/storage-configuration.md
+        - name: Premium SSD v2 (preview)
+          href: virtual-machines/windows/storage-configuration-premium-ssd-v2.md
         - name: Azure Elastic SAN Storage
           href: virtual-machines/windows/storage-configuration-azure-elastic-san.md
+        - name: Place tempdb to ephemeral disk
+          href: virtual-machines/windows/tempdb-ephemeral-storage.md
 
-        - name: Microsoft Entra authentication
-          href: virtual-machines/windows/configure-azure-ad-authentication-for-sql-vm.md
-        - name: Azure Update Manager
-          href: virtual-machines/azure-update-manager-sql-vm.md
-        - name: Automated Patching
-          href: virtual-machines/windows/automated-patching.md
-
-        - name: Azure Key Vault Integration
-          href: virtual-machines/windows/azure-key-vault-integration-configure.md
-        - name: Migrate storage to Ultradisk
-          href: virtual-machines/windows/storage-migrate-to-ultradisk.md
-        - name: Backup and restore using managed identities
-          href: virtual-machines/windows/backup-restore-to-url-using-managed-identities.md
-        - name: EKM with AKV using managed identities
-          href: virtual-machines/windows/managed-identity-extensible-key-management.md
-        - name: SQL IaaS Agent extension
-          displayName: resource provider, registration, sql vm rp
-          items:
-          - name: Automatic registration
-            href: virtual-machines/windows/sql-agent-extension-automatic-registration-all-vms.md
-          - name: Register single VM
-            href: virtual-machines/windows/sql-agent-extension-manually-register-single-vm.md
-          - name: Bulk register multiple VMs
-            href: virtual-machines/windows/sql-agent-extension-manually-register-vms-bulk.md
-          - name: Known issues and troubleshooting
-            href: virtual-machines/windows/sql-agent-extension-troubleshoot-known-issues.md
       - name: Optimize performance
         items:
         - name: SQL best practices assessment
           href: virtual-machines/windows/sql-assessment-for-sql-vm.md
         - name: Analyze I/O performance
           href: virtual-machines/windows/storage-performance-analysis.md
-        - name: Premium SSD v2 (preview)
-          href: virtual-machines/windows/storage-configuration-premium-ssd-v2.md
+
+      - name: Security
+        items: 
+        - name: Microsoft Entra authentication
+          href: virtual-machines/windows/configure-azure-ad-authentication-for-sql-vm.md
+        - name: EKM with AKV using managed identities
+          href: virtual-machines/windows/managed-identity-extensible-key-management.md
+        - name: Azure Key Vault Integration
+          href: virtual-machines/windows/azure-key-vault-integration-configure.md
       - name: Migrate
         items:
         - name: VM to a new region
           href: virtual-machines/windows/move-sql-vm-different-region.md
+        - name: Migrate storage to Ultradisk
+          href: virtual-machines/windows/storage-migrate-to-ultradisk.md
+
       - name: Business continuity
         items:
         - name: Configure cluster quorum
@@ -1743,6 +1749,8 @@
             href: virtual-machines/windows/automated-backup.md
           - name: Automated backup (SQL 2014)
             href: virtual-machines/windows/automated-backup-sql-2014.md
+          - name: Backup and restore using managed identities
+            href: virtual-machines/windows/backup-restore-to-url-using-managed-identities.md
         - name: Availability group (AG)
           displayName: Always On, alwayson, availability group
           items:

azure-sql/virtual-machines/windows/doc-changes-updates-release-notes-whats-new.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ description: Learn about the new features for and improvements to SQL Server on
 author: MashaMSFT
 ms.author: mathoma
 ms.reviewer: randolphwest, mathoma, dpless
-ms.date: 03/24/2024
+ms.date: 04/02/2025
 ms.service: azure-vm-sql-server
 ms.topic: whats-new
 ms.custom:
@@ -56,6 +56,15 @@ The following table lists features of SQL Server on Azure VMs that have been mad
 
 Learn about significant changes to the SQL Server on Azure VMs documentation. For previous years, see the [What's new archive](doc-changes-updates-release-notes-whats-new-archive.md).
 
+> [!CAUTION]
+> SQL Server isn't supported on VM sizes that deploy with an uninitialized ephemeral disk. To learn more, review [VM deployment and SQL Server failures](/troubleshoot/sql/azure-sql/sql-deployment-fails-drive-not-ready). 
+
+### April 2025
+
+| Changes | Details |
+| --- | --- |
+|**Place `tempdb` to ephemeral storage** | If you're manually installing SQL Server to an Azure VM, be sure to [place `tempdb` on ephemeral storage](../windows/tempdb-ephemeral-storage.md) to improve performance. This is a best practice for SQL Server on Azure VMs. |
+
 ### March 2025
 
 | Changes | Details |

azure-sql/virtual-machines/windows/media/performance-guidelines-best-practices-vm-size/filter-vm-size-list.png

@@ -49,13 +49,17 @@ If you plan to manually install SQL Server on an Azure VM, consider the followin
 - If they don't already exist, create the folders for your SQL Server installation and data files prior to launching the installation media. 
 - Copy the installation media to a local drive instead of installing directly from the mounted ISO. 
 - After installation, register your SQL Server VM with the [SQL Server IaaS Agent Extension](sql-server-iaas-agent-extension-automate-management.md) to automate management tasks.
+- Place the `tempdb` database on the [local SSD ephemeral storage](tempdb-ephemeral-storage.md) when possible. 
 
 ## VM size
 
 The checklist in this section covers the [VM size best practices](performance-guidelines-best-practices-vm-size.md) for SQL Server on Azure VMs.
 
 [!INCLUDE [vm size best practices](../../includes/virtual-machines-best-practices-vm-size.md)]
 
+> [!CAUTION]
+> SQL Server isn't supported on VM sizes that deploy with an uninitialized ephemeral disk. To learn more, review [VM deployment and SQL Server failures](/troubleshoot/sql/azure-sql/sql-deployment-fails-drive-not-ready). 
+
 ## Storage
 
 The checklist in this section covers the [storage best practices](performance-guidelines-best-practices-storage.md) for SQL Server on Azure VMs.

azure-sql/virtual-machines/windows/media/tempdb-ephemeral-storage/create-sql-start-task.png

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ description: Provides VM size guidelines and best practices to optimize the perf
 author: dplessMSFT
 ms.author: dpless
 ms.reviewer: dpless, randolphwest, mathoma
-ms.date: 03/24/2024
+ms.date: 04/02/2025
 ms.service: azure-vm-sql-server
 ms.subservice: performance
 ms.topic: best-practice
@@ -46,7 +46,29 @@ SQL Server data warehouse and mission critical environments will often need to s
 Use the SQL Server VM marketplace images with the storage configuration in the portal. This makes it easier to properly create the storage pools necessary to get the size, IOPS, and throughput necessary for your workloads. It's important to choose SQL Server VMs that support premium storage performance. See the [storage](performance-guidelines-best-practices-storage.md) article to learn more.
 
 > [!CAUTION]
-> SQL Server on Azure VM images aren't supported by VM sizes that deploy with an uninitialized ephemeral disk. To learn more, review [Some SQL Server on Azure VM images fail to deploy](/troubleshoot/sql/azure-sql/sql-deployment-fails-drive-not-ready). 
+> SQL Server isn't supported on VM sizes that deploy with an uninitialized ephemeral disk. To learn more, review [VM deployment and SQL Server failures](/troubleshoot/sql/azure-sql/sql-deployment-fails-drive-not-ready). 
+
+## Supportability
+
+Consider the following limitations when installing SQL Server to Azure VMs: 
+
+- [Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS)](/azure/virtual-machine-scale-sets/overview) are not supported with SQL Server on Azure VMs. If you decide to use VMSS with your SQL Server on Azure VM against this recommendation, and enable the [Automatic guest patching feature](/azure/virtual-machines/automatic-vm-guest-patching), which replaces the OS disk when a new image version is released, you will likely disrupt SQL Server, leading to potential corruption, data loss, and availability issues. 
+- SQL Server isn't supported on systems with more than 64 vCores per NUMA node. [Disable SMT](/sql/sql-server/compute-capacity-limits-by-edition-of-sql-server#disable-smt-in-an-azure-virtual-machine) to use SQL Server on Azure VMs that exceed 64 vCores per NUMA node.
+- SQL Server currently supports disks with a standard native [sector sizes of 512 bytes and 4 KB](/sql/sql-server/install/hardware-and-software-requirements-for-installing-sql-server-2022#StorageTypes). Installing SQL Server to disks with 8-KB sector sizes isn't supported and can lead to [installation failures](/troubleshoot/sql/azure-sql/sql-installation-fails-sector-size-error-azure-vm), as well as [performance degradation from misaligned I/O](/troubleshoot/sql/database-engine/performance/performance-degradation-misaligned-io-sector-error). 
+- SQL Server on Azure VM images fail to deploy with VM sizes that have uninitialized ephemeral disks. To learn more, review [Some SQL Server on Azure VM images fail to deploy](/troubleshoot/sql/azure-sql/sql-deployment-fails-drive-not-ready).
+
+## Filtering by VM size 
+
+When deploying an Azure VM, use the [naming convention](/azure/virtual-machines/vm-naming-conventions) to determine the VM size name to filter by in the portal. The VM size name is the combination of the family, subfamily, number of CPUs, and any additive features.
+
+For example, when filtering an [Ebdsv5 series](/azure/virtual-machines/ebdsv5-ebsv5-series#ebdsv5-series-nvme) VM, enter the VM size name such as `E64bds` or the version such as `v5`, which is referred to as **Generation** in the portal. The following screenshot demonstrates filtering the VM size list by the `v5` version in the Azure portal: 
+
+:::image type="content" source="media/performance-guidelines-best-practices-vm-size/filter-vm-size-list.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the select a VM size page of the Azure portal. ":::
+
+Consider the following:
+- Additional filters can be applied by using 'Add filter' to narrow your VM size list based on factors like the size of the machine, type (family) such as memory-optimized or general purpose, and disk controller type. 
+- If you don't see a result for the VM you're searching for, it's likely due to a filter applied to the VM size list. Clear the filter and try again.
+- The disk controller filter helps you identify if the storage is iSCSI or NVMe. 
 
 ## Memory optimized M-series VMs
 
@@ -204,15 +226,6 @@ For example, the [M64-32ms](/azure/virtual-machines/constrained-vcpu) requires l
 > - Medium to large data warehouse workloads may still benefit from [constrained vCore VMs](/azure/virtual-machines/constrained-vcpu), but data warehouse workloads are commonly characterized by fewer users and processes addressing larger amounts of data through query plans that run in parallel.
 > - The compute cost, which includes operating system licensing, will remain the same as the parent virtual machine.
 
-## Supportability
-
-Consider the following limitations when installing SQL Server to Azure VMs: 
-
-- [Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS)](/azure/virtual-machine-scale-sets/overview) are not supported with SQL Server on Azure VMs. If you decide to use VMSS with your SQL Server on Azure VM against this recommendation, and enable the [Automatic guest patching feature](/azure/virtual-machines/automatic-vm-guest-patching), which replaces the OS disk when a new image version is released, you will likely disrupt SQL Server, leading to potential corruption, data loss, and availability issues. 
-- SQL Server isn't supported on systems with more than 64 vCores per NUMA node. [Disable SMT](/sql/sql-server/compute-capacity-limits-by-edition-of-sql-server#disable-smt-in-an-azure-virtual-machine) to use SQL Server on Azure VMs that exceed 64 vCores per NUMA node.
-- SQL Server currently supports disks with a standard native [sector sizes of 512 bytes and 4 KB](/sql/sql-server/install/hardware-and-software-requirements-for-installing-sql-server-2022#StorageTypes). Installing SQL Server to disks with 8-KB sector sizes isn't supported and can lead to [installation failures](/troubleshoot/sql/azure-sql/sql-installation-fails-sector-size-error-azure-vm), as well as [performance degradation from misaligned I/O](/troubleshoot/sql/database-engine/performance/performance-degradation-misaligned-io-sector-error). 
-- SQL Server on Azure VM images fail to deploy with VM sizes that have uninitialized ephemeral disks. To learn more, review [Some SQL Server on Azure VM images fail to deploy](/troubleshoot/sql/azure-sql/sql-deployment-fails-drive-not-ready).
-
 ## Related content
 
 To learn more, see the other articles in this best practices series: