Microsoft SQL Server overview
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system designed to efficiently store, manage, and retrieve data for diverse applications. Microsoft offers several SQL Server editions tailored to different workloads—from small desktop deployments to enterprise-grade systems supporting high-volume, internet-based operations.
Version compatibility overview
| River Mode | Supported Versions | Schema Drift Support |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Extraction | All SQL Server versions (2008 → 2022, Azure SQL DB, Azure Managed Instance, SQL Server Express, RDS SQL Server) | Yes |
| Change Data Capture (CDC) | ✅ SQL Server 2008–2016 (Enterprise only) ✅ SQL Server 2016 SP1–2022 (All editions) ✅ SQL Server Express 2016 SP1–2022 (manual job handling required) ✅ Azure SQL Database (from May 2020) ✅ Azure SQL Managed Instance ✅ Amazon RDS SQL Server | Yes |
| Change Tracking (CT) | ✅ All SQL Server editions from SQL Server 2008+ | Yes |
| Custom Query | All versions and editions | Yes |
Microsoft SQL Server Platform support
This section includes only Microsoft SQL Server and its native hosting environments.
On-Premises SQL server
| Version / Edition | CDC Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SQL Server 2008–2016 (Enterprise) | ✅ Supported | CDC introduced in SQL Server 2008; requires SQL Agent jobs. |
| SQL Server 2016 SP1–2022 (All editions) | ✅ Supported | CDC available in all editions starting from 2016 SP1 onward. |
| SQL Server Express 2016 SP1–2022 | ✅ Partial | SQL Agent not available; CDC jobs must be executed manually or externally. |
Azure SQL offerings
| Azure Platform | CDC Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Azure SQL Database | ✅ Supported | CDC supported natively from May 2020; Azure manages CDC scheduling automatically. |
| Azure SQL Managed Instance | ✅ Supported | Same as on-prem SQL Server; SQL Agent is available for CDC job execution. |
AWS offerings
| Platform | CDC Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon RDS for SQL Server | ✅ Supported | CDC enabled through RDS-specific stored procedures (rds_cdc_enable_db). |
Containers, Kubernetes, and Custom/Internal hosting
| Platform | CDC Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SQL Server in Docker/ K8s | ✅ Supported | Full CDC support; persistent storage required for transaction logs. |
| Internal Cloud or Bare-Metal servers | ✅ Supported | Same as on-prem, with full SQL Agent access. |
