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
| Data Flow 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 run 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). |
Google Cloud offerings
| Platform | CDC Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud SQL for SQL Server | ✅ Supported | CDC enabled through Google-specific stored procedures (gcloudsql_cdc_enable_db). Standard and Enterprise editions on SQL Server 2017, 2019, and 2022 only. Web and Express editions do not support CDC on Cloud SQL. Refer to the Google Cloud SQL for SQL Server setup guide. |
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. |
