Cloud SQL for SQL Server features

This page describes the major features and capabilities of Cloud SQL for SQL Server. Cloud SQL is also available for MySQL and PostgreSQL.

SQL Server feature support for Cloud SQL

  • Fully managed SQL Server databases in the cloud.
  • Custom machine types with up to 624 GB of RAM and 96 CPUs.
  • Up to 64 TB of storage available, with the ability to automatically increase storage size as needed.
  • Create and manage instances in the Google Cloud console.
  • Instances available in the Americas, Europe, Asia or Australia. See all locations where you can create Cloud SQL instances.
  • Customer data encrypted on Google's internal networks and in database tables, temporary files, and backups.
  • Column- and cell-level encryption for user databases.
  • Support for secure external connections with the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy or with the SSL/TLS protocol.
  • Import databases using BAK and SQL files.
  • Export databases using BAK files.
  • Automated backups, on-demand backups, and point-in-time recovery.
  • Instance cloning.
  • Integration with Stackdriver logging and monitoring.
  • SQL Server Agent enabled to facilitate replication and other jobs.
  • Data replication between multiple regions* .
  • Set a default collation for databases, when creating an instance.
  • High availability through a regional persistent disk.
  • Integration with Managed Service for Microsoft Active Directory, including Windows Authentication.
  • Change Data Capture (CDC).
  • Intelligent query processing.
  • Accelerated database recovery.
  • Enhanced data classification.
  • UTF-8 character encoding support.
  • Enhanced monitoring.
  • Dynamic Data Masking (DDM).
  • Linked Servers.
  • SQL Server Audit.
  • SQL Server Publisher.
  • SQL Server Subscriber.
  • SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) that runs on a separate host and connects to Cloud SQL.
  • SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) that runs on a separate host and connects to Cloud SQL.
  • The bulk copy program (bcp) utility. To learn more about downloading and installing the bcp utility, see the Microsoft documentation.
  • BACPAC file imports and exports by using SqlPackage. To learn more about downloading and installing SqlPackage, see the Microsoft documentation.
  • Bulk insert for importing data. This feature is supported only on SQL Server 2022. You can use a stored procedure for performing bulk insert. For more information, see Use bulk insert for importing data.
  • Always Encrypted without secure enclaves.
  • Extended Events (XEvents).
  • Custom time zone support at instance creation and post instance creation.

* The Mexico, Montreal, and Osaka regions have three zones within one or two physical data centers. These regions are in the process of expanding to at least three physical data centers. For more information, see Cloud locations and Google Cloud Platform SLAs. To help improve the reliability of your workloads, consider a multi-regional deployment.

SQL Server features unavailable for Cloud SQL

The following features are unavailable in Cloud SQL and Google Cloud doesn't support them:

General SQL Server features unavailable for Cloud SQL

  • SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS)
  • SP_Configure settings. For more information about this feature, see Configure database flags.
  • Stretch database
  • Backing up to Microsoft Azure Blob Storage
  • Buffer pool extension
  • The OPENROWSET feature
  • Data Quality Services
  • Database Log Shipping
  • Database Mail
  • Distribution Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC)
  • File tables
  • FILESTREAM support
  • Maintenance Plans
  • Performance Data Collector
  • Policy-Based Management
  • PolyBase
  • Machine Learning and R Services
  • Resource Governor
  • Server-level triggers
  • Service Broker endpoints
  • T-SQL endpoints (all operations using CREATE ENDPOINT are unavailable)
  • WCF Data Services
  • The sysadmin role and system stored procedures that require it
  • Hybrid buffer pool
  • Memory-optimized tempdb metadata
  • In-memory OLTP support for database snapshots
  • Registering external languages
  • Row-level security
  • Transparent Data Encryption (TDE). For information about encryption on Google Cloud, see About customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) and Default encryption at rest.
  • Object storage backup and restore
  • In-memory database: persistent memory
  • Real-time operational analytics
  • Integrated acceleration and offloading
  • Hybrid buffer pool with direct write
  • Multi-write replication
  • Link to Azure SQL Managed instance
  • Contained availability group
  • Always Encrypted with secure enclaves
  • Azure Active Directory authentication
  • Support for PFX certificates and other cryptographic improvements
  • MS-TDS 8.0 protocol and TLS 1.3

Other SQL Server operations unavailable for Cloud SQL

  • ADMINISTER BULK OPERATIONS
  • ALTER ANY CREDENTIAL
  • ALTER ANY EVENT NOTIFICATION
  • ALTER ANY EVENT SESSION
  • ALTER RESOURCES
  • ALTER SETTINGS
  • AUTHENTICATE SERVER
  • CONTROL_SERVER
  • CREATE DDL EVENT NOTIFICATION
  • CREATE ENDPOINT
  • CREATE TRACE EVENT NOTIFICATION
  • EXTERNAL ACCESS ASSEMBLY
  • RESTORE
  • SHUTDOWN
  • CLR ASSEMBLIES

Supported syntax for Cloud SQL for SQL Server

Cloud SQL supports the Transact-SQL syntax.

Supported languages for Cloud SQL for SQL Server

You can use Cloud SQL with App Engine applications running in the flexible environment that are written in:

  • C#
  • Go
  • Java
  • Node.js
  • PHP
  • Python
  • Ruby

How you can connect to Cloud SQL for SQL Server instances

You can connect to a Cloud SQL instance from:

Connecting to Cloud SQL with Private Google access isn't supported.