SQL Server 2022

Standard is the workhorse SKU for departmental and mid-tier production workloads — up to 24 cores, 128 GB buffer pool, two-node failover clustering, Basic Availability Groups, transparent data encryption, columnstore indexes (with feature caps versus Enterprise). Enterprise removes the caps: unlimited cores within the host, unlimited memory, full Availability Groups, online operations, partition switching, advanced compression, In-Memory OLTP at scale, advanced security features. Developer is functionally identical to Enterprise but licensed for development and test only — free, included with Visual Studio subscriptions, never permissible in production. Express is the free engine for small embedded scenarios. Web is sold only through SPLA hosters for outward-facing web workloads.

SQL Server per-core licensing applies to every physical core on the host running SQL, sold in 2-core packs with a four-core minimum per processor. Hyperthreaded logical cores do not change the count. When SQL runs in a VM, you can license either the entire host (covering all VMs running SQL up to the unlimited virtualisation rights of Enterprise with SA) or just the VM's allocated vCPUs (minimum four). Mobility rights under Software Assurance allow SQL workloads to move between licensed hosts more frequently than the default 90-day rule. Per-core is the dominant model for production today; Server + CAL is permitted for Standard and Developer where every connected user or device can be enumerated, but rarely cheaper.

Standard with Server + CAL is sold as one server licence per running OSE plus a Client Access Licence per user or device that connects. CALs are version-tied: a SQL 2022 CAL covers earlier versions on the same connection (downgrade rights) but not later ones (upgrade requires new CALs or Software Assurance). Server + CAL only makes financial sense when the user or device count is small and stable; the moment a workload sees web traffic, anonymous connections, indirect users via a middle tier, or BI tools talking to the database on behalf of unknown end users, per-core becomes the safer and almost always cheaper model.

Azure Synapse Link for SQL streams change-feed data from SQL Server 2022 to a Synapse dedicated SQL pool in near-real-time, enabling analytics without traditional ETL. The Azure SQL Managed Instance link replicates from on-prem SQL 2022 to a managed instance in Azure for disaster recovery, with read scale-out on the secondary. Azure Arc-enabled SQL Server registers on-prem instances with Azure for centralised inventory, Defender for SQL, Backup to Azure, and pay-as-you-go licensing on top of existing SQL Software Assurance. None of these features require migration of the production workload to Azure — they extend on-prem SQL with cloud-side capabilities.

Always Encrypted with secure enclaves (added in 2019, expanded in 2022) supports rich queries — range comparisons, sort, LIKE — on encrypted data by performing those operations inside a hardware-backed enclave, without exposing plaintext to the database engine. Ledger tables (introduced in 2022) provide blockchain-style append-only history with cryptographically verifiable proof of integrity, intended for regulatory and audit workloads. Both features are Enterprise-only in their full form; Standard supports baseline Always Encrypted without enclave operations.

In-place upgrade from SQL 2019 or 2017 to SQL 2022 is supported. For SQL 2014 / 2016 estates, the standard guidance is to migrate to 2022 or 2025 (depending on application-vendor support matrix) rather than chain in-place upgrades. SQL 2025 added vector search, T-SQL JSON improvements, Microsoft Fabric mirroring and updates to intelligent query processing — meaningful for workloads that target those features, optional for the rest. The Microsoft licensing terms are unchanged between 2022 and 2025, so the migration cost is purely the operational testing and cutover, not the licence.