Upgrading from SQL Server 2019 to 2022: Why It’s Worth It and How to Do It

This article specifically discusses upgrading SQL Server from the 2019 version to SQL Server 2022 in the context of deployments hosted on Azure Virtual Machines. Other upgrade scenarios or deployment configurations exist, but they may not be relevant to this discussion. For assistance with your specific SQL Server upgrade or to discuss your unique requirements further, please contact our team directly—we’re here to help you through the process.

End of Support for SQL Server 2019

If your business still runs SQL Server 2019, note that Microsoft’s mainstream support for SQL 2019 ended in early 2025. This means no more regular updates or non-critical fixes – only limited extended support until 2030. Operating a mission-critical database without full support poses security and compliance risks, as security patches eventually stop. In other words, staying on an out-of-support platform can leave your data unprotected and may violate industry regulations (especially in finance or healthcare sectors that require fully supported software). Upgrading to SQL Server 2022 ensures your database is covered by Microsoft's latest updates and improvements through at least 2028. This longer support window means future-proofing your investment, giving you several additional years of peace of mind.

If your business is currently running SQL Server 2019, it’s important to understand that staying on this version, now out of mainstream support, introduces unnecessary risks. Upgrading directly to SQL Server 2022 is the logical and strategic choice. It offers a significantly longer support lifespan and substantial enhancements across performance, security, and cloud integration. Since moving from SQL Server 2019 to 2022 involves a straightforward migration process—particularly using the backup-and-restore approach—it's an upgrade that delivers clear business value without significant additional complexity.

In short, upgrading from 2019 directly to 2022 helps ensure you remain supported and future-proofed, maximising the return on your upgrade investment.

Performance Improvements in SQL Server 2022

SQL Server 2022 introduces performance and efficiency enhancements that can make your applications feel snappier without any code changes on your part. Microsoft has expanded Intelligent Query Processing (IQP) features, which are automatic optimizations inside the database engine. For example, Next Generation IQP can adapt how queries execute based on past runs. If you haven’t tweaked your queries, the database learns to run them faster and more efficiently. This means reports and data-heavy operations that used to slow down might speed up on SQL 2022, improving employee productivity and customer experience. As a simple illustration, imagine a query that counts stock levels – it might be quick when stock is low but bog down if inventory is huge. SQL 2022’s improved query engine uses features like cardinality estimation feedback to adjust for such differences automatically. It also plans the work more intelligently, so that large or complex requests run faster.

Other enhancements include better use of modern hardware: SQL 2022 can support higher memory and core counts for a given workload and even takes advantage of new processor capabilities (like AVX-512 instructions) to accelerate heavy computations. In practical terms, SQL Server 2022 can handle more concurrent users and larger data volumes without performance bottlenecks, which is crucial as your business grows. Features like Degree of Parallelism (DOP) feedback and memory grant feedback further ensure the server optimizes resource usage dynamically – for instance, adjusting how many CPU threads or how much memory to allocate for a recurring query, based on what it learned from previous runs. The bottom line for a non-technical manager is that SQL 2022 improves your existing infrastructure, delivering quicker responses and the ability to scale, all automatically. Faster database performance can lead to more timely business insights and smoother operations, without costly application rewrites.

Enhanced Security and Compliance

Upgrading to SQL Server 2022 also means stronger security features and easier compliance with data regulations. A headline addition is the SQL Server Ledger, which brings blockchain-like tamper evidence to your database. In simple terms, Ledger acts like a secure, immutable audit trail that records every change to your data in a way that cannot be altered or erased.

For example, if someone modifies or deletes a record, the Ledger feature will retain a cryptographic record of the old data. This is like an incorruptible logbook – it allows you to later verify that no unauthorized or unexpected changes occurred, which is invaluable for financial records, supply chain data, or sensitive transactions. Think of it as an extra lock on your data: it keeps everything safe and allows you to instantly spot any tampering.

Businesses that need to demonstrate data integrity (for audits or compliance) will find this feature beneficial. It provides peace of mind to stakeholders and regulators that the data’s history is preserved and trustworthy.

SQL Server 2022 also improves integration with modern security and compliance tools. Notably, it supports Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) authentication for on-premises or Azure VM SQL Servers. In practice, this means your database can use the same secure login identities as your Office 365 or Azure AD corporate accounts. Employees can connect to the database with their regular work credentials, optionally using multi-factor authentication (MFA) for an extra security step. This eliminates the need for separate SQL logins and passwords, reducing administrative overhead and the risk of weak credentials. For a business owner, Azure AD integration translates to simpler user management and fewer points of vulnerability. If an employee leaves, disabling their company account automatically revokes database access. It’s a modern approach that aligns your SQL Server with your overall cloud identity security.

On the compliance front, SQL Server 2022 is designed to work hand-in-hand with Microsoft Purview, a cloud-based data governance tool. With 2022, you can more easily classify sensitive data and apply Purview policies across your SQL databases. For instance, if your organization needs to enforce that certain data (like customer PII) is encrypted or access-controlled, Purview integration helps set and monitor those rules centrally. Additionally, Microsoft Defender for Cloud (formerly Azure Security Center) can integrate with SQL Server 2022 to provide advanced threat protection and vulnerability assessment for your databases. This means the latest SQL Server can proactively alert you to potential security misconfigurations or unusual activities, leveraging cloud intelligence. In summary, upgrading fortifies your database security with features that not only lock down your data (through encryption, ledger, etc.), but also make it easier to manage access and comply with laws like GDPR. These enhancements reduce the risk of data breaches and help maintain customer trust – critical factors for senior management.

Deeper Azure Integration and Hybrid Benefits

SQL Server 2022 is often described as “Azure-enabled,” and for good reason. It brings cloud-ready capabilities to your traditional SQL Server, which is especially relevant if you’re running it on an Azure Virtual Machine. One standout feature is Azure Synapse Link for SQL, which allows you to connect your operational database to Azure Synapse Analytics (Microsoft’s big data analytics service) in near-real-time. In the past, companies had to build complex ETL pipelines (Extract-Transform-Load processes) to move data from their SQL databases into a separate analytics system for reporting or machine learning. With Synapse Link, those barriers are removed. You can run analytics and generate business intelligence directly on live data, without lengthy exports or affecting the performance of your production databases. For example, a retail company could have its sales database on SQL Server 2022 and use Synapse Link to instantly feed a Power BI dashboard or predictive model in Synapse. This means faster insights (no waiting for overnight data warehouse updates) and more agile decision-making. Essentially, SQL 2022 lets you tap into cloud analytics “without migrating” your entire database to separate systems. You get the best of both worlds: the stability of your SQL VM and the scalability of Azure for analysis.

Another major improvement is in backup and storage integration. SQL Server 2022 supports backing up your databases directly to Azure Blob Storage or other S3-compatible object storage services. This makes off-site backups far simpler – your database can automatically store backups in durable, cost-effective cloud storage, improving your disaster recovery preparedness. There’s no need for clunky file-copy jobs or third-party tools to move backup files to the cloud; it’s built-in. For a business, this means your critical data backups are safely stored in Azure with minimal effort, protecting you against server failures or even site-level disasters.

SQL Server 2022 also introduces new hybrid high-availability options that can be a game-changer. If you’re hosting on an Azure VM, you can leverage the Link feature to Azure SQL Managed Instance for disaster recovery and read scalability. In 2019, basic one-way links to managed cloud databases existed, but 2022 extends this with support for two-way replication and seamless failover. In practice, you could have your primary SQL Server on an Azure VM and set up an Azure SQL Managed Instance as a secondary. If the VM has an outage or needs maintenance, the Managed Instance can take over as a live database “backup plan” with minimal setup. What’s more, SQL 2022 even allows failback from the managed cloud instance to your VM once things are resolved, which wasn’t possible before. This hybrid cloud continuity means you get cloud resilience without giving up your on-VM deployment. For a senior manager, this translates to higher uptime and a built-in contingency plan – essentially cloud insurance for your database operations.

Additionally, because your SQL Server 2022 on Azure VM can integrate with Azure services, you can start leveraging tools like Azure Monitor for performance telemetry, or Azure’s AI services with your data, easily. Microsoft has also ensured there are optimized Azure VM images for SQL 2022, making deployment smooth. The key takeaway is that SQL 2022 opens doors to Azure’s ecosystem. Whether it’s advanced analytics, automated backups, or a quick path to a fully managed SQL instance, the new version is built to plug into cloud services when you need them. This gives businesses flexibility – you’re cloud-connected and future-ready, without having to move everything to Azure SQL Database or redesign your apps.

The Upgrade Process: Installing 2022 and Migrating via Backup/Restore

Upgrading a SQL Server has to be planned carefully, but it doesn’t have to be painful. In fact, moving from SQL 2019 to 2022 can be quite straightforward, especially if you use a side-by-side upgrade approach (as opposed to an in-place upgrade). Since you’re on an Azure VM, you can spin up a new VM with SQL Server 2022 installed and run it in parallel with your existing 2019 instance. Microsoft provides ready-made Azure Marketplace images for SQL 2022, or you can install SQL Server 2022 manually on a new VM. Once your new server is up, the migration steps are roughly:

1. Backup your databases on SQL 2019 – Perform a full backup of the user databases (and any important system databases or configurations) from the 2019 instance. This can typically be done with a standard SQL backup to a file or directly to Azure storage.

2. Restore to SQL 2022 – Take those backup files and restore them onto the new SQL 2022 instance. SQL Server’s database files are upward compatible, so a 2019 backup can be restored on 2022 without issue. At this point, your data and schema are now running on the new server.

3. Test thoroughly – Before switching over production, we will test the applications against the new SQL 2022 database. Because 2022 supports a 2019 compatibility mode, you can initially run the database as if it were 2019 to ensure behavior is the same. You may then choose to raise the compatibility level to 2022 to gain all performance benefits. During testing, check that queries perform well (update statistics if needed) and that all functions behave as expected. The good news is that there are no known breaking changes for user workloads between 2019 and 2022. Microsoft ensured backward compatibility while adding features. So your applications should function as before, or even better.

4. Cut over to the new server – Once you’re confident in the new 2022 environment, plan a cutover. This might involve a brief downtime. You can minimize it by doing a final incremental backup (or log backup) from 2019, restore that to catch the 2022 server up to the latest minute, then redirect your application or users to the new SQL 2022 server. In Azure, this could be as simple as swapping the connection strings or updating your DNS if you gave the new server a new name.

5. Monitor and optimize – After go-live on SQL 2022, keep an eye on performance. In the unlikely event that some query runs slower (perhaps due to the new query optimizer), you have options to address it. You could apply a Query Store Hint (a new feature in 2022) to adjust that one query’s plan without touching your application code, or temporarily run the database in 2019 compatibility level until the issue is resolved. However, most users find that SQL 2022 runs smoothly out-of-the-box. It’s wise to have the latest Cumulative Update (patch) for SQL 2022 applied, as Microsoft continuously refines the release. Also, double-check any integrated services (like SSIS packages, if used) are pointed to the new server.

   
   

This side-by-side approach to backup and restore is often preferred because it leaves your original system unchanged as a safety net. If anything unexpected happens, you can quickly fall back to the 2019 instance. It also allows you to do the upgrade with minimal disruption – you set up and test the new environment while the old one remains live. In contrast, an in-place upgrade (running the 2022 installer over the 2019 instance) would upgrade in one go, but it means downtime during the upgrade and no easy rollback if a problem arises. By installing fresh and restoring, you essentially rehearse the migration and ensure everything works, then perform a controlled switchover.

Is Upgrading to 2022 a “No Brainer”?

Considering the points above – extended support, performance gains, security enhancements, and cloud integration – upgrading SQL Server 2019 to 2022 is indeed a logical and highly beneficial move for most organizations. There are few downsides: SQL 2022 was designed to include all of 2019’s functionality and then extend it, so you’re not losing anything by upgrading. In fact, even features like licensing model and edition choices remain similar, so your software costs stay predictable (do check if you need Software Assurance for certain virtualization scenarios, but generally it’s the same licensing structure). From a risk perspective, Microsoft’s track record with SQL Server upgrades has been strong – your 2019 databases will attach to 2022 and run as-is, thanks to backward compatibility. It’s not a leap into the unknown; it’s an incremental improvement on a platform you already trust.

Of course, no upgrade should be taken lightly. It’s important to plan, test, and ensure your IT team follows best practices during the transition. Small issues can occasionally arise – for example, after any SQL Server version upgrade, it’s wise to rebuild indexes and update statistics so the optimizer has fresh info, which helps avoid quirky slow queries. But these are standard tuning tasks, not fundamental problems. So long as you do that due diligence, the upgrade is generally straightforward and very much worth it. Businesses that have made the jump report smooth experiences and immediate benefits. One DBA in the community noted that after upgrading, “2022 has everything that is in 2019, plus more… and going to 2019 won't be any easier than going to 2022”, urging teams to “just go to 2022.” Another highlighted that if you ever encounter an odd performance issue, you can leverage features like compatibility mode or Query Store to quickly remedy it – so there’s effectively a safety net.

In summary, SQL Server 2022 offers a host of improvements that can be explained in business value terms: better performance means faster insights and happier users; improved security means lower risk of breaches and easier regulatory compliance; Azure integration means you’re ready for future cloud initiatives and can do more with your data; and continued support means you won’t face a crisis when an old version hits end-of-life. Given that SQL Server 2019 is now out of mainstream support, upgrading to 2022 is a timely move to keep your organization secure and competitive. It’s an upgrade that brings tangible benefits while largely “just working” like your current system, making it a strategic no-brainer for most businesses. By planning the upgrade carefully (and using the backup/restore method on Azure for minimal risk), you can execute this transition with confidence and start taking advantage of SQL Server 2022’s capabilities right away.