This topic describes the release notes for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server (RDS for SQL Server) and provides links to the relevant references.
For more information about the release notes for the minor engine versions of an RDS for SQL Server instance, see Release notes for minor engine versions of RDS for SQL Server.
2025
October
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | Reference |
Feature optimization | Disk encryption | RDS for SQL Server supports enabling disk encryption for existing instance and changing encryption keys for specific instances. | 10-29 | |
New feature | Cross-region disaster recovery | RDS for SQL Server supports the cross-region disaster recovery feature. This feature provides a disaster recovery solution based on SQL Server Distributed Availability Groups (DAG) and the cross-region network connectivity of DTS. You can create disaster recovery instances across regions. Data is synchronized in real time between the primary and disaster recovery instances. This ensures data consistency and provides a low-latency access experience. | 10-27 | |
New feature | Billing method change from serverless to pay-as-you-go | RDS for SQL Server supports the billing method change from serverless to pay-as-you-go. | 10-14 | Change the instance billing method from serverless to pay-as-you-go |
Feature optimization | Deletion of privileged accounts | RDS for SQL Server supports deleting privileged accounts. You cannot use a deleted privileged account to log on to the instance and all permissions related to the account are also deleted to ensure instance security. | 10-09 |
September
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | Reference |
New feature | SQL parameter logging | RDS for SQL Server allows you to enable the SQL parameter logging feature by setting | 09-12 |
August
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | Reference |
Feature optimization | New stored procedure | RDS for SQL Server newly supports the | 08-11 |
July
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | Reference |
Feature optimization | Datebase attribute management | RDS for SQL Server supports the | 07-30 | |
New feature | Release of new minor engine versions | You can update the minor engine of your RDS for SQL Server instances to the following new versions:
| 07-12 | |
Feature optimization | Configuration of backup sets for a single database | RDS for SQL Server allows you to specify the retention period of backup sets when you manually backup data in the console or by calling APIs. You can also extend the retention period of manually created backup sets for flexible management. | 07-07 |
June
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | Reference |
Feature optimization | Forceful SSL encryption | RDS for SQL Server enables forceful SSL encryption on connections established to the public endpoint of your instances and allows you to configure the earliest TLS version, which ensures the confidentiality of data in transit. | 06-16 | |
New feature | Support on SQL Server 2017/2019/2022 EE for RDS for SQL Server instances on Basic Edition | RDS for SQL Server instances on the Basic Edition with dedicated instance types will support SQL Server 2017 EE, 2019 EE, and 2022 EE. This release is suitable for users who need to deploy their business on RDS Basic Edtion instances running SQL Server 2017/2019/2022 EE for simple scenarios such as personal learning, development testing, and small website or application building. | 06-11 |
May
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | Reference |
Feature optimization | Standard monitoring | The | 05-21 |
March
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | Reference |
New feature | Custom threshold for slow query logs | RDS for SQL Server allows you to specify a custom threshold for slow query logs by configuring the | 03-20 |
Feburary
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | Reference |
New feature | New minor engine version | New minor engine versions for RDS instances that run SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2019, and SQL Server 2022 are released. | 02-18 | Release notes for minor engine versions of ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server |
Feature optimization | Stored procedure | RDS for SQL Server supports the stored procedure | 02-17 |
January
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | Reference |
Feature optimization | System admin account | The system admin account of an RDS for SQL Server instance can be manually deleted in the RDS console. This helps you configure and manage database accounts as needed. | 01-10 |
2024
December
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | Reference |
New feature | Log backup frequency of every 5 minutes | ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server supports the log backup frequency of every 5 minutes. The setting of the log backup frequency takes effect immediately. This feature is suitable for businesses that have high requirements for data continuity, data integrity, and recovery point objective (RPO). | 12-09 |
November
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
Feature optimization | Cross-region backup and restoration | ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances that run different engine versions support the cross-region backup feature. After this feature is enabled for an RDS instance, the backup files of the RDS instance are automatically replicated from the source region to the specified destination region. You can use this feature for regulatory compliance and disaster recovery. | 11-04 |
October
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | Data archiving to OSS | ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances that use ESSDs provide the database-level data archiving feature. You can use the feature to archive data to an Object Storage Service (OSS) bucket. You can convert infrequently accessed online databases into cold storage databases on the Databases page of the ApsaraDB RDS console or by calling API operations. Cold data is stored in an OSS bucket at low costs. This helps separate hot data from cold data and reduce storage costs. | 10-12 |
September
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | Database attribute management | ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server allows you to view or modify various attributes for an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance in the ApsaraDB RDS console. You can also manually shrink database transaction logs and update database statistics to optimize database performance and improve query efficiency. | 09-25 | |
Feature optimization | Major engine version upgrade and cross-zone migration for instances with security or encryption features enabled | Major engine version upgrade and cross-zone migration can be performed on ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances for which the TDE, SSL, cloud disk encryption, or snapshot backup feature is enabled. | 09-14 | |
New feature | Account password policy configuration | An account password policy is configured on your server running the Windows operating system to manage account passwords. ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server allows you to configure a password policy for an account of your ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance to manage the password age in a fine-grained manner. This helps improve the account security. | 09-13 | |
Feature optimization | Cross-region backup and restoration | The cross-region backup feature is supported for RDS instances for which the cloud disk encryption feature is enabled. When you restore the data of an RDS instance from an existing backup file to a new RDS instance that resides in a region that is different from the source region, take note of the following items:
| 09-03 |
August
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | Instance parameter management | The parameters of an RDS instance can be modified in the ApsaraDB RDS console to meet your business requirements. | 08-27 |
July
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | Distributed transaction whitelist | The distributed transaction whitelist feature is supported for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances that run RDS Basic Edition. The feature helps build a secure and stable distributed transaction environment to facilitate fine-grained permission management and ensure the security of distributed transaction execution. You can quickly locate and resolve transactional consistency issues to ensure business continuity and data accuracy. | 07-09 |
June
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | Security group rule | Custom security group rules can be configured for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances to implement precise access control of authorized entities. This allows you to manage access permissions on the RDS instances in a fine-grained manner. Custom security group rules are suitable for various scenarios. | 06-28 | |
Feature optimization | Viewing of metrics | A variety of performance metrics are provided to allow you to view the standard monitoring data of your RDS instance in the ApsaraDB RDS console. | 06-18 | |
New feature | Character set collation rule | The Character Set Collation Rule parameter can be configured when you create your RDS instance. The parameter is default to Chinese_PRC_CI_AS. | 06-17 | |
New feature | Time zone | More time zones are supported for RDS instances. If the time zone of your RDS instance does not match your business logic or your application needs to handle the data of multiple time zones, you can change the time zone of the RDS instance. This ensures that the data is correctly converted and displayed in different time zones. | 06-11 |
April
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | Error log cleanup | The error log cleanup feature is supported for RDS instances. This feature clears error log files accumulated in an RDS instance to release disk space. For error logs that have been uploaded to an Object Storage Service (OSS) bucket, you can still view the error logs in the ApsaraDB RDS console, which are not affected by the cleanup operation. | 04-17 | |
Feature optimization | Increased maximum storage capacity | The maximum storage capacity of Enterprise SSDs (ESSDs) and general ESSDs is changed from 4,000 GB or 16,000 GB to 32,000 GB. ESSDs of performance level 1 (PL1), PL2, and PL3 are affected. You can select the storage capacity based on your business requirements when you create an RDS instance or increase the storage capacity of an existing RDS instance. | 04-09 | |
New feature | New major engine version | SQL Server 2014 EE on RDS High-availability Edition and SQL Server 2014 SE on RDS Basic Edition and RDS High-availability Edition are supported for RDS instances. Note You can create RDS instances that run SQL Server SE on RDS Basic Edition only in regions outside China. | 04-01 |
March
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | SSL encryption by using custom certificates | SSL encryption can be implemented by using custom certificates. This feature encrypts the connections to an RDS instance and protects the data that is transmitted over the connections. Before you use this feature, you must upload the custom | 03-05 |
February
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
Feature optimization | Change of the character set collation and time zone | The character set collation and time zone can be changed separately. If your RDS instance does not belong to the shared instance family, you can change the time zone of the RDS instance. You can change the character set collation of an RDS instance that belongs to the shared instance family. This ensures that data in RDS instances can be properly stored and displayed in different languages and enables you to manage the character set collation and time zone in a more flexible manner. | 02-28 | |
New feature | TDE | Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) is supported for standard RDS instances that run SQL Server 2022. TDE can be used to perform real-time I/O encryption and decryption on data files. TDE prevents attackers from bypassing databases on your RDS instance to read sensitive information from the storage of the RDS instance. This improves the security of sensitive information in RDS instances. | 02-27 |
January
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | Upgrade of RDS edition from RDS Basic Edition to RDS Cluster Edition | An RDS instance can be upgraded from RDS Basic Edition to RDS Cluster Edition. After the upgrade, your database system uses a high availability (HA) architecture that consists of a primary node and a secondary node. You can create up to seven read-only nodes for the primary node. The secondary node is readable and provides the backup capability. This can meet diverse business requirements. | 01-31 | |
New feature | Fast initialization for read-only RDS instances | The fast initialization feature for read-only RDS instances is supported for required RDS instances that run RDS Cluster Edition and use general ESSDs. This feature shortens the time required to create a read-only RDS instance to minutes. The creation does not affect the I/O performance of the primary RDS instance. | 01-05 | |
Feature optimization | Forceful SSL connection and minimum TLS version | Forceful SSL connection and minimum TLS version can be configured. When you connect your client to an RDS instance, you can forcefully enable the client to use SSL connections and specify the minimum TLS version. This ensures data confidentiality in transit. | 01-03 |
2023
August
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
Feature optimization | Cross-region backup and restoration | The cross-region backup and restoration feature is supported for RDS instances for which TDE is enabled. This improves the data backup and restoration capabilities of the RDS instances. | 08-31 | |
Feature optimization | Restoration | The tabs on the Backup and Restoration page of an RDS instance are adjusted. The Data Backup and Log Backup tabs are moved to the Base Backups tab. The original Backup Settings tab is renamed as Backup Strategy. This does not affect the original features. These changes aim to simplify and optimize the operations on the Backup and Restoration page tab to improve user experience. | 08-15 |
July
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | Secondary instance restart | The secondary instance restart feature is supported for RDS instances that run SQL Server EE (Always On). If a secondary RDS instance handles excessive connections or encounters performance issues, you can manually restart the secondary RDS instance. | 07-18 | |
New feature | Secondary database backup | The secondary database preferred mode is supported for RDS instances that run RDS Cluster Edition. You can configure the system to perform physical backups on secondary RDS instances. This reduces the I/O loads on primary RDS instances and improves instance performance and stability. | 07-03 |
June
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | New major engine version | SQL Server 2022 EE (Always On), SQL Server 2022 SE, and SQL Server 2022 Web are supported. | 06-13 | |
New feature | Host account | Host accounts can be created for RDS instances. You can create a host account for your RDS instance and use the host account to log on to the host on which the RDS instance is deployed. This facilitates instance management and operations. | 06-08 |
May
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | New minor engine version | The minor engine versions for RDS instances that run SQL Server 2016 are released. | 05-18 | |
New feature | New minor engine version | The minor engine versions for RDS instances that run SQL Server 2019 and SQL Server 2017 are released. | 05-16 | |
New feature | SQL Explorer and Audit | The SQL Explorer and Audit feature is supported in the autonomy services for RDS instances. | 05-12 |
April
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
Feature optimization | Database restoration |
| 04-27 | |
New feature | Task Center | Task Center is supported for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server. After you perform an operation on your RDS instance, you can view the progress of the task for the operation and details about historical tasks on the Task Center page. | 04-04 |
March
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
New feature | Automatic storage expansion | The automatic storage expansion feature is supported for RDS instances. You can use this feature to check the storage usage of an RDS instance. If the storage capacity of the RDS instance is insufficient, the system automatically expands the storage capacity of the instance. This ensures business stability. | 03-28 | |
New feature | Official release of serverless instances | Serverless RDS instances are provided by Alibaba Cloud for small- and medium-sized enterprises or individual developers. Serverless RDS instances can scale CPU and memory resources in real time, which is new to RDS instances with cloud disks. | 03-20 | |
Feature optimization | Instance creation | A port can be specified for an RDS instance when you create the RDS instance. | 03-16 | Create an RDS for instance. For more information, see Create an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance. |
January
Category | Feature | Description | Release date | References |
Feature optimization | Specification change | The storage capacity of some RDS instances can be expanded without loss. This allows you to change the performance level (PL) of the storage type or the storage capacity without the need to configure the switching time for the RDS instance. | 01-03 |