Microsoft SQL Server 2025 Standard Edition on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS by cloudimg. New vector data type and HNSW indexes for AI/RAG, native JSON and regex, optimized locking. Per-VM SA + cloudimg credentials at first boot. BYOL Standard. 24/7 expert support.
## SQL Server 2025 Standard on Ubuntu 24.04 by cloudimg
Microsoft SQL Server 2025 Standard Edition on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, purpose built for Microsoft Azure and maintained by cloudimg. SQL Server 2025 is the first SQL Server release to support Ubuntu 24.04 noble, bringing major engine-level features for AI workloads and modern application development.
What's New in SQL Server 2025
* Native vector type and HNSW indexes — `VECTOR(N)` columns and approximate-nearest-neighbour search built into the engine, no external vector DB required for RAG, semantic search, or recommendation workloads
* Native JSON_OBJECT / JSON_ARRAY / JSON_VALUE / JSON_PATH — first-class T-SQL JSON construction and querying without OPENJSON gymnastics
* Native regex — REGEXP_LIKE, REGEXP_INSTR, REGEXP_SUBSTR, REGEXP_REPLACE in T-SQL
* Optimized locking — reduced lock memory and fewer escalations on high-concurrency OLTP workloads
* Native AAD on Linux — Microsoft Entra ID authentication for Linux SQL Server clients
* Improved query plan caching and compilation — faster cold-cache performance under workload spikes
Why Choose cloudimg?
* 24/7 Expert Support — guaranteed 24-hour response, 1-hour average for critical issues. support@cloudimg.co.uk
* Production Ready from Launch — pre-configured, security-patched, validated before publication
* Azure Native Integration — Azure Linux Agent, cloud-init, Gen2 Hyper-V support, TrustedLaunch ready
* Per VM SA + cloudimg Credentials — fresh strong passwords generated at first boot, written to /stage/scripts/mssql-credentials.log (mode 0600 root only)
What is Included
* SQL Server 2025 Standard Edition (latest CU at build time, 17.0.4035.5 / KB5081495) from packages.microsoft.com
* mssql-tools18 (sqlcmd, bcp) at /opt/mssql-tools18/bin
* mssql-firstboot.service generating per-VM SA + cloudimg credentials, creating the cloudimg database and login
* mssql-server.service auto-starting on boot, listening on TCP 1433
* 2048 MB build-time memory cap (lifted by firstboot on customer's production-sized VM)
* Ubuntu 24.04 LTS noble base with latest security patches
* Azure Linux Agent for seamless cloud integration and SSH key injection
* 24/7 cloudimg support with guaranteed 24 hour response SLA
Standard Edition Capabilities and Limits
* Up to 24 cores, 128 GB buffer pool RAM, 524 PB max database size
* Always On Basic AGs, distributed transactions, Service Broker, partitioning
* Backup compression, Resource Governor, all SQL Server 2025 engine improvements
* Standard does NOT include in-memory OLTP, multi-replica Always On AGs, or TDE
Licensing — BYOL
Standard binaries activate under evaluation licensing for 180 days. Apply your Standard 2025 product key with `sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf setpid`. The cloudimg charge ($0.08 per vCPU/hour) covers packaging, security patching, image maintenance, and 24/7 expert support; the SQL Server 2025 license is your Volume Licensing entitlement.
Recommended Virtual Machine Sizes
* Standard_D4s_v5 (4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM) — small production OLTP
* Standard_D8s_v5 (8 vCPU, 32 GB RAM) — mid-size OLTP and reporting
* Standard_E16s_v5 (16 vCPU, 128 GB RAM) — buffer-pool-bound and vector-search workloads