Merge branch 'MicrosoftDocs:main' into 250915-arc-sql-september

Author: MikeRayMSFT

azure-sql/database/features-comparison.md

@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ The following table lists the major features of SQL Server and provides informat
 | [Resource governor](/sql/relational-databases/resource-governor/resource-governor) | No | Yes |
 | [RESTORE statements](/sql/t-sql/statements/restore-statements-for-restoring-recovering-and-managing-backups-transact-sql) | No | Yes, with mandatory `FROM URL` options for the backups files placed on Azure Blob Storage. See [Restore differences](../managed-instance/transact-sql-tsql-differences-sql-server.md#restore-statement) |
 | [Restore database from backup](/sql/relational-databases/backup-restore/back-up-and-restore-of-sql-server-databases#restore-data-backups) | From automated backups only, see [Restore a database from a backup](recovery-using-backups.md) | From automated backups, see [Restore a database from a backup](../managed-instance/recovery-using-backups.md) and from full backups placed on Azure Blob Storage, see [Backup differences](../managed-instance/transact-sql-tsql-differences-sql-server.md#backup) |
-| [Restore database to SQL Server](/sql/relational-databases/backup-restore/back-up-and-restore-of-sql-server-databases#restore-data-backups) | No. Use BACPAC or BCP instead of native restore. | Yes, only to SQL Server 2022 from instances that have the [SQL Server 2022 update policy](../managed-instance/update-policy.md#sql-server-2022-update-policy). For more information, review [Restore a database to SQL Server 2022 from Azure SQL Managed Instance](../managed-instance/restore-database-to-sql-server.md). Otherwise, use BACPAC, BCP, or Transactional replication. |
+| [Restore database to SQL Server](/sql/relational-databases/backup-restore/back-up-and-restore-of-sql-server-databases#restore-data-backups) | No. Use BACPAC or BCP instead of native restore. | Yes, but only to SQL Server 2022, or SQL Server 2025 based on the update policy of the SQL managed instance. Restore databases to SQL Server 2022 from instances that have the [SQL Server 2022 update policy](../managed-instance/update-policy.md#sql-server-2022-update-policy). Restore databases to SQL Server 2025 from instances that have the [SQL Server 2025 update policy](../managed-instance/update-policy.md#sql-server-2025-update-policy). For more information, review [Restore a database to SQL Server 2022 from Azure SQL Managed Instance](../managed-instance/restore-database-to-sql-server.md). Otherwise, use BACPAC, BCP, or Transactional replication. |
 | [Semantic search](/sql/relational-databases/search/semantic-search-sql-server) | No | No |
 | [Service Broker](/sql/database-engine/configure-windows/sql-server-service-broker) | No | Yes.  See [Service Broker differences](../managed-instance/transact-sql-tsql-differences-sql-server.md#service-broker) |
 | [Server configuration settings](/sql/database-engine/configure-windows/server-configuration-options-sql-server) | No | Yes, see [T-SQL differences](../managed-instance/transact-sql-tsql-differences-sql-server.md) |

azure-sql/database/transparent-data-encryption-byok-overview.md

@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Each failover policy has a unique set of use cases and corresponding expectation
 
 | Failover policy | Failover scope | Use case | Potential data loss |
 | --- | --- | --- | --- |
-| Customer managed <br> **(Recommended)** | Failover groups | One or more databases in a failover groups is impacted by an outage and becomes unavailable. You can choose to fail over. | Yes |
+| Customer managed <br> **(Recommended)** | Failover groups | One or more databases in a failover group is impacted by an outage and becomes unavailable. You can choose to fail over. | Yes |
 | Microsoft managed | All failover groups in the region | A widespread outage in a datacenter, availability zone, or region causes unavailability of databases and the Microsoft Azure SQL service team decides to trigger a forced failover. <br> Use this option only when you want to delegate the disaster recovery responsibility to Microsoft and the application is tolerant to RTO (downtime) of at least one hour or more.| Yes |
 
 ### Customer managed

azure-sql/includes/failover-group-overview.md

@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ This table summarizes the capabilities and features of [point-in-time restore](r
 
 <sup>1</sup> For business-critical applications that require large databases and must ensure business continuity, see [failover groups](failover-group-sql-mi.md).  
 <sup>2</sup> All PITR backups are stored on geo-redundant storage by default, meaning geo-restore is enabled by default.  
-<sup>3</sup> Database backups taken from instances configured with the SQL Server 2022 [update policy](update-policy.md) can be restored to instances configured with either the SQL Server 2022 or Always-up-to-date update policy. Database backups taken from instances configured with the Always-up-to-date update policy can only be restored to instances also configured with the Always-up-to-date update policy.  
+<sup>3</sup> Database backups can only be restored to instances with matching [update policies](update-policy.md), or to an update policy of a higher version of SQL Server. For example, a database backup taken from an instance with a **SQL Server 2022** update policy can be restored to an instance with either the **SQL Server 2022**, **SQL Server 2025**, or **Always-up-to-date** update policy.  
 <sup>4</sup> The workaround is to restore to a new server and use Resource Move to move the server to another subscription.
 
 ## Restore a database from backup

azure-sql/managed-instance/automated-backups-overview.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ description: Learn how to perform an online move or copy operation of your datab
 author: MladjoA
 ms.author: mlandzic
 ms.reviewer: mathoma, danil, randolphwest, wiassaf
-ms.date: 09/11/2025
+ms.date: 09/15/2025
 ms.service: azure-sql-managed-instance
 ms.subservice: data-movement
 ms.topic: how-to
@@ -259,7 +259,8 @@ Consider the following limitations of the copy and move feature:
 - The source or destination SQL managed instance shouldn't be configured with a failover group (geo-disaster recovery) setup.
 - You need to reconfigure transactional replication, change data capture (CDC), or distributed transactions after you move a database that relies on these features.
 - When the source database uses a customer-managed key (CMK) as the TDE protector, to copy or move the database to the target SQL Managed Instance, the target instance must have access to the same key used to encrypt the source database in Azure Key Vault.
-- A database from an instance configured with the [Always-up-to-date update policy](update-policy.md#always-up-to-date-update-policy) can't be copied or moved to an instance configured with the [SQL Server 2022 update policy](update-policy.md#sql-server-2022-update-policy). Once a database from an instance configured with the SQL Server 2022 update policy is copied or moved to an instance with the Always-up-to-date update policy, it can't be copied or moved to an instance configured with the SQL Server 2022 update policy.
+- Databases can only be copied or moved to instances with matching, or higher version, [update policies](update-policy.md). For example, a database from an instance configured with the **Always-up-to-date** update policy can't be copied or moved to an instance configured with the **SQL Server 2022** or **SQL Server 2025** update policy. Once a database is copied or moved to an instance with a higher version update policy, it can't be copied or moved to an instance configured with a lower version update policy.
+
 
 ## Related content
 

azure-sql/managed-instance/database-copy-move-how-to.md

@@ -80,9 +80,15 @@ Fail back is optional. If you don't need to fail back, you can keep the secondar
 
 ## Managed Instance link
 
-It's possible to use a [Managed Instance link](managed-instance-link-disaster-recovery.md) for disaster recovery. Two-way failover is only supported with SQL Server 2022, and instances configured with the [SQL Server 2022 update policy](update-policy.md#sql-server-2022-update-policy). SQL Server 2019 and earlier versions support one-way failover only and fail back to SQL Server isn't supported. 
+It's possible to use a [Managed Instance link](managed-instance-link-disaster-recovery.md) for disaster recovery. 
 
-This sections describes how to perform a disaster recovery drill with SQL Server 2022. When using a [Managed Instance link](managed-instance-link-disaster-recovery.md) for disaster recovery, the drill exercise involves planned failover to the secondary instance. The planned failover ensures that the primary and the secondary instances in the Managed Instance link remain in sync when the roles are switched. Unlike the unplanned failover, this operation doesn't result in data loss, so the drill can be performed in a production environment. 
+Two-way failover is only supported between: 
+- SQL Server 2022, and instances configured with the [SQL Server 2022 update policy](update-policy.md#sql-server-2022-update-policy). 
+- SQL Server 2025, and instances configured with the [SQL Server 2025 update policy](update-policy.md#sql-server-2025-update-policy).
+
+SQL Server 2019 and earlier versions only support one-way failover and fail back to SQL Server isn't supported. 
+
+This section describes how to perform a disaster recovery drill with SQL Server 2022 or SQL Server 2025. When using a [Managed Instance link](managed-instance-link-disaster-recovery.md) for disaster recovery, the drill exercise involves planned failover to the secondary instance. The planned failover ensures that the primary and the secondary instances in the Managed Instance link remain in sync when the roles are switched. Unlike the unplanned failover, this operation doesn't result in data loss, so the drill can be performed in a production environment. 
 
 ### Outage simulation
 

azure-sql/managed-instance/disaster-recovery-drills.md

@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ Return to [What's new in Azure SQL Managed Instance?](doc-changes-updates-releas
 |**Link from SQL MI to SQL Server GA** |  October | Configure a link *from* Azure SQL Managed Instance to SQL Server 2022. This feature is now generally available. Review [Link from SQL MI to SQL Server](managed-instance-link-feature-overview.md)  to learn more.  |
 |**Two-way DR with SQL Server 2022 GA** | October | In the event of a disaster, you can fail your SQL Server 2022 workloads to Azure SQL Managed Instance using the link, and then, once the disaster is mitigated, you can fail back to SQL Server. This feature is now generally available. Review [Two-way DR with SQL Server 2022](managed-instance-link-disaster-recovery.md) to learn more.|
 | **CURRENT_DATE Transact-SQL GA** | August | The `CURRENT_DATE` Transact-SQL (T-SQL) function returns the current database system date as a date value, without the database time and time zone offset. This function is now generally available. For more information, see [CURRENT_DATE (Transact-SQL)](/sql/t-sql/functions/current-date-transact-sql). |
-| **JSON native data type preview** |  August | The new [**JSON** native data type](/sql/t-sql/data-types/json-data-type) and is currently in preview. For more information, see [JSON Type and aggregates preview](https://aka.ms/json-type-aggregates-public-preview). Your SQL managed instance must be configured with the [Always-up-to-date update policy](update-policy.md#always-up-to-date-update-policy).|
-| **JSON aggregate functions preview** |  August | Two new **JSON** aggregate functions [JSON_OBJECTAGG and JSON_ARRAYAGG](/sql/relational-databases/json/json-data-sql-server#json-data-from-aggregates) enable construction of JSON objects or arrays based on an aggregate from SQL data. For more information, see [JSON Type and aggregates preview](https://aka.ms/json-type-aggregates-public-preview). Your SQL managed instance must be configured with the [the Always-up-to-date update policy](update-policy.md#always-up-to-date-update-policy).|
+| **JSON native data type preview** |  August | The new [**JSON** native data type](/sql/t-sql/data-types/json-data-type) and is currently in preview. For more information, see [JSON Type and aggregates preview](https://aka.ms/json-type-aggregates-public-preview). |
+| **JSON aggregate functions preview** |  August | Two new **JSON** aggregate functions [JSON_OBJECTAGG and JSON_ARRAYAGG](/sql/relational-databases/json/json-data-sql-server#json-data-from-aggregates) enable construction of JSON objects or arrays based on an aggregate from SQL data. For more information, see [JSON Type and aggregates preview](https://aka.ms/json-type-aggregates-public-preview). |
 | **Fail over link with T-SQL preview** |  August | You can now fail over a [Managed Instance link](managed-instance-link-feature-overview.md) by using Transact-SQL (T-SQL) commands. This capability is currently in preview starting with [SQL Server 2022 CU13 (KB5036432)](/troubleshoot/sql/releases/sqlserver-2022/cumulativeupdate13). To learn more, review [fail over a database](managed-instance-link-failover-how-to.md?tabs=tsql#fail-over-a-database). |
 |**Native Windows principals**| July | [Native Windows principals](native-windows-principals.md) in SQL Managed Instance is in preview. |
 |**Advance notifications GA**| June | [Advance notifications](advance-notifications.md) for upcoming SQL managed instance [maintenance windows](maintenance-window.md) are now generally available. |