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Category: Azure Data Studio

Concerns with Azure Data Studio’s Deprecation

Published 2025-02-21 by Kevin Feasel

Thom Andrews raises a valid concern:

Some of you may, or may not know, Microsoft announced the deprecation of the Azure Data Studio (ADS) on 06 February, with support ending next year on 28 February. For those of using ADS Microsoft recommends migrating to VSCode and using the mssql extension.

Honestly, I’m really concerned about this. I tried the mssql extension for VSCode (mssql going forwards) some time ago, and compared to ADS it was incredibly feature lacking. A lot of stuff I want to do as a DBA was completely missing, so I went straight back to ADS and didn’t look back. I like ADS, and I’ve got good use out of it; especially as (as those who know me well) a Linux user at home, where I can’t use SSMS.

Anyway, I thought “Ok, I’ll give mssql another go, maybe it’s come a long way since I tried last”. Oh boy has it not; at least for someone like myself.

The upshot of Thom’s post is that the mssql extension is definitely not ready for prime time, and there’s going to be an uphill slog to get it, within one year, back to where Azure Data Studio is today. My hope on this is that, because the mssql extension team (who may be the same people as the Azure Data Studio team) doesn’t need to continuously fork and work around changes to Visual Studio Code, that it will allow them to re-use and re-implement relevant code quicker than otherwise. But if not, that’s a tough story to tell.

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Farewell, Azure Data Studio

Published 2025-02-10 by Kevin Feasel

Deb Melkin says goodbye:

Interesting news dropped – Microsoft announced that Azure Data Studio is going to be retired in 2026. You can read the official announcement here. In some ways, I have to admit that I was a little surprised to see this.

I’ve been a very regular user of Azure Data Studio over the past several years, especially because it was the option for Linux. I believe the most likely reason they’re deprecating the product is because there’s a lot of effort in keeping up with Visual Studio Code’s changes and forking that code base every month for Azure Data Studio.

My concern is that the mssql extension for Visual Studio Code is nowhere near ready for prime time, and I wonder if it will be sufficiently capable by the time Azure Data Studio is gone for good.

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Creating Profiles in Visual Studio Code and Azure Data Studio

Published 2024-09-18 by Kevin Feasel

I have a new video:

In this video, I show off a not-so-well-known capability in Visual Studio Code and Azure Data Studio: creating profiles.

Profiles are very useful in Visual Studio Code, though probably less useful for Azure Data Studio. I think the primary benefit to that would be handling things like zoom levels and menu layouts when you switch from a laptop on the go to something plugged into a larger monitor.

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Migrating an Azure Data Studio Connection List

Published 2024-08-13 by Kevin Feasel

Josephine Bush packs up and moves down the road:

I wanted to migrate some connections without recreating them and wondered how to do that in Azure Data Studio. It turns out to be easy. I post about whatever I’m working on, and here’s a short one for you today.

Read on to see how to do this on Windows and MacOS. But that leaves the most critical question: what about on Linux?

Linux follows the same pattern as Windows: File –> Preferences –> Settings, and then Data –> Connection.

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SSMS 20 Minus Azure Data Studio

Published 2024-04-01 by Kevin Feasel

Erik Darling makes an observation:

I was quite publicly mystified by the coupling of Azure Data Studio into the SQL Server Management Studio installer. They’re different tools for different people.

This isn’t a tirade against Azure Data Studio, nor is it a victory lap since apparently the feedback item I posted was part of the decision to remove it.

This is purely informational, since the announcement that it’s not in there anymore is nearly as quiet as the announcement that it was being included back in SQL Server Management Studio 18.7, and only slightly louder than the availability of a command line switch to skip installing it.

I say this as someone whose primary SQL tool is Azure Data Studio: good. There’s a lot of functionality overlap between the two but it’s better making both of them optional.

Also, I’m subscribed to that same RSS feed Erik mentioned and fully agree with Erik’s assessment of Erin. Even if she is a Michigan fan.

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Azure Data Studio 1.48 Now Available

Published 2024-02-29 by Kevin Feasel

David Levy gives us the latest:

The February release of Azure Data Studio (version 1.48) includes several new features and enhancements, such as:

  • Support for restores from URLs, including S3-compatible storage, via the restore dialog
  • Query Editor now includes SPIDs in tab titles
  • You can now specify a connection when launching ADS from the command line
  • You can now enable Ledger when creating a database in the Create Database dialog

Read on for more about each of these topics.

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Cannot Create Property ‘groupid’ On String

Published 2024-02-16 by Kevin Feasel

Barney Lawrence fixes a problem in Azure Data Studio:


This is a solution to a bug I’ve encountered in Azure Data Studio when trying to create new connections. that leads to an error message of cannot create property ‘groupid’ on string ‘.

File this post under “things I couldn’t find a neat answer to in Google so I figure I’d best create a page for it”.

Read on for Barney’s answer as I lament how far downhill Google has gone as a search engine.

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Using Extended Events in Azure Data Studio

Published 2023-12-04 by Kevin Feasel

Josephine Bush tries it out:

I know I can use extended events (xevents) in Azure SQL DB when in SSMS, but I wanted to learn how to use them in Azure Data Studio (ADS).

Click through to see the normal workflow in SQL Server Management Studio, followed by the workflow in Azure Data Studio. I’d also recommend, at some point, finding good extended events sessions and saving the T-SQL to create them.

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Flat File Importation via Azure Data Studio

Published 2023-11-22 by Kevin Feasel

Josephine Bush needs to import a file:

Initially, I thought I would have to use sqlcmd because I’m on a Mac and don’t have SSMS. It turns out Azure Data Studio has a nifty way to import data from flat files – yay!

I’ve used this extension a few times in the past on Linux and Windows and it’s pretty good, especially if you have a fairly straightforward flat file. If it’s a messy file, you’ll still get inscrutable errors. And, as far as data sources go, GIGO.

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