Steps involved in Azure ARC Enabled SQL server Migration

Once you enable Azure Arc on your SQL Server, the migration process follows the familiar four-step workflow used in most SQL Server migrations:

1. Source Assessment

2. Target Selection

3. Data Migration

4. Monitoring & Cutover

The major advantage of using Arc-enabled servers is that all these steps can be performed directly within the Azure portal. There’s no need for separate tools like DMA (Data Migration Assistant) or DMS (Data Migration Service), simplifying the entire migration experience.

Let’s walk through each stage in detail:

1. Assess migration readiness – SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc:-

When you enable a SQL Server instance with Azure Arc, Azure automatically creates a migration readiness assessment to evaluate how ready that server is for migration to Azure. This is part of planning and modernizing your SQL Server deployment toward Azure cloud services. 

What the Migration Assessment Does

The built‑in assessment automatically and repeatedly evaluates your SQL Server to help you plan a move to Azure SQL offerings. It:

1. Checks cloud readiness and highlights potential risks and blockers.

2. Suggests the best Azure SQL service type (like Azure SQL Managed Instance, SQL on Azure VMs, or Azure SQL Database) based on your server’s needs.

3. Recommends right‑sized configurations based on performance data.

4. Estimates retail pricing for the recommended Azure targets.

5. Runs weekly automatically by default, but you can also run it manually. 

Key Features

1. Readiness Evaluation — determines if your SQL Server instance and databases are compatible with various Azure SQL targets and flags areas to fix.

2. Size and Configuration Suggestions — uses performance history to recommend appropriate Azure service tiers.

3. Cost Estimates — lets you compare expected monthly costs based on your configuration choices.

4. Migration Strategy Guidance — offers a strategy to choose between modernization (PaaS) or cost‑focused options. 

2. Target Selection:-

This is the most important part after assessment but here it's part of assessment. You can even select and prepare your target separately if you want.  

1. Guided Recommendation – The tool analyzes your SQL Server instance and databases, then suggests the most suitable Azure SQL target based on your workloads. Options include:

• Azure SQL Managed Instance – best for near‑full SQL Server compatibility and easy migration.

• Azure SQL Database – ideal for modern, cloud-native applications with lower administrative overhead.

• SQL Server on Azure VM – maintains full control over SQL Server features and OS configuration.

2. Compatibility Evaluation – Identifies features, configurations, or workloads that may not migrate directly, helping you choose the target that requires the least effort.

3. Cost and Sizing Insights – Provides recommendations for service tier, compute size, and storage for the chosen target to optimize both performance and cost.

4. Strategic Guidance – Helps decide between a PaaS modernization path or a lift-and-shift approach depending on your priorities (e.g., ease of management vs. full control).

3. Data Migration:-  Data Migration can be started after Assessment and Target Selection is completed , by clicking Migrate Data tab in above screen with ease and the benefits of this step are detailed below. 

1. End‑to‑End Migration Flow

• Once your Azure Arc–enabled SQL Server is assessed and a migration target is selected, you can migrate databases directly from the Azure portal. The experience is fully managed and automated.

2. Built‑in Migration Support

• Migration to Azure SQL Managed Instance is the supported path from the database migration pane in the portal. You choose this as the target and then proceed with migrating data.

3. Guided Migration Steps

• The migration feature provides a step‑by‑step workflow you follow after picking your target. This includes:

• Assessing Source Instance – ensure readiness before moving forward.

• Selecting or Creating Target – choose an existing or create a new Azure SQL Managed Instance.

• Initiating Data Migration – begin moving your SQL Server databases.

4. Automated and Portal‑Based Experience

• All these steps are integrated into the Azure portal’s Database Migration pane so you don’t have to switch tools; results and migration progress are displayed within the same UI.

5. Simplified and Managed Process

• Azure handles much of the migration workflow automatically, supporting schema and data movement without manual setup beyond initial target configuration and source assessment. 

But here we have one more thing to decide , which methods we need to choose for Data Migration which are based on different Use Cases. Both the options takes time to set up hence will be covered separately in next article. 

4. Monitoring and Cutover :-

From the Monitor Migrations Tab,we can monitor the data movement during the Data migration. This gives a clear picture of all data movement at object level with number rows moved and / or in transit.

Once Data migration is completed and Source and target are in sync state, applications on the source can be paused/ disconnected and then cutover can be initiated from the same pane. 

We can get more details on the Microsoft Learn pages as shown below:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/azure-arc/migration-overview?view=sql-server-ver17 – this article gives an overview of how SQL Server migration works when your instance is enabled with Azure Arc, including assessing readiness, selecting targets, and performing migrations directly from the Azure portal.