Have you ever wished it were easier to replicate your SQL Server databases? To address this challenge, Google are announcing the general availability (GA) of Datastream’s SQL Server source. This means you can now easily and reliably replicate data from your SQL Server databases to BigQuery, Cloud Storage, and other Google Cloud destinations, unlocking the potential of your operational data for near-real-time analytics, data-driven decision-making, gen AI applications, data lakes, and more.

Datastream is a serverless change data capture (CDC) and replication service that provides a fully managed, scalable, and reliable solution for integrating your data with Google Cloud services like BigQuery and Cloud Storage. With the GA, Google have incorporated valuable feedback from customers who have been testing the preview, resulting in several key enhancements:

  • Change tables CDC: In addition to transaction log-based CDC, Datastream now supports CDC using change tables. Change tables are easy to configure and offer more flexibility in capturing data changes from a wide range of SQL Server configurations.
  • Stream recovery: You can now leverage stream recovery to restart data replication from a specific point in time, minimizing data loss in case of interruptions or failures. Read more about stream recovery in Datastream.
  • gcloud API and Terraform support: Datastream integration with gcloud API and Terraform lets you manage your data replication workflows programmatically and incorporate them into your infrastructure as code (IaC) practices.
  • Server-side SSL/TLS encryption: Datastream now supports server-side SSL/TLS encryption for enhanced security during data transmission.

Key benefits of Datastream

The goal of the Datastream service has always been to make it easier for you to replicate and synchronize your data with minimal latency. With Datastream, you can enjoy the following benefits:

  • Simplified data integration: Seamlessly connect your SQL Server databases with BigQuery and other Google Cloud services.
  • Near real-time analytics: Capture and replicate data changes in near real-time, enabling up-to-date insights.
  • Scalability and reliability: Datastream scales to handle large volumes of data and ensures reliable replication.
  • Fully managed: No need to manage infrastructure or worry about maintenance, freeing your team to focus on core tasks.

Getting started

Datastream’s SQL Server source is a valuable addition to Google Cloud’s data replication and integration capabilities. To learn more, visit the documentation.