Azure

Microsoft recently announced that Azure Durable Functions support for the new storage providers, Netherite and Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL), is generally ...

By default, new projects are configured to use the [Azure Storage provider](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/durable/durable-functions-storage-providers#azure-storage); however, a developer can choose another backend, including the now generally available [Netherite](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/durable/quickstart-netherite) and [MSSQL](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/durable/quickstart-mssql). In addition, the Azure Functions Core Tools and the Azure Arc App Service extension have been updated to support automatically configuring Durable Function apps on a Kubernetes cluster with the [MSSQL KEDA scaler](https://keda.sh/docs/scalers/mssql/) for elastic scale-out. It provides [better throughput performance](https://www.vldb.org/pvldb/vol15/p1591-burckhardt.pdf) achieved by representing states differently than Azure Storage – also visible through [HelloCities5 benchmark tests](https://microsoft.github.io/durabletask-netherite/#/throughput) the company conducted. [Netherite](https://microsoft.github.io/durabletask-netherite/#/README) and [MSSQL](https://microsoft.github.io/durabletask-mssql/#/). [Azure SQL Database](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/sql-database-paas-overview), [Edge devices](https://azure.microsoft.com/products/azure-sql/edge/), and [Linux containers](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-docker-container-deployment). [https://microsoft.github.io/durabletask-netherite/#/throughput](https://microsoft.github.io/durabletask-netherite/#/throughput) [https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/apps-on-azure-blog/new-storage-providers-for-azure-durable-functions/ba-p/2382044](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/apps-on-azure-blog/new-storage-providers-for-azure-durable-functions/ba-p/2382044) [Davide Mauri](https://twitter.com/mauridb), a principal product manager of Azure SQL DB at Microsoft, [posted](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7021905150105567232/) on LinkedIn: [several storage providers](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/durable/durable-functions-storage-providers), also called "backends," for storing [orchestration](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/durable/durable-functions-orchestrations?tabs=csharp) and [entity](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/durable/durable-functions-entities?tabs=csharp) runtime states. In addition, these functions can have [Azure Event Hubs](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/event-hubs/event-hubs-about) and the [FASTER](https://www.microsoft.com/research/project/faster/) database technology on top of [Azure Page Blobs](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/storage-blob-pageblob-overview) to store state information. [previewed](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/apps-on-azure-blog/new-storage-providers-for-azure-durable-functions/ba-p/2382044) the storage backends Netherite and MSSQL as new storage options allowing developers to run durable functions at a larger scale, with greater price-performance efficiency and more portability than the default Azure Storage configuration. [Azure Durable Functions](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/durable/durable-functions-overview) support for the new storage providers, Netherite and Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL), is generally available.