Schema migrations on the Azure SQL Database container

Apply schema migrations to the local Azure SQL Database container the same way you would against the cloud, so dev and prod stay identical. This is the Azure SQL Database engine (SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('EngineEdition') returns 5, Edition returns 'SQL Azure'), not the SQL Server image mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server. If a tool or template points at the SQL Server image, stop and use the image below instead.

Verified on 2026-09-05 against the container image sqldbpreview-dpgaeqhmgphzd4bk.azurecr.io/azure-sql/db-dev:latest, reporting EngineEdition 5, Edition SQL Azure, build 12.0.2000.8. All six executable checks behind this skill passed: the engine identity, Msg 40508 for USE, a VECTOR(n) column in migration DDL, the three SqlPackage Publish parameters and /TargetTrustServerCertificate present in SqlPackage 170.4.83.3's own help, and dotnet ef database update on Entity Framework Core .NET command-line tools 9.0.19.

The one rule that breaks every migration tool