Managed PostgreSQL vs. self-hosted PostgreSQL: Key benefits and trade-offs

By Dustin Ward

Summary This post is for technical decision makers evaluating where to run production PostgreSQL workloads. It compares two valid operating models—self-managed PostgreSQL and a managed database service—through business and operational outcomes: control, engineering capacity, resilience, security, cost predictability, risk tolerance, and access to specialist expertise. The right choice depends on which responsibilities the organization needs…

What customers value most in Microsoft Databases—from reliability to AI readiness

By Dustin Ward

In this article What customers consistently value Turning customer feedback into innovation Thank you to our customers and community Every day, customers trust Microsoft Databases to power their most critical applications, business processes, and AI-powered experiences. Continuous customer feedback provides valuable insights into how these technologies perform in production and where we should continue investing.…

Proving application resilience on Azure with Chaos Studio

By Dustin Ward

Takeaway: Azure Chaos Studio helps organizations validate application resilience by simulating outages, failovers, network disruptions, and infrastructure failures before they impact production. You don’t know with certainty that your application is resilient until that resilience is tested. Better to learn it isn’t by deliberately breaking it in a test environment and watching how it reacts,…

The performance dividend: Optimizing PostgreSQL on Azure directly in Visual Studio Code

By Dustin Ward

Poor database performance is never just a database problem. In enterprise teams, it shows up as missed service-level agreements (SLAs), delayed releases, frustrated development teams, and rising operational risk. The performance problem compounds further in business impact, often resulting in frustrated customers, retention and conversion risk, and lost revenue. I have seen this repeatedly while…

3 things leaders need to know from Microsoft Build 2026

By Dustin Ward

In this article 1. Your AI is only as good as what it knows about your business 2. Tools don’t transform organizations. Systems do. 3. The bar has moved. AI is expected to deliver real business outcomes. Your next step to build an AI-powered business Related Build headlines I’ve had a front-row seat to a…