AWS RDS adds SQL Server 2025 with native vector type and Bedrock integration

Full analysis

Amazon RDS for SQL Server now supports Microsoft SQL Server 2025 (Enterprise, Standard, and Developer editions), bringing two features directly relevant to agent builders. First, SQL Server 2025 lets developers call external REST endpoints from within T-SQL queries — the structured query language for SQL databases — without extra middleware, enabling direct integration with AWS services including Amazon Bedrock (AWS's managed AI/foundation-model service), SageMaker, S3, and Lambda. This opens paths to AI-powered query advisors and event-driven workflows without re-architecting existing database applications.

Second, SQL Server 2025 introduces a native vector data type, allowing vector embeddings — the numerical representations used in semantic search and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems — to be stored and queried directly inside the database engine. AWS also notes licensing improvements: a new free Standard Developer Edition and expanded Standard Edition capacity (up to 32 cores, 256 GB memory). Existing RDS customers can upgrade by changing the DB engine version; on-premises SQL Server users can migrate to take advantage of the managed infrastructure.