Tuesday, March 17, 2026

SSIS Is Not Dead. Yet.

SSRS is gone. SQL Server 2025 shipped without it — the first version to drop SSRS entirely, with Power BI Report Server (PBIRS) as the named replacement. But what about SSIS?

There is no EOL yet, but the signals are clear. SSIS is being phased out in favor of Microsoft Fabric, which is positioned as the next-generation unified analytics platform. Look at that. They don't even call it 'ETL' anymore. Again, it's not gone yet, but Microsoft is encouraging the modernization of ETL workloads to Fabric to address the limitations of on-premise SSIS infrastructure, such as limited scalability and high maintenance overhead.

We've been here before. DTS became SSIS with SQL Server 2005 — Yukon, for those of us who were there. I was. [Thank you, Donald Farmer!] The transition wasn't a cliff either. It was deprecation notices, a long runway, and then one day DTS was just gone. The difference this time is that the runway leads to the cloud.

SSIS 2025 Shipped. Read the Fine Print.

SSIS 2025 is generally available, bundled with SQL Server 2025. Microsoft announced it at Ignite in November 2025 within the Microsoft Fabric Blog, not the SQL Server blog. That's not an accident.

Here's what shipped with SSIS 2025 — the full picture, not just the press release version.

The one new feature:

The ADO.NET connection manager now supports the Microsoft SqlClient Data Provider, with Microsoft Entra ID authentication and TLS 1.3 support. That's it. One new feature in the entire release.

What's deprecated:

Legacy Integration Services Service — the service that lets SSMS monitor packages stored in the SSIS Package Store or msdb. Not a big deal if you've migrated to the SSIS Catalog (SSISDB), but if you're still on the package deployment model, this will matter.

32-bit execution mode. SSMS 21 and SSIS Projects 2022 are 64-bit only going forward. If you have custom or third-party components that are 32-bit only, they break.

SqlClient Data Provider (SDS) connection type. The recommendation is to migrate to the ADO.NET connection type.

What's been removed entirely:

CDC components by Attunity and CDC service for Oracle by Attunity — gone. If you're using these for change data capture from Oracle, you need a replacement. Now.

Microsoft Connector for Oracle — also gone. Support ended July 2025. Not available in SQL Server 2025 onward.

Hadoop components — Hadoop Hive Task, Hadoop Pig Task, Hadoop File System Task — removed.

The breaking change nobody talks about:

The Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.IntegrationServices assembly now depends on Microsoft.Data.SqlClient instead of System.Data.SqlClient. If you have PowerShell scripts, C# automation, or deployment tooling that instantiates the IntegrationServices object, those scripts will break without updates. This one is quiet, easy to miss, and will bite you during your first post-upgrade deployment.

Where Microsoft Is Pointing

The official migration path is Microsoft Fabric Data Factory. SSIS lift-and-shift in Fabric is currently in private preview. That is the ability to run existing SSIS packages inside a Fabric workspace without rewriting them. Microsoft's framing is 'bridge, not cliff,' and that's fair. But a bridge going one direction is still a one-way bridge.

For what it's worth, SQL Server 2022 extended support runs to January 11, 2033, and SSIS goes with it. But that's seven years, not forever, and migrations of complex SSIS estates take longer than people expect.

What You Should Actually Do Right Now

Nobody is forcing you off SSIS today, but here's what's worth doing now, before anything becomes urgent:

Know what you have.

Inventory your SSIS packages. How many are there? Where are they deployed — SSIS Catalog, msdb, file system? Which ones use Oracle connectors, CDC components, or 32-bit custom components? If you can't answer those questions, you can't plan.

Check your automation scripts.

If anything in your environment uses Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.IntegrationServices — PowerShell deployment scripts, CI/CD pipelines, custom monitoring — verify it's referencing Microsoft.Data.SqlClient before you upgrade to SQL Server 2025. This is the most likely silent failure on upgrade day.

Identify your Oracle-dependent packages.

The Microsoft Connector for Oracle is gone in SSIS 2025. If you're upgrading SQL Server and you have packages using that connector, they will not work. Third-party alternatives exist — ADO.NET components, KingswaySoft, and others — but you need to know which packages are affected before upgrade day, not after.

Don't migrate to Fabric yet just because Microsoft says to.

Fabric Data Factory is a genuinely different product. It's cloud-native, SaaS, and not a drop-in replacement for on-premises SSIS. The lift-and-shift option in private preview is promising, but it's still preview. For production ETL workloads, 'let's move to Fabric' is a project, not a setting. Treat it that way.

So, Is SSIS Next?

Brent Ozar asked this question in June 2025. The community answered the SSRS half loudly. The SSIS half got quiet. Here's my answer.

No EOL date has been announced. SSIS 2025 shipped, which means Microsoft is still investing in it — just barely, and clearly with both eyes on Fabric. The trajectory is obvious even if the timeline isn't. SSRS got a clean announcement and a named replacement. SSIS is getting a slower walk toward the exit, with a Fabric-shaped door at the end of the hallway.

I think Brent put it well in his comments: without a fully on-premises replacement for SSIS, Microsoft can't make a clean announcement the way they did with SSRS. The closest thing on-premise shops have is a self-hosted integration runtime — but the control still depends on the cloud.

For now: don't panic, do inventory, review your automation scripts, and watch what happens with SSIS lift-and-shift in Fabric once it goes GA. That's when the real Fabric migration conversation starts. Let me know how I can help.

More to Read:

What's New in Integration Services in SQL Server 2025 — Microsoft Learn
The Evolution of SSIS: SSIS 2025 Generally Available — Microsoft Fabric Blog
SSIS Microsoft Connector for Oracle Deprecation — Microsoft SQL Server Blog
SQL Server 2022 Lifecycle — Microsoft Learn

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