DMS CDC Support for MSSQL 2025

AWS DMS currently supports Change Data Capture (CDC) for Microsoft SQL Server, but based on the error you're encountering, it appears that SQL Server 2025 is not yet officially supported for CDC operations. The version mapping you've identified shows that DMS recognizes versions up to SQL Server 2022 (version 16.00), with newer versions defaulting to 0, which explains the "Unsupported server/database version: 0" error message.

While full load operations work because they don't require the same level of database-specific integration, CDC requires deeper integration with SQL Server's change tracking mechanisms and transaction logs. This integration needs to be explicitly developed and tested for each new SQL Server version.

For the most current information on support timelines for SQL Server 2025, I recommend checking the AWS DMS documentation regularly, as it's updated when new database versions are supported. You can also reach out through the AWS Support Center at https://console.aws.amazon.com/support/ to inquire about the roadmap for SQL Server 2025 support and potentially express your need for this capability. AWS typically adds support for new database versions after they've been thoroughly tested, but specific timelines for future support aren't publicly disclosed in advance.

In the meantime, if CDC is critical for your use case, you may need to continue using a currently supported SQL Server version until DMS adds official support for SQL Server 2025.
Sources
Using a Microsoft SQL Server database as a source for AWS DMS - AWS Database Migration Service
Streaming state changes from a relational database | AWS re:Post
SupportedEndpointType - AWS Database Migration Service

You're hitting a genuine product gap. AWS DMS's version detection map stops at SQL Server 2022 (version 16.00), so when it sees 2025 (version 17.00) it defaults to 0 (unsupported) and CDC fails with exactly the error you reported. Full load works fine because it doesn't need the version-specific CDC hooks.

The fastest unblock is a staging instance: use SQL Server native replication to replicate from your 2025 source to a 2022 intermediate instance (EC2 or RDS), then run DMS CDC from the 2022 staging instance to your target. Adds a hop, but unblocks CDC immediately while you wait for AWS to add native 2025 support.

Two lighter alternatives if you can tolerate batch intervals instead of real-time: (1) full load plus scheduled delta syncs (no CDC at all), or (2) custom log shipping using transaction log backups parsed outside DMS (engineering-heavy, only worth it for high-value migrations where downtime isn't an option).

I do AWS migration architecture advisory work. Happy to share detailed setup steps for the staging-instance approach if that's useful.