SQL with Manoj

Microsoft today (01-Dec-2015) announced the CTP 3.1 update of the recently and initially released Community Technology Preview (CTP) 2.x & 3.0 versions of SQL Server 2016.
 

[Register and Download the CTP 3.1 Evaluation version (180 days) here]
 

–> Direct download link (~2.58 GB):

– Download the single ISO: SQLServer2016CTP3.0-x64-ENU.iso

– Or download both EXE & BOX files:
– – Box file SQLServer2016-x64-ENU.box
– – EXE file SQLServer2016-x64-ENU.exe
 

–> Check version and SQL build:

select @@version

Microsoft SQL Server 2016 (CTP3.1) – 13.0.800.111 (X64) Nov 21 2015 16:40:33 Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation Enterprise Evaluation Edition (64-bit) on Windows 10 Enterprise 6.3 (Build 10240: )
 

–> Following are enhancements in some areas:

1. New In-Memory OLTP improvements, including Unique indexes, LOB data types, and Indexes with NULLable key columns.

2. The COMPRESS and DECOMPRESS functions convert values into and out of the GZIP algorithm.

3. Programmability improvement for DATEDIFF_BIG and AT TIME ZONE functions.

4. New view sys.time_zone_info added to support date and time interactions.

5. Enhancements to StretchDB, compatible with AlwaysOn and unmigrate the data that Stretch Database has migrated to Azure.

6. Enhancements to SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), upgrade your existing Tabular models from 1100/1103 to 1200 compatibility level, Roles support for Tabular 1200 model, and a JSON editor for SSDT.

7. PowerPivot and SSRS/Power View are now available for SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2.
 

I’ve covered very few and important points here, you can check all the updates here in [SQL Server blog for CTP 3.1] with details.
 

For all these new features released in SQL Server 2016, check my blog posts here.
 

So, download the Preview today and start playing with the new features and plan your DB migration/upgrade.
 

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