Archive

Archive for the ‘SQL Server Versions’ Category

What is external tables for in SQL Server 2016 ? – MSDN TSQL forum

May 1, 2016 1 comment

–> Question:

Running 2016 CTP3.

I would appreciate your personal comments/experience more than links.
 

–> Answer:

External Tables in SQL Server 2016 are to setup the new Polybase feature with SQL Server.

With this new feature (Polybase) you can connect to Azure blog storage or Hadoop to query non-relational data from SSMS and integrate with SQL Server relational tables.

You can check some details here, where I’ve : https://sqlwithmanoj.com/2015/05/29/installing-sql-server-2016-ctp2-and-new-features-in-ssms/

Check here how to setup Polybase: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-IN/library/mt163689.aspx

 

Ref link.

Categories: SQL Server 2016 Tags: , ,

Microsoft PSS – SQL 2016 Series: It just runs faster | April updates

April 30, 2016 2 comments

Microsoft PSS Engineers have built a series on “It Just Runs Faster”!

“In the Sep 2014 the SQL Server CSS and Development teams performed a deep dive focused on scalability and performance when running on current and new hardware configurations. The SQL Server Development team tasked several individuals with scalability improvements and real world testing patterns. You can take advantage of this effort packaged in SQL Server 2016. – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/sql-server-2016/”

SQL 2016 will run faster in many ways, without changing code.
 

The series kickoff is here:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/02/23/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-announcement/
 

Previous updates:

Microsoft PSS – SQL 2016 Series: It just runs faster | Feb-March updates


 

The announcements so far in April are:

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: Updated Scheduling Algorithms
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/04/01/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-updated-scheduling-algorithms/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: Dynamic Memory Object (CMemThread) Partitioning
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/04/06/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-dynamic-memory-object-cmemthread-partitioning/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: SOS_RWLock Redesign
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/04/07/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-sos_rwlock-redesign/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: Indirect Checkpoint Default
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/04/12/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-indirect-checkpoint-default/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: Larger Data File Writes
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/04/15/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-larger-data-file-writes/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: Multiple Log Writer Workers
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/04/19/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-multiple-log-writer-workers/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: Column Store Uses Vector Instructions (SSE/AVX)
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/04/22/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-column-store-uses-vector-instructions-sseavx/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster – BULK INSERT Uses Vector Instructions (SSE/AVX)
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/04/27/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-bulk-insert-uses-vector-instructions-sseavx/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: AlwaysOn Log Transport Reduced Context Switches
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/04/28/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-alwayson-log-transport-reduced-context-switches/

 

Check my blog posts on most of the new features released in SQL Server 2016 here

SQL Server 2016 – Articles


 

Categories: SQL Server 2016 Tags:

Download & Install SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 2016 (decoupled from SQL Server engine setup)

April 6, 2016 4 comments

 
In my [previous blog] post of SQL Server 2016 RC0 availability, I mentioned regarding SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) that it will no longer be installed from the main feature tree of SQL Server engine setup.
 

As per Microsoft, this is basically to support the move to make a universal version of SSMS that ships every month or so.

 
So, now on wards after installing SQL Server 2016 you need to install SSMS separately.
 

–> Till SQL Server 2014 you have an option of choosing SSMS in the Feature selection tree, but with SQL Server 2016 and on wards this option is taken out, can be seen in the pic below:

Click to expand

–> Now to download SSMS 2016 you can either visit the Microsoft [download page]

Or, try installing directly via the “Installation Center” as shown below. This will install SSMS directly online.

Click to expand

So, once you take appropriate action above to download SSMS 2016, the Installation kicks off like this:


 
And here is the version information of SSMS 2016 after successful installation:

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio	 13.0.12000.65
Microsoft Analysis Services Client Tools 13.0.1100.213
Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC)	 10.0.10586.0
Microsoft MSXML				 3.0 6.0 
Microsoft Internet Explorer		 9.11.10586.0
Microsoft .NET Framework		 4.0.30319.42000
Operating System			 6.3.10586

 

Tech Tip: Move your SQL server onto the cloud with Hosted Citrix VDI available unbelievable citrix xendesktop pricing and get an easy remote access to it from anywhere on any device(PC/Mac/Linux/android/iOS) powered by one of the leading providers of cloud hosting – Apps4Rent.

 

Check my blog posts on most of the new features released in SQL Server 2016
 

Categories: SQL Server 2016 Tags: , ,

Good news – Microsoft makes SQL Server “Developer Edition” free for developers !

April 1, 2016 3 comments

 
Microsoft on 31st March 2016 announced the free availability of Developer Edition of SQL Server, currently 2014. The Developer Edition is meant for development and testing only, and not for production environments or for use with production data.

SQL Server 2014 Dev Ed free

With SQL Server 2014 Developer edition developers can build any kind of application on top of SQL Server. It includes all the functionality of Enterprise edition, but is licensed for use as a development and test system, not as a production server.

So, with this edition you are getting the Database Engine as well as DW/BI capabilities ( i.e. SSIS /AS /RS) for free 🙂

 

[Download the SQL Server 2014 Developer Edition free here]
 

This is a very good news for Developers, as till now the SQL Server Express edition used to be the free database for entry-level development, which has lot of limitations like:

1. Only Database Engine, no DW/BI suit (absence of SSIS/RS/AS).

2. Max size of a DataBase is set to 10GB (but you can create multiple databases)

3. No SQL Agent

4. Single CPU utilization

5. Max 1 GB RAM allocation

6. Max 16 number of instances per server
 

Hence this is a very good deal that you can now get full featured suit of SQL Server with Database Engine as well as with all DW/BI capabilities for free to play, develop and learn with.
 

Categories: Microsoft, SQL Server, SQL Server 2014 Tags: ,

Microsoft PSS – SQL 2016 Series: It just runs faster | Feb-March updates

March 28, 2016 1 comment

Microsoft PSS Engineers have built a series on “It Just Runs Faster”!

“In the Sep 2014 the SQL Server CSS and Development teams performed a deep dive focused on scalability and performance when running on current and new hardware configurations. The SQL Server Development team tasked several individuals with scalability improvements and real world testing patterns. You can take advantage of this effort packaged in SQL Server 2016. – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/sql-server-2016/”

SQL 2016 will run faster in many ways, without changing code.
 

The series kickoff is here:

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/02/23/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-announcement/
 

The first article in this series came out the end of February:

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: DBCC Scales 7x Better
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/02/25/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-dbcc-scales-7x-better/
 

The announcements so far in March are:

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: DBCC Extended Checks
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/03/01/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-dbcc-extended-checks/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: Native Spatial Implementation(s)
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/03/03/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-native-spatial-implementations/

SQL Server Parallel Query Placement Decision Logic
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/03/04/sql-server-parallel-query-placement-decision-logic/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: TVPs with Spatial Column(s)
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/03/08/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-tvps-with-spatial-columns/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: Spatial Index Builds Faster
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/03/10/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-spatial-index-builds-faster/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: -T1117 and -T1118 changes for TEMPDB and user databases
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/03/15/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-t1117-and-t1118-changes-for-tempdb-and-user-databases/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: Automatic TEMPDB Configuration
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/03/17/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-automatic-tempdb-configuration/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: LDF Stamped
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/03/22/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-ldf-stamped/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: Instant File Initialization
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/03/25/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-instant-file-initialization/

SQL 2016 – It Just Runs Faster: Automatic Soft NUMA
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/psssql/2016/03/30/sql-2016-it-just-runs-faster-automatic-soft-numa/
 

Check my blog posts on most of the new features released in SQL Server 2016 here

SQL Server 2016 – Articles

 

Categories: SQL Server 2016 Tags: