SQL Server is the New Hunting Ground in the Cloud
You can now run Microsoft SQL Server on Google Cloud Platform. All the major cloud providers support SQL Server, either with an IAAS or PAAS model, but the offerings have very different feature sets. Providing an attractive option for migrating SQL Server to the cloud seems to be a new focus for Google, Amazon and Microsoft.
Uber Engineering Moving from Postgres to MySQL
In a recent blog post, Uber detailed why they have chosen to replace PostgreSQL with MySQL. In this article we present a high level overview of the problems they faced, how MySQL fares against them and some of the best rebuttals against the case presented by Uber.
AWS Adds Native SQL Server Backups to Database-as-a-Service
AWS released an update to its Relational Database Service (RDS) that allows users to take advantage of native SQL Server backup and restore functionality. AWS beat Microsoft Azure to market with this capability which simplifies database migration and disaster recovery scenarios.
Query Optimizer Improvements in SQL Server 2016
While the last two versions of SQL Server focused on improving performance by offering new features, SQL Server 2016 looks inwards towards improving existing functionality.
SQL Server 2016 Developer Edition is Free
In conjunction with the release of SQL Server 2016, Microsoft has announced that the Developer Edition of SQL Server will be free.
NOLOCK is Broken in SQL Server 2014 SP1
The NOLOCK directive was broken in Cumulative Update #6 for SQL Server 2014 SP1. As a result, databases that relied on that directive may experience unexpected blocking and/or deadlocks.
SQL Server 2005 is No Longer Receiving Security Updates
SQL Server 2005 has now officially hit its end of life. This means that it will no longer receive security updates and new vulnerabilities that are discovered will go unfixed. Yet a recent survey commissioned by Microsoft showed that 46% of companies using SQL Server had at least one production machine running SQL Server 2005.
SQL Server's Servicing Rules Have Changed
Microsoft has dramatically changed the support policy for SQL Server. In the past, the policy was essentially "wait for a service pack unless you have a problem". Now they want developers to proactively Cumulative Updates.
SQL Server Now Offers NoSQL Style Memory-Optimized Tables
SQL Server 2016 is removing a lot of the limitations on memory-optimized tables including the inability to work with the large documents favored by NoSQL style designs.
Microsoft SQL Server to Land on Linux
Microsoft’s executive vice president of the cloud and enterprise group Scott Guthrie announced SQL Server is coming to Linux, thus once more confirming Microsoft’s new course on open source software. SQL Server will be generally available on Linux sometime mid 2017, with a private preview being available now.
R for SQL Server 2016
SQL Server is add support for the statistical programming language R.
SQL Server 2016: Identify Regressions with Query Store
SQL Server 2016 offers a new tool for performance tuning called Query Store. This holds metrics that let you quickly see when an execution plan change has negatively impacted the database.
SQL Server 2016: Live Query Statistics
A database query times out and you don’t know why. The estimated query plan is revealing the problem, so you remove the timeout entirely. An hour later it is still running and you are no closer to getting the actual execution plan. If only there was a way to find out what is actually happening inside the server. With Live Query Statistics in SQL Server 2016 you can now answer that question.
SQL Server 2016: Dynamic Data Masking
Data masking is a necessary, but error prone process. You only need to forget the mask one time to leak sensitive data. SQL Server 2016 attempts to address this with a feature called Dynamic Data Masking.
SQL Server 2016: Row-Level Security
A common criticism for SQL Server’s security model is that it only understands tables and columns. If you want to apply security rules on a row-by-row basis, you have to simulate it using stored procedures or table value functions, and then find a way to make sure there is no way to bypass them. With SQL Server 2016, that is no longer a problem.
