Slava Oks explains the importance of the SQL Platform Abstraction Layer:
In addition to business matters, Hal’s article highlights key drawbacks which need to be addressed around engineering as well as product supportability for the endeavor to be successful. The article affirms that bringing SQL Server to *nix platform is not the hardest task compare to the additional work that the journey would require. Indeed, in order for the project to be successful the team would have to:
- Bring other SQL Server inbox products such as SSAS along
- Implement platform specific features such as CLR, AGs, and much more
- Guarantee adequate performance and scalability
- Create new ecosystem around product support, engineering systems and more.
So throughout the course of the work, I have continued to question the path we have been on and if we succeed at the end or not. Every time I would go back, reread the article and every time I would come to the same favorable conclusion. But why?
Slava links to this article from December from the data platform team explaining what SQLPAL is. In the end, I think the benefits of this model will be much larger than SQL on Linux (which is itself large).