A Fine Slice Of SQL Server
Priya Sathy has an announcement:
The first release candidate (RC0) of SQL Server 2025 is now available. As we move toward general availability, our focus shifts to delivering enhanced stability, performance, and product improvements based on your feedback.
There are a few new features that Priya specifies in the post, so check those out. This also puts us on track for a GA delivery right around conference season.
Leave a CommentKoen Verbeeck writes a regular expression:
I need to do some data validation in our SQL Server database. However, the validation rules are too complex for the T-SQL LIKE function, and I can’t seem to get it done either with PATINDEX or something similar. I’d like to use regular expressions as they’re more powerful. SQL Server 2025 now has a regex function regexep_like to use regular expressions.
Read on for some examples, advice on validating e-mail addresses, and more.
Leave a CommentRandolph West clears up a few misconceptions about SQL Server Management Studio 21’s installer:
There’s been some confusion lately about the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) installation process for version 21.
Before Microsoft released SSMS 21, you had to download an installer file for each release (ever since SSMS was released as a standalone product with v16). This file eventually grew to be over 1GB, which is a significant download, especially in the case of a minor update.
With SSMS 21, Microsoft changed SSMS to use the Visual Studio installer.
Read on to learn more about the ramifications of this decision. And there is still a way to install SSMS 21 in a secure environment without outbound internet access, although it does require a few more steps in addition to “download executable and then deploy executable to other machines.”
Leave a CommentPhil Yang lays out how to make a migration:
Apache Kafka has made a landmark shift in KIP-500 with the introduction of Kafka Raft (KRaft) mode, eliminating the dependency on Apache ZooKeeper for metadata management. With KRaft, the Kafka nodes themselves can be configured as KRaft controllers – which allow for metadata management and leader elections to work all within just Kafka, resulting in significant performance improvements. This cemented KRaft’s status as the metadata management protocol for Kafka moving forward.
This blog will guide you through the importance of this transition, what migrating from ZooKeeper to KRaft entails, and how we, at NetApp Instaclustr, make this seamless with our automated, streamlined process that is built into our platform.
Click through to see how you can update your own clusters, whether you’re using the Instaclustr service or not.
Leave a CommentKoen Verbeeck doesn’t believe in import-export businesses:
I want to try some of the new features in SQL Server 2025. I’ve installed the CTP 2.0 preview on a virtual machine, and now I need some sample databases to play around with. Can I use the AdventureWorks database like in previous versions of SQL Server?
The answer is yes, and read on for the process.
Leave a CommentAaron Bertrand splits a string:
SQL Server users have been asking for native regular expression support for over two decades. There are third-party Common Language Runtime (CLR) modules that offer this functionality, but these can be complicated to install and simply aren’t possible in some environments. I want to split a string using a regular expression instead of a static string. Will that be possible in SQL Server 2025, without CLR?
Must not rant about CLR. Must not rant about CLR. Must not rant about CLR. (By the way, if you ever catch me in person, get me going about how CLR got the short end of the stick and how the ‘modern’ forms of the Common Language Runtime in SQL Server are not great.)
Aaron tries out a function built into SQL Server that allows you to split strings into result sets using a regular expression to perform the splitting, and shows off some of the more complicated scenarios that this can solve over a normal STRING_SPLIT() function call.
Jon Russell clarifies the situation:
SQL Server administrators often encounter Microsoft updates labeled as “CU + GDR”, and understandably, this can cause confusion — especially when trying to stay on a consistent CU-based servicing path. This post clarifies what “CU + GDR” really means and why it’s not something to worry about.
Read on for an overview of the different security models, as well as the odd duck in SQL Server 2016.
Comments closedAndrew Pruski hits a REST API:
The sp_invoke_external_rest_endpoint stored procedure that’s available in 2025 allows for SQL Server to hit external rest endpoints…which opens up quite a few interesting options.
I was thinking about this the other day and it occurred to me that Kubernetes has a REST API
But it’s not going to be trivial to hit, so click through for the steps.
Comments closedHaripriya Naidu digs into what’s new in SQL Server’s Resource Governor:
In this article, we’ll focus on how to control TempDB datafile growth using Resource Governor (RG).
- RG is disabled by default and available only on Enterprise edition.
- Until SQL Server 2022, RG could only manage user databases.
- Starting with SQL Server 2025, RG can now manage TempDB as well.
Click through for the demo and additional information.
Comments closedEd Pollack points out a new function:
With each version of SQL Server, there are always a few new features introduced that we applaud as we finally have access to a useful function that is already available elsewhere.
Introduced in SQL Server 2025 CTP 1.3, the PRODUCT() function acts similarly to SUM(), but multiplies values rather than adds them. It is an aggregate function in SQL Server and therefore operates on a data set, rather than on scalar values.
Ed notes that there are aggregate and window function versions of PRODUCT() and shows examples of how it works.