A Fine Slice Of SQL Server
Koen 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.
Leave a CommentAndrew 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.
Leave a CommentHaripriya 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.
Leave a CommentEd 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.
Brent Ozar shares the numbers:
In this quarter’s update of our SQL ConstantCare® population report, showing how quickly (or slowly) folks adopt new versions of SQL Server, the data is very similar to last quarter. SQL Server 2019 still rules the market:
Click through to see where people are at in Brent’s sample of the market. Alan Cranfield has some numbers for SQL Server on AWS and those come pretty close to what Brent’s sample shows as well.
Comments closedBrent Ozar looks under the covers:
When CTP 2.0 came out, I blogged the thousands of new feature flags, messages, and system objects in SQL Server 2025 CTP 2.0, and I haven’t had the time to dig more deeply into those yet. In that post, I discussed the new sys.dm_feature_switches table, and I mentioned that it might disappear before release. Indeed it has – last week’s new CTP 2.1 removed access to that table, meaning that was probably our one-time shot to get a glimpse into something cool and undocumented. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when folks at Microsoft read my blog post and realized they’d left that table unguarded and publicly visible, hahaha. I love my job.
So now CTP 2.1 is out, and it comes with a few things I think you’re going to be interested in.
Read on to see what Brent has found.
Comments closedEd Pollack gives us the lowdown:
Columnstore indexes are a powerful tool for storing analytic data directly in SQL Server. This feature has improved in every version of SQL Server since their inception over ten years ago, and SQL Server 2025 is no exception!
The newest enhancements are laser-focused on business continuity and performance. Ordered clustered columnstore indexes, ordered non-clustered columnstore indexes, and database/file shrink operations are all given significant boosts that are worth the time to introduce and learn.
In this article we will dive into each of these changes, how they impact columnstore workloads in SQL Server, and demonstrate their operation.
Read on to see what we’ve got. Nothing in here is ground-breaking, but it’s a set of nice quality of life improvements.
Comments closedKevin Hill disambiguates product offerings:
Let’s break down the main SQL Server editions: Express, Web, Standard, and Enterprise as well as what makes each one different. Not just in features, but in what they let you do… or stop you from doing.
Click through to learn more about each edition, what it offers, and what official limitations exist.
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