A Fine Slice Of SQL Server
Amit Khandelwal has notes on SQL Server 2022 on Linux:
In continuation of last week’s announcement of SQL Server 2022 public preview, we are pleased to announce availability of SQL Server 2022 on Linux/Containers for public preview. Here are the details for getting started with the SQL Server 2022 public preview packages on Linux/Containers.
As usual, the officially supported distributions are Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Ubuntu.
Comments closedRyan Majidimehr lays out some updates for Azure Synapse Analytics:
Serverless SQL pools let you query files in the data lake without knowing the schema upfront. The best practice was to specify the lengths of character columns to get optimal performance. Not anymore!
Previously, you had to explicitly define the schema to get optimal query performance. In this case, the column countries_and_territories is defined as varchar(50):
There are some interesting updates in this month’s release, including the public preview of Azure Synapse Link for SQL, which connects to Azure SQL DB and SQL Server 2022.
Comments closedAaron Bertrand has a three-parter on obscure changes in SQL Server 2022. First up we have some new information:
You can get the marketing blitz from just about anywhere, and the What’s New documentation for the bigger hitters from the technical side.
But what about the changes that aren’t on the highlight reel at Build and aren’t getting all the attention from the media blitz? I’m a details person, so I get a lot of insight looking around at the little, non-headline-generating things that have changed. I’ve shown before how to sneak a peek under the hood, and I’m going to do it again today:
Then we have feature selection changes:
You will notice some changes in the Feature Selection screen. Some of the options have been consolidated; for example, you now get R, Python, and Java with MLS, instead of picking. One item has been added: SQL Server Extension for Azure. Unfortunately, this option is checked by default in the CTP 2.0 version of setup (click to enlarge):
Finally, we have execution plan changes:
As a former technical product manager for Plan Explorer, I can’t help but snoop around in what has changed in the XSD for showplan. Even though I am not the best person to actually analyze what those changes mean, and even though changes in XSD don’t necessarily reflect changes the engine can produce right now – these usually lay the groundwork for engine changes that will happen later.
There’s quite a lot of information available for those willing to dig, as Aaron shows.
Comments closedTom Zika checks out some extended events:
It has been announced today (2022-05-24) during the MS Build event. The blog post includes a download link. Unfortunately, the Docker container is not quite ready yet.
Anyway, because I’m a #TeamXE, I had to check out if there are any new goodies there. So, I took an XE event list from Microsoft SQL Server 2019 (RTM-CU16) and the new one from Microsoft SQL Server 2022 (CTP2.0) and compared them.
There are a lot of new events—click through to see how many.
Comments closedTaiob Ali has a round-up of interesting SQL Server 2022 links:
– Announcing JSON Enhancements in Azure SQL Database and SQL Server 2022 by Umachandar Jayachandran
– Ledger now generally available in Azure SQL Database by Pieter Vanhove
Click through for plenty more.
Comments closedSQL server 2022 (SQL Dallas) has added what is called “Contained Availability Groups”, coming as a nice surprise to many DBAs or other admins out there (incidental DBAs, small shops, etc.) which *could* severely remove a large chunk of administrative overhead and challenges. There’s quite a lot to like about them, but like all things in life there are also some drawbacks that one needs to be aware exist, while these are a giant and amazing step forward for AGs, much like any other tool it has its place and time.
Definitely read the pros and cons of this before giving it a try in the 2022 preview.
Comments closedDavide Mauri opens up a preview:
A new, exciting capability for Azure SQL Database has been announced today at //Build: Azure SQL Database has a new built-in feature that allows native integration with external REST endpoints. This means that integration of Azure SQL Database with Azure Functions, Azure Logic Apps, Cognitive Services, Event Hubs, Event Grid, Azure Containers, API Management and in general any REST or even GraphQL endpoint is just one line of code away. The feature is one of the most requested by developers and MVPs and it enormously reduces the friction to integrate Azure services with Azure SQL Database.
Hmm, on the one hand, I can see this being useful. On the other hand, ASMX in SQL Server 2005, anybody?
Comments closedChuck Heinzelman makes an announcement:
Azure Synapse Link for SQL is an automated system for replicating data from your transactional databases (both SQL Server 2022 and Azure SQL Database) into a dedicated SQL pool in Azure Synapse Analytics. The process of setting up a link from your SQL data to Azure Synapse takes just a few clicks and a matter of minutes rather than hours or days for traditional ETL processes. Once configured, your initial data is replicated into the target dedicated SQL pool. After the initial table seeding, changes made to your source data are replicated in near real-time.
I’ll be interested in seeing how it performs and how efficient that change feed processor is.
Comments closedPeter Carlin has some good news:
Today, we are excited to announce the public preview of SQL Server 2022. Anyone can now download SQL Server 2022 preview to try the new features in this release.
Click through for a quick overview of things available in the preview, as well as where to get it.
Comments closedUmchandar Jayachandran has an announcement:
Today, we are announcing the public preview of JSON enhancements in Azure SQL Database and SQL Server 2022 CTP 2.0. This preview contains an enhancement to ISJSON function and three new JSON functions – JSON_PATH_EXISTS, JSON_OBJECT and JSON_ARRAY. Currently, the ISJSON function allows you to test if a string value contains a valid JSON object or array. The new optional json_type_constraint parameter in ISJSON function can now be used to test conformance of JSON documents to the IETF RFC 8259 specification. This capability allows you to test for strings that contain a JSON value, scalar, object, or array. This functionality is like the IS JSON predicate in the ANSI SQL standard. The new JSON_PATH_EXISTS function allows you to test for the existence of a specific SQL/JSON path expression in a JSON document. This functionality is like the JSON_EXISTS predicate in the ANSI SQL standard. The new ANSI SQL compatible JSON value constructors – JSON_OBJECT and JSON_ARRAY functions allow you to construct JSON object or array from SQL data.
Even if you don’t store data in JSON format, there are good reasons why you might need to accept data in JSON format (or emit data in JSON format), especially when working with languages like R and Python.
Comments closed