The Future of Managing Databases in a Hybrid IT World

When you work in information technology long enough, you get to see how people react when something new comes along. Some people embrace change, even to the point of being an early adopter. Others might use a wait-and-see approach. And then there is the group of people who are afraid of change in any form. 

Read more at http://sqlmag.com/sql-server/future-managing-databases-hybrid-it-world

DB-Engines Ranking

It is very common to compare the databases for marketing or for fun. http://db-engines.com/en/ranking has done the ranking for the database engine.

SQL Server has the major gain while Oracle has the major slip though it is still gaining the number one position. Following is the trend for the ranking of Database Engine. 

Point in Time Recovery with SQL Server

Read my latest article on Point in Time Recovery. 
http://www.sqlshack.com/point-in-time-recovery-with-sql-server

Azure SQL Data Warehouse with Improved Loading and Monitoring in Azure Portal and SSMS

Azure SQL Data Warehouse has received some significant changes in the Azure Portal, including Azure Data Factory integration, a new troubleshooting blade, and changes to the query drill-down blade

Read more https://winbuzzer.com/2016/12/20/microsoft-updates-azure-sql-data-warehouse-improved-loading-monitoring-azure-portal-ssms-xcxwbn/.

Microsoft R Server 9.0 now available

Microsoft today announced the availability of R Server 9.0 on MSDN and Visual Studio Dev Essentials. This new release is built on top of the latest open source R engine, and comes with several new capabilities. In MRS 9.0, you can combine the algorithms delivered in this package with pre-existing parallel external memory algorithms such as the RevoScaleR package as well as open source tech like CRAN R packages to deliver the best predictive analytics.

Read more at https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-r-server-9-0-now-available-download/

http://www.cio.com/article/3147822/analytics/microsoft-pushes-r-sql-server-integration.html

Big Announcements in SQL Server 2016

As of SQL Server 2016 SP1, which was shipped this month, from a programmability perspective there is no difference between the editions anymore. All programmability features will be available in all editions from LocalDB to Enterprise edition.

Read more at http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/sql-server/big-announcements-in-sql-server-2016/

Redgate Announces New SQL Server Database Cloning Tool

Redgate, a Cambridge-UK based software company that develops SQL Server tools, has launched the beta of its new database cloning tool called SQL Clone that enables databases to be cloned quickly, while saving up to 99% of disk space.

According to the company, the new technology resolves a long-standing issue in software development. Typically, this involves database administrators having to provision a copy of the database for each developer request, which takes up valuable time as well as disk space. The result is that teams end up working on outdated versions of the database in a shared environment, rather than having the freedom to work on isolated local versions that can be created and deleted rapidly.

Read more http://www.dbta.com/Editorial/News-Flashes/Redgate-Announces-New-SQL-Server-Database-Cloning-Tool-114985.aspx

CREATE OR ALTER In One Statment

When ever we execute stored procedure script, we always drop the existing one and recreate it.

IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.procedures WHERE Name = 'Test')
BEGIN
DROP PROC Test
END
GO

CREATE PROCEDURE Test
AS
BEGIN
       SELECT 1
END

However, with SQL Server 2016 SP1, now there is easy way of doing with one statement.

CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE Test

AS

BEGIN

         SELECT 1

END

Obvious advantage is this is much cleaner now. This feature is available for Functions, Triggers and Views as well. 

There is an another important benefits out of this.

If you check the stored procedure stats for the drop and create method by running the following query, you will end up with below results. 

SELECT name,create_date,modify_date

 FROM sys.procedures WHERE Name = 'Test'

In this, both the create and the modify dates are same. However, for the new method, now it has a different modify date which means you can track your objects much better. 

SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 1 (SP1) released

Microsoft has announced the availability of SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 1 (SP1). With SQL Server 2016 SP1 key improvements were made allowing a consistent programmability surface area for developers and organizations across SQL Server editions.

2. Now express edition has the lot of features where it was limited to enterprise before. Partitioning, Compression ad In Memory OLTP will be available now for Standard and Express as well.




2. DBCC CLONEDATABASE is added which was missing in SQL Server 2016 RTM and was with SQL Server 2014.

3. Tempdb supportability – A new Errorlog message indicating the number of tempdb files and notifying different size/autogrowth of tempdb data files at server startup.

4, DROP TABLE support for replication – DROP TABLE DDL support for replication to allow replication articles to be dropped.

For all the details, please refer to https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sqlreleaseservices/sql-server-2016-service-pack-1-sp1-released/

Microsoft announces the next version SQL Server for Windows and Linux

Microsoft’s announcement that it was bringing its flagship SQL Server database software to Linux came as a major surprise when the company first announced this in March. Until now, the preview was invite-only, but as Microsoft announced today, anybody who wants to give it a try can now download the bits. That public preview is part of the launch of the next version of SQL Server, which will be the first one that’s available for both Windows and Linux.

Read more at https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/16/microsofts-sql-server-for-linux-is-now-available-for-testing/