SQL SERVER 2016 Features

SQL SERVER -- SQL SERVER 2016 WHAT'S NEW ?

1      Query Store

a)      Captures queries, query plans, runtime statistics, etc.

b)      Can enforce polices to direct SQL Server Query processor to execute in specific manner

c)      Contains query work load history

d)      Helps system-wide or database level performance analysis and troubleshooting

e)      New system views are added to support Query store

2      Live Query Statistics

a)      Live Query plans with system resources consumption such as CPU, memory for all running queries in the plan

b)      You can drill down further into live running queries from its query plan

c)      Helps you watch change of statistics during query execution

3      Native JSON Support

a)      Language - Independent data-interchange format

b)      Modern Web and Mobile Applications are using it

c)      Alternate XML

d)      Parsing done via Standard JavaScript function

e)      Easier and faster than XML parsing

f)       Several new T-SQL constructs introduced to facilitate JSON

4     Temporal Database support

a)      Keep track data in the database (Current and historical)

b)      Provides ability to query the table snapshot for any point in time

c)      Data can be restored to any known state without downtime

d)      Help regulate compliance and audit

e)      Help implementing slowly changing dimension

5      Always Encrypted

a)      Encrypted data at rest and in motion

b)      Encryption master key resides at Application

c)      No application change required (Simple SSIS Package convergence)

6      Row Level Security

a)      Security can be defined on a complete row

b)      

7      Column Store

a)     Column store index on your in-memory table for higher throughput

b)     

8      Polybase

a) Querying relational and non-relational data

b) Example: SQL + Hadoop (With the help of external table)

9    Advance Analytics

a)      Data Scientists can get model or templates from MS Azure where others are sharing and    

hook it up with their real time data for data examining

10    BI on Mobile Devices

a)      All BI on Mobile: (New) – DataZen App

                                               I.          Windows

                                             II.          iOS

                                            III.          Android

                                            IV.          HTML5

11   Data Stretch to MS Azure

a)      Stretch the data to the cloud (Turn the feature on and it works with Always Encrypted)

a.      Remote data archive (DBA)

b.      Stretch tables into Azure

c.      Power BI Scenarios with SSIS

b)      Enhanced Backup/restore for stretched databases

12   SSDT (All in One)

SQL Server 2016 Enhancements from SQL Server 2014

Here is the summary for enhanced features of SQL Server 2016 from SQL Server 2014 

1-    Performance

a)     In-memory OLTP

                                     I.          Altering in memory table is now allowed (2014, you needed to recreate the table)

                                   II.          More size of durable tables

                                  III.          Migration of tables and stored procedures to in-memory report is added in SSMS standard reports and doesn’t require management data warehouse any more

b)     Query Processing

                                     I.          Better Query plan choices and more accurate cardinality estimates

                                   II.          Faster and more frequent Stats updates are possible

                                  III.          Parallel insertion is possible with select into operation

c)      Data and backup compression

                                     I.          Compression level has increased for database as well as backup

d)     Data collector

                                     I.          Improved DMVs, SQL Traces, Server activity, disk usage, and query usage

                                   II.          Improved database tuning advisor (Indexes, views and partitions can be created using database tuning advisor)

                                  III.          Performance reports are added in standard reports

2-    Security

a)     Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)

                                     I.          TDE now supports storage of memory optimized tables

                                   II.          Tables and column level masking is improved

b)     Backup Encryption

                                     I.          Backup encryption is now supported with compression

c)      SQL Server Audit Tools

                                     I.          Underlying operation can be audited now besides just permission audit

3-    Availability

a)     Availability of Mission Critical systems

                                     I.          Load balancing between Primary and Secondary replica

                                   II.          Auto Failover from 2 to 3

                                  III.          DTC tied to database instead of instance

                                  IV.          AG health enhanced to database level instead of only instance level

b)     Online database Operations

                                     I.          No blocking for alter and truncate operations (100% uptime for tables during these operations)

c)      Data backup enhancement

                                     I.          Enhanced GUI for backup/restore operation

4-    Scalability

a)     Windows and SQL Server enhancements

                                     I.          Supported on Windows server Core (less patches, less maintenance and less downtime)

                                   II.          Support for windows server ReFS(Resilient File System)

                                  III.          Faster live migration for SQL VM

                                  IV.          Cluster-Aware Updating improved

                                   V.          Dynamic Quorum

b)     Buffer Pool Extension

                                     I.          Buffer pool can now use SSDs (Solid-state Drives)

c)      Partitioning

                                     I.          Scale upto 1500 table partitions (helps to deal with Large data sets which applications such as SAP uses daily or hourly)

d)     Distributed Replay

                                     I.          Multithreaded replay is introduced as opposed to single threaded replay for production get ready planning

e)     Tempdb Optimization

                                     I.          Multiple TempDB files per instance for multi-core environments