Last week at Microsoft Data Amp, the name for the next release of SQL Server was announced – SQL Server 2017. SQL Server 2017 brings the industry-leading performance and security of SQL Server to Windows, Linux, and Docker containers. At the same time, Microsoft announced the Community Technology Preview (CTP) 2.0. CTP 2.0 is the first production-quality preview of SQL Server 2017 and it is available on both Windows and Linux. Check out the download the preview.
April has been a busy month in the Microsoft Data Platform space so be sure to check out my top picks for the month:
FREE SQL Server 2017 Workshops
To find out more about what the next release of SQL Server means to your organisation and how you can take advantage of these new features and capabilities, check out our blog post and register your interest for our free SQL Server 2017 workshops.
Performance Baselining Reports
The SQL Server Tiger Team have blogged about how to establish SQL Server Performance baseline. The post outlines how you can leverage the SQL Server Performance Baselining reporting solution in the Tiger Toolbox GitHub repository to achieve this.
New DMF Available for Statistic Histograms
Statistics being the building blocks on which the Query Optimizer reasons to compile a good enough plan to resolve queries. It’s very common that anyone doing query performance troubleshooting needs to use DBCC SHOW_STATISTICS to understand how statistics are being used and how accurately they represent data distribution. The latest update for SQL Server 2016 SP1 brings all new functionality to access this data on the fly without the need for programmatic access.
The top 5 reasons to upgrade to SQL Server 2016
Upgrading your software can be daunting, we know. The cadence of business often means that upgrades fall in the category of “I’ll do it when I have time”. However here are 5 key reasons to make time to upgrade to SQL Server 2016, which was named DBMS of the Year in 2016 by DBengines.com.
Microsoft Deep Learning Toolkit
The Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit, previously known as CNTK, is a system for deep learning used to speed advances in areas such as speech and image recognition and search relevance on CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs. The Cognitive Toolkit can be used on-premises or in the cloud with Azure GPUs. The latest version of the toolkit is available on GitHub via an open source license.
Oracle to SQL Server Migration
Over the past few months, we’ve seen an increase in the number of organisations looking to migrate from Oracle to SQL Server. Data Platform consultant, Peter Susnjara explains the process we follow to ensure smooth and successful transition.
Microsoft Power BI – from concept to dashboard
Interested in using Power BI? Peter Nuttall, Business Intelligence & Reporting Manager at RACT explains how our Power BI Quickstart enabled them to take the next step “WARDYs Power BI Quickstart allowed our team to take Power BI from concept to dashboard in a week with training and consultancy along the way”.
World Class DBAs at your service
The Virtual DBA service is a 24x7x365, remote database administration service helping organisations to meet the day-to-day challenges of managing critical Microsoft SQL Server databases. Matthew Linscott, Chief Information Officer at Spinal Life Australia said “The Virtual DBA service provides us with world class, pro-active SQL server support at a fraction of the cost.”
