Get moving installing SQL Server 2016 SP1

SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 1 is released  and now generally available(GA).

According to the above release blog:

Many of the features (listed in the table here) available in Enterprise Edition are now available in several other editions as well after installing the SP1 (Standard, web, express and LocalDB).

SQLSrvrSp1_00

Note that Change Data Capture requires SQL Server Agent not available in Express and In Memory OLTP not possible in LocalDB due to security reasons

DBCC CLONEDATABASE added supports cloning of CLR, Filestream/Filetable, Hekaton and Query Store objects are available after installing SP1

DBCC CLONEDATABASE  (source_database_name, target_database_name)    –– Default CLONE WITH SCHEMA, STATISTICS and QUERYSTORE metadata.
DBCC CLONEDATABASE  (source_database_name, target_database_name) WITH NO_STATISTICS                                                                                               –– SCHEMA AND QUERY STORE ONLY CLONE
DBCC CLONEDATABASE  (source_database_name, target_database_name) WITH NO_QUERYSTORE                                                                                              –– SCHEMA AND STATISTICS ONLY CLONE
DBCC CLONEDATABASE  (source_database_name, target_database_name) WITH NO_STATISTICS,NO_QUERYSTORE                                                          –– SCHEMA ONLY CLONE
New Create/Alter supports modifying and deploying database objects such as
Stored Procedures, 
Triggers, 
User–Defined Functions, and 
Views

This is just a short list from more than a dozen others. Make sure you visit the link referenced at the top.

The SQL Server 2016 Enterprise specific sample database, WorldWorldImporters can now be used in Standard and Express editions.

Download SQL Server 2016 SP1 here .

SQL Server 2016 is going GA on June 1, 2016

Get ready to test out the database server deemed to be the ground-breaking version with numerous new features. It will be available in the near future. Get the free Developer's edition.

In Microsoft's own language,

"SQL Server 2016 seamlessly manages both relational and beyond relational (JSON, XML, Hadoop) data, seamlessly integrates structured data with Hadoop data, and seamlessly integrates on-premises data with cloud data"

It has best of both worlds, "relational and beyond relational).

SQL Server is ideally suited for:

•     Mission critical intelligent applications delivering real-time operational intelligence by combining built-in advanced analytics and in-memory technology without having to move the data or impact end user performance. 
•  Enterprise scale data warehousing with enhanced in-memory columnstore that increases query performance by over 100x vs disk based solutions. With SQL Server 2016, you can also access optimized MPP scale out software that can be combined with scale out appliance architecture with our Analytics Platform System (APS).
• Applications requiring the highest levels of security with new Always Encrypted technology that protects your data at rest and in motion without impacting database performance. 
• Comprehensive business intelligence solutions on mobile devices with an end-to-end mobile BI solution built-in that can deliver insights on any device. You can also manage all of your KPIs, mobile reports and traditional reports from a modern web portal. 
• New big data solutions that require combining relational data with non-relational data with PolyBase technology built-in that allows you to query structured and unstructured data with the simplicity of T-SQL. 
• Hybrid cloud solutions that can reduce storage costs, improve high availability and simplify IT operations with new Stretch Database technology. This keeps more of your historical data at your fingertips by transparently and securely stretching warm and cold OLTP data to Microsoft Azure on-demand without application changes. In addition, faster replicas can be placed in Azure to give you cost effective disaster recovery and backups.

Read this original article from Microsoft blog at MSDN.
Source and italicized test taken from the above article.

Get your free copy of SQL Server 2012 Developer edition and install it. Here are the screen shots of installation on a Windows 10 computer.

Faster and better privacy with Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute

You want something that is private and more reliable then this is the way to go.

ExpressRoute is a private route that you can establish between Azure Datacentr and your enterprise data whehter it is on your enterprise or colocation environment. It is private conneciton and does not go over the Internet (public).

ExpressRoute is now in GA (General Availability) and provides:

• Higher reliability
• Faster Speed
• Lower Latency
• Higher reliability

as compared to what you can get over the Internet.

 

As it has entered GA, Microsoft offers 99.99% SLA on ExpressRoute uptime. Microsoft is offering offering two new tiers of bandwith use for the Exchange Provider scenario: 200 Mbps and 500 Mbps.

The following are ExchangeRoute partners (all the biggies in Telecom):

Read more here:
http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/expressroute/