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SQL Server

And it looks bad even in shades.

PSPO: How SQL Server 2022 Tries to Fix Parameter Sniffing

Last Updated August 24, 2022

Parameter Sniffing, SQL Server 2022

Parameter sniffing is a notorious problem for Microsoft SQL Server because it tries to reuse execution plans, which doesn’t work out well for widely varying parameters. Here’s a primer for the basics about how it happens. SQL Server 2022 introduces a new feature called Parameter Sensitive Plan optimization. I’m not really sure why Microsoft capitalized…

Brent Ozar

What’s New in SQL Server 2022 Release Candidate 0: Undocumented Stuff

Last Updated August 25, 2022

SQL Server 2022

Microsoft has an official list of what’s new in 2022 overall, but here I’m specifically focusing on system objects that might be interesting to script developers like you and I, dear reader. New stored procedure sp_get_table_card_est_and_avg_col_len – I assume the “card” refers to statistics and cardinality, not Hallmark. SQL Server has historically struggled with memory…

How to Install SQL Server 2022 Release Candidate 0

Last Updated August 24, 2022

SQL Server 2022

SQL Server 2014’s end of support date is coming in less than two years: July 9, 2024. I know that sounds far-off right now, but consider the work you have to do between now and then: Pick a new version to migrate to Set up development SQL Servers for that new version Start developing &…

Pour One Out for Distributed Replay. It’s Deprecated in SQL Server 2022.

Last Updated June 20, 2022

SQL Server 2022

I love how Microsoft treats deprecated and discontinued features in SQL Server. No, seriously. I give Microsoft a lot of sarcasm and lip around here, but Microsoft takes serious care to make it easy to upgrade versions without worrying about your application breaking. If you disagree, hear me out for a minute. “Discontinued” means it’s…

SQL Server 2022 Tells You Why A Query Can’t Go Parallel.

Last Updated June 7, 2022

Execution Plans, SQL Server 2022

Until 2022, when a query couldn’t go parallel, all we got was a really cryptic note in the execution plan properties saying NonParallelPlanReason = CouldNotGenerateValidParallelPlan. But starting with SQL Server 2022, even when I’m running under older compatibility levels: ALTER DATABASE CURRENT SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 140; /* 2017 */ GO DECLARE @TableVariable TABLE(Total BIGINT); INSERT…

The Top Feature Requests for SQL Server

Last Updated May 5, 2022

If you want to get a look at where Microsoft SQL Server is heading in the future, it helps to get an idea of what users are repeatedly asking for. Here’s a quick rundown of the top requests from feedback.azure.com as voted by the people who cared enough to log in and upvote ’em: 10:…

Big Data Clusters: Out of Aces

Last Updated March 1, 2022

When this feature was announced in 2018, I wrote: <sarcasm> It’s like linked servers, but since they don’t perform well, we need to scale out across containers. </sarcasm> I just didn’t get it, and I continued: I like that Microsoft is making a risky bet, planting a flag where nobody else is, saying, “We’re going…

The SQL Server Posts You Read the Most in 2021

Last Updated December 20, 2021

I think of my blog posts in a few different categories: Posts that will only be read at the moment they’re published (like upcoming webcasts, humorous stuff, and career advice) Posts that will show up in search history over time and continue to be evergreen (like how a feature works) Posts that provoke discussion and…

SQL Server 2022

SQL Server 2022 Slogan Contest Winners

Last Updated November 17, 2021

SQL Server 2022

Last week, I challenged y’all to come up with slogans for SQL Server 2022. I have to confess that when I came up with the idea for that blog post, I thought y’all would take it seriously. I thought you’d come up with ideas that were meant to show off Microsoft’s hard work. I should…

Is Microsoft SQL Server 2022 a Big Release?

Last Updated November 11, 2021

SQL Server 2022

Normally when y’all post questions here on Pollgab, I let ’em pile up and I eventually do an Office Hours webcast where I talk through my answers. I check in on the list every couple of days just out of curiosity, though, and one of ’em jumped right out at me. The question, posed by…

Contest: SQL Server 2022 Needs a Slogan.

Last Updated November 8, 2021

Now that Microsoft has announced that SQL Server 2022 is coming, it’s time for us to talk about a shameful truth: SQL Server doesn’t sell itself. Remember when everybody was talking about how MongoDB was Web Scale™? Or when Oracle was Unbreakable™? Even if you were making fun of it, the point was that you…

What’s New in SQL Server 2022

Last Updated November 4, 2021

SQL Server, SQL Server 2022

Today at Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft started dropping new details on the next version of SQL Server, 2022. Here’s a 13-minute video from Bob Ward explaining and demoing some of the new features: The new features include: Failover back/forth from SQL Server 2022 and Azure SQL DB Managed Instances, including restoring versionless databases from Azure SQL…

SQL ConstantCare

SQL ConstantCare® is Now Available in the UK & EU.

Last Updated September 16, 2021

Earlier this year, we opened up training class sales to the EU and UK. Now, we’re taking it to the next level: my monitoring service SQL ConstantCare® is available in the EU and UK, too! With SQL ConstantCare®, you install an app on your desktop that checks in with your SQL Servers once a day, sends…

Get Ready: SQL Server 2016 Mainstream Support Ends in One Week.

Last Updated July 6, 2021

SQL Server 2016

Brent Ozar, bearer of bad news Who am I kidding? You’re not really going to get ready, but let’s talk about this anyway. SQL Server 2016 mainstream support ends Tuesday, July 13, 2021. According to Microsoft’s SQL Server support policy, that means from here on out, Microsoft will only deliver security patches, not functional, performance,…

What’s the Buggiest Feature in SQL Server?

Last Updated May 5, 2021

Execution Plans, SQL Server

Not the one you like the least, or the one that requires the most work. What’s the one that you can’t use because it’s just flat out busted? For me, it’s SSMS’s Live Query Statistics, aka live query plans. The idea is so awesome – you click Query, Include Live Query Statistics, and then when you…

If You Could Only Say One Thing About Writing Good Queries…

Last Updated May 4, 2021

If you could give just one piece of advice about writing good queries, what would it be? I asked Twitter yesterday because I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything in a new training course I’m working on, and the replies were fantastic. Here were some of my favorites: As you’re writing a query,…

Brent Reading Book

Your Top 10 Ideas for SQL Server

Last Updated April 13, 2021

You’ve submitted thousands of bug reports and feature requests at feedback.azure.com, and here’s what you’ve voted as the top 10 requests right now: #10: MIN/MAX as non-aggregate functions. PostgreSQL and Oracle have the GREATEST/LEAST functions that work like COALESCE, allowing you to pass in a list of values and get the top or lowest. Sounds…

Where I See Databases Going in the Next 10 Years

Last Updated March 18, 2021

Architecture, SQL Server

This month, to mark the 20th anniversary of BrentOzar.com, I’m stepping back and looking at the big picture rather than blogging about database problems & solutions like I usually do. I’m going to generalize a little by decade here to keep things simple. In 1990-2000, databases were mostly tied to specific development languages. When you…

It’s Been Decades. Why Don’t Databases Manage Themselves Yet?

Last Updated March 20, 2021

This month, to mark the 20th anniversary of BrentOzar.com, I’m stepping back and looking at the big picture rather than blogging about database problems & solutions like I usually do. A much younger me When I started working with databases, we had to: Provision the right CPUs and memory Provision the right storage throughput and…

What’s New & Undocumented in SQL Server 2019 Cumulative Update 9

Last Updated February 15, 2021

SQL Server 2019

Last week’s SQL Server 2019 Cumulative Update 9 snuck in some undocumented things. We got two new DMVs for Always On Availability Groups, sys.dm_hadr_cached_replica_states and sys.dm_hadr_cached_database_replica_states. They have a subset of data from other AG DMVs: I sure wish I could point you to the documentation or KB article on those. But we have no…