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…

Microsoft appears to have given up on patch documentation, and that’s kinda scary for a product that costs thousands of dollars per core. Yesterday’s SQL Server 2019 Cumulative Update 6 launched with the worst documentation I’ve seen yet. It’s been steadily going downhill, but CU6 represents a new low. For years, we’d complained that the…

SQL Server 2019 Cumulative Update 2 is out, and Microsoft snuck in a few things that they didn’t mention in the release notes. Contained Availability Groups continue to get new investments. In the lead-up to SQL Server 2019’s release, we got a few presentations at various conferences where Microsoft folks said we’d get the ability…

After just one release candidate, Microsoft has decided it’s ready to go, apparently! Well, kinda: the official build in the release notes is 15.0.2000.5, and there’s already a “servicing update” to 15.0.2070.41. I’m not sure I wanna know what’s going on there. Anyhoo, SQL Server 2019 is available for download now. This also means it’s…

The features list by edition is out, and there’s a disclaimer at the top: This content is being updated for SQL Server 2019. The information in the article is not final. Which means if you’re really angry, and your company buys a lot of licenses, now’s your time to raise holy hell with your Microsoft…

Just a short note – in SQL Server 2019, the setup process has a new MAXDOP tab: The hyperlink about MAXDOP configuration points here. I did a few quick test installs: 4 cores gave me a MAXDOP 4 8 cores offered MAXDOP 8 12 cores offered MAXDOP 6 Historically, the 0 default meant unlimited cores.…

Sure, there’s official documentation on what’s new in SQL Server 2019, but Microsoft’s notorious for slipping undocumented stuff in. Sometimes these new features become officially documented in subsequent preview builds, like CTP 2.2’s initial plumbing for Accelerated Database Recovery that went officially public in CTP 2.3, and other times they never see the light of…

Friday’s new CTP 2.3 added a few new fields to sys.databases: But the highlighted one has me all tingly inside, kinda like the first time I heard Winona Ryders use the word “chainsaw” in a sentence. (Bonus points for readers who get that reference.) I don’t have any answers yet, folks. I just have questions.