In this article, we will be discussing about what’s new in SQL Server 2019, in terms of new features and enhancements.
In September 2018, during the MS Ignite Conference, Microsoft announced the Community Technology Preview of SQL Server 2019 (CTP 2.0). This is an exciting new version with a plethora of new features, as well as with enhancements to existing features. Read this article, in order to learn what’s new in SQL Server 2019 (currently CTP 2.0).
Installing SQL Server 2019
Prior to talk about the new features in SQL Server 2019, let’s talk a bit about how you can install it. I have prepared a short presentation, which illustrates a simple installation of SQL Server 2019 CTP 2.0 on my local machine.
Note that this is a simple installation, performed for demo purposes. Therefore, since I have installed everything on local C drive (never do that on Production environments), I have not taken into consideration any performance or scalability considerations.
You can check out the relevant presentation below.
What’s New in SQL Server 2019
In this article, we will talk for some of these features along with providing some screenshots. We will structure our discussion based on three areas of SQL Server 2019:
Intelligent query processing in SQL Server, is a family of features that improve the performance of existing workloads with minimal implementation effort. Currently, up to the CTP 2.0 release of SQL Server 2019, the following features are supported:
Clustered columnstore online index build and rebuild
In SQL Server 2019, you can build and rebuild clustered columnstore indexes. This is very useful, especially in Data Warehouse environments, where columnstore indexes are heavily used.
Resumable online index create
With this feature, an index create operation, can be resumed after interruption.
sp_estimate_data_compression_savings
New options added in order to support colunstore indexes.
This is a new security feature that provides additional functionality to the the existing “Always Encrypted” feature. This feature, addresses previous limitations, by allowing computations on plaintext data inside a secure enclave on the server side.
Data discovery and classification is natively built into SQL Server, and allows you to classify columns in your database that contain sensitive information. This is extremely useful for Compliance scenarios that have to do with data security.
Via the course, you will learn essential hands-on SQL Server Administration tips on SQL Server maintenance, security, performance, integration, error handling and more. Many live demonstrations and downloadable resources included!
Lifetime Access / Live Demos / Downloadable Resources and more!
Enhanced database level health detection for Availability Group databases
The above functionality has been enhanced in order to detect additional error conditions and -if required- to initiate a failover or restart of the involved availability group resource.
Up to five synchronous replica pairs
SQL Server 2019 supports up to 5 synchronous replica pairs (1 primary- 4 secondary). In SQL Server 2017 the limit was set to 3 synchronous replica pairs.
Secondary replica connection redirection in Always On Availability Groups
The secondary replica connection redirection, allows redirecting connections to be redirected to the primary replica, regardless of the target server specified in the connection string. This redirection can be achieved without the use of a listener, and it is suitable for such cases.
UTF-8 support in SQL Server 2019, is another amazing feature. The basic idea is that when you use a collation ending in _UTF8, along with the datatypes CHAR and VARCHAR, you can store, import and export data in unicode, without needed to use the NCHAR and NVARCHAR data types. This allows for significant storage savings.
An example of using UTF-8
See the below example, where I have created a UTF-8 enabled database and table, inserted and then successfully retrieved records with Greek characters, by using VARCHAR columns instead of NVARCHAR.
By using this extension (currently in preview), you can execute Java code in SQL Server. This feature is related to the Machine Learning Services (In-Database) feature. It gets installed when you installed the Machine Learning Services feature.
SQL Server on Linux
There are many new features regarding SQL Server on Linux. Among other, SQL Server 2019 on Linux now supports:
SQL Server replication.
Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator service (MSDTC).
Machine-Learning Services (In-Database)
Improved integration between SQL Server on Linux and Active directory, via the OpenLDAP support for third-party AD providers.
Many new features and enhancements are also introduced, regarding Big Data.
The major enhancement in the area of Big Data, is the ability to create Big Data clusters, combining multiple instances of SQL Server along with Apache Spark and Hadoop Distributed File System.
Other significant new features and enhancements in SQL Server 2019 (CTP 2.0), include: SQL Graph features, new PolyBase connectors, SQL Server Machine Learning Services failover clusters, and much more.
Moreover, SQL Server 2019, introduces the “Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) Scan – Suspend and Resume” option. Learn more about it in the below video.
Watch a Preview of our Online Course on SQL Server 2019
In the below video, you can watch a short preview of my online course: “SQL Server 2019: What’s New (New and Enhanced Features)“.
Artemakis Artemiou, a distinguished Senior Database and Software Architect, brings over 20 years of expertise to the IT industry. A Certified Database, Cloud, and AI professional, he earned the Microsoft Data Platform MVP title for nine consecutive years (2009-2018). As the founder of SQLNetHub and GnoelixiAI Hub, Artemakis is dedicated to sharing his knowledge and democratizing education on various fields such as: Databases, Cloud, AI, and Software Development. His commitment to simplicity and knowledge sharing defines his impactful presence in the tech community.
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