The Complete Weekly Roundup of SQL Server News

Hand-picked content to sharpen your professional edge

It occurs to me that SQL Server is now the ideal way of implementing effective microservices. Yes, really.

Over the years, I've rather changed my attitude to structured data and databases. I remain opposed to the idea of holding XML or JSON inside the base tables of databases, unless they are treated strictly as atomic. I particularly dislike seeing untyped XML in databases: it is stored inefficiently and is slow in use. However, we now have in SQL Server 2017 an excellent way of consuming or providing JSON data in a way that is application-friendly, without letting it poison our base tables. I can now smile sweetly at developers when they ask me to 'talk and understand' JSON in the interface between application and database. Not only is it OK with me, but it removes entirely any last lingering requests from developers to access database objects other than what is provided for them in their schema/interface. It is now perfectly possible for all their functions and procedures to consume and return JSON.

Whatever one's philosophical stance to JSON, it has traction. As it is, effectively, JavaScript, it is ridiculously easy for the Web Developer to use. There is enough in JSON to allow us to do business with it. It is the data transport for microservices, and can be read 'natively' by PowerShell and any .NET compiled language. It underpins JSON-RPC and Asynchronous JavaScript and JSON (AJAJ). It is increasingly used for RESTful web services. It is the data transfer medium for most NoSQL Databases.

The introduction of SQL Server 2017 gives us an opportunity for the first time to come out of our bunkers and cooperate with developers in data terms that make sense to them, without having to trouble them with the philosophical depths of relational theory. There need be no mismatch between the object-oriented world and the relational because we, as data people, can now do all the worrying about the translation in both directions, and obsess about both the data security and integrity.

I'm hoping that next year we, as SQL Server data people, can come up with radical ways of making it quicker and easier to develop secure and scalable data applications on Windows and Linux, and change the old scary image of the database person as the grumpy curmudgeon of the IT department. With good JSON support in SQL Server now, it makes it all a lot easier to smile and nod at developers.

Phil Factor.

Phil Factor from SQLServerCentral.com

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All the headlines and interesting SQL Server information that we've collected over the past week, and sometimes even a few repeats if we think they fit. These headlines are gathered throughout the week and are posted in real time at the website. Check there for information throughout the week or enjoy this weekly summary of the SQL Server world.

Webinars

Webinar: data protection & privacy in the world of DevOps - Microsoft MVP and PASS President Grant Fritchey dispels the myth that database DevOps and compliance can't go hand in hand. After a brief look at how extending DevOps to the database lays solid foundations for data governance and compliance, the focus will then shift to guidance around the upcoming GDPR. Register now....(more)

Virtualization and Containers

dbatools with SQL on Docker and running SQL queries - Querying to show the version of the SQL running in the Docker Container....(more)

T-SQL

Coming in SQL Server vNext: Approximate_Count_Distinct - SQL Server vNext (2018?) will let you trade speed for accuracy. They’re working on a new APPROXIMATE_COUNT_DISTINCT....(more)

Partitioned Views, Aggregates, and Cool Query Plans - Erik Darling on how partitioned views handle aggregates...(more)

What's my transaction isolation level - If I use sp_executesql to run some dynamic sql - does it default the connection isolation level? If I change isolation level within the query, does it propagate back to the invoker? ...(more)

How to Avoid Excessive Sorts in Window Functions - Like any tool, window functions come at a price and we must carefully evaluate if that’s a price we’re willing to pay. That price can be a sort operation....(more)

ROLLing UP Totals - ROLLUP is used to provide additional totals for your aggregates while using GROUP BY. Steve Jones offers some simple examples of how you can use it....(more)

SQL Server Security

Is Transparent Data Encryption just security theatre? - One of the biggest arguments against TDE is that it doesn’t protect data in motion, which is a primary attack vector. It is thus considered nothing more than a checkbox item for the compliance officer’s security audit. However, Randolph West argues that TDE is very far from being just "security theater"....(more)

SQL Server News

SQL Server 2017 – Interleaved Execution - Interleaved Execution changes the unidirectional boundary between the optimization and execution phases for a single-query execution and enables plans to adapt based on the revised estimates....(more)

Making parallelism waits actionable - Microsoft have announced upcoming changes to parallelism waits, specifically splitting CXPACKET waits into an actionable wait (CXPACKET) and a negligible wait (CXCONSUMER)....(more)

Big News In Databases — Fall 2017 - Summarizing the most important database news from the last six months....(more)

R Language

Multiple Output Datasets With R and SQL Server - Using R, it's possible to scrape websites for data that's usable in SQL Server....(more)

PowerShell

Comparing Agent Jobs across Availability Group Replicas with PowerShell - How to use the Compare-Object a function available in PowerShell to compare SQL Agent Jobs across availability group replicas....(more)

Scripting out all objects from a SQL Server database with PowerShell and dbatools - How to to automate the scripting of objects with PowerShell for easier source control integration....(more)

PowerPivot/PowerQuery/PowerBI

Power BI Desktop – Query Reduction for Direct Query Models - Previously, every change in a filter or slicer led to an immediate round trip to the data source which made some of those reports … let’s call it .. not perfect in the context of user experience. Beginning with the Nov2017 release some options for Query Reduction has been introduced....(more)

Dynamic Row Level Security with Manager Level Access in Power BI - Reza Rad shows how to implement a dynamic row level security model where everyone will see their own data, but the manager will see all data....(more)

Performance Tuning SQL Server

Getting Query Execution Statistics - If you hate things that are slow, I bet you certainly want to know the reason for the slowness. So, if you are SQL Developer and your query run slow, you would prefer to have query execution statistics so that you can figure out what causing the query to run slow....(more)

How to Avoid Excessive Sorts in Window Functions - Like any tool, window functions come at a price and we must carefully evaluate if that’s a price we’re willing to pay....(more)

The Case of the Weirdly Long COLUMNSTORE_BUILD_THROTTLE Wait - A funny thing happened on the way to the filtered nonclustered columnstore demo… ...(more)

Extended Events and Profiler: XEProfiler - Grant Fritchey points out the one giant issue outstanding, in the war between Trace Events (Profiler) and Extended Events. XML. ...(more)

Becoming a Query Performance Troubleshooting Expert - Thomas LaRock explains why he is a huge fan of using “buckets” to help troubleshoot issues. Are all queries affected, or just a subset of queries affected?...(more)

New Showplan enhancements - In SSSMS v17, we can now see per-operator statistics, such as CPU and elapsed time per thread. More recently, we have introduced overall query CPU and elapsed time tracking for statistics showplan xml, as well as the top 10 waits that the execution was waiting on....(more)

SQL Server 2017 - soft-NUMA limits MAXDOP? - The plan was to set up a soft-NUMA node for each vcpu on a 16 vcpu VM, to evenly distribute incoming connections and thus DOP 1 queries over vcpus. But would leaving this soft-NUMA configuration in place after the specialized workload would result in DOP 1 queries whether I wanted them or not?...(more)

DevOps and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

SSDT How To Fix Error SQL17502 - Ed Elliott tackles an issue that will have affected anyone who has a database project that they import into SSDT, where the database has some piece of code that references something that doesn't exist....(more)

DevOps for Data Science – Defining DevOps - Buck Woody defines DevOps simply as: getting all parties involved in getting an application deployed and maintained to think about all the phases that follow and precede their part of the solution....(more)

The four pillars of DevOps - DevOps isn’t just about tools. DevOps isn’t just about process. DevOps isn’t just about the people. DevOps isn’t just about culture. If you try and focus on one thing only, you’ll probably do it wrong and fail. You need to embrace all of the pillars. You wouldn’t build a house with only two walls and expect to have a wonderful experience the next time it rained....(more)

Computing in the Cloud (Azure, Google , AWS)

Azure Virtual Machine Developments for SQL Server Usage - Microsoft has a large number of different Azure virtual machine series and sizes available if you are interested in using their infrastructure as a service (IaaS) option for hosting SQL Server instances. One initial decision you will need to make is what series and size of Azure VM you want to use for your particular SQL Server workload....(more)

Columnstore Indexes

Surprise Delta Stores - Microsoft and many others will be quick to tell you that loading data into CCIs is much faster when you can bypass the delta store.This post contains all of the possible causes for delta store creation that I’ve found. ...(more)

Career Growth

Does a Formal Degree Really Matter in Tech? - Many professions require college degrees or even advanced degrees, professional board exams, and licensing, but being a developer or IT professional does not, at least not in the US. Specific educational requirements make sense in many fields. but it’s difficult for universities to keep up with the latest programming languages, and they don’t necessarily teach all the skills needed to be successful in tech....(more)

Hacking Speaker Idol - What Thomas LaRock learned from PASS Summit Speaker Idol about good presentation skills....(more)

Backup and Recovery

Configure TDE encrypted database in SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Group - TDE has been out there since SQL Server 2008 and it is widely used to protect data/log/backup files at rest. There still seems to be some confusion around the terms used, such as Service Master Key (SMK), Database Master Key (DMK), Certificate and Database Encryption Key (DEK), especially in the area how we backup, maintain those keys, when we should restore, re-create them....(more)

Azure SQL Database

Microsoft Enabling Automatic Database Tuning in Azure SQL DB in 2018 - Microsoft's automated and AI-enabled database tuning technology will become the new default configuration on the Azure SQL cloud database in January 2018. ...(more)

Azure SQL Database: Ingesting 1.4 million sustained rows per second with In-Memory OLTP & Columnstore Index - As Internet of Things (IoT) devices and sensors are becoming more ubiquitous in consumer, business and industrial landscapes, they introduce a unique challenge in terms of the volume of data they produce, and the velocity with which they produce it. ...(more)

Azure CosmosDB

A few CosmosDB query limitations - DocumentDB API for CosmosDB is also called SQL but although it looks like SQL and smells like SQL… it isn’t SQL. However, it’s easy to assume that what work in T-SQL or PSQL will work in DocumentDB SQL. Here are a few examples of what won’t work....(more)

Administration of SQL Server

Checking SQL Server with Policy-Based Management - Policy-Based Management, a feature of SQL Server, is a flexible tool that can help DBAs manage one or more SQL Server instances. It's used for monitoring and enforcing a standard set of policies for SQL Server throughout an organization. While there are many built-in conditions from which to choose, Dennes demonstrates how to set up a custom policy as well as a standard one. Viewing the policy status over many servers can be tedious, so he also explains how DBAs can evaluate the states of multiple servers with just one glance....(more)

How to Test Your Corruption Alerts - You followed the setup checklist in our First Responder Kit. You ran sp_Blitz. You set up email alerts for common issues. You run CHECKDB as frequently as practical – weekly, or maybe even daily. But you just assume it’s all working......(more)