10 reasons why you should try Microsoft SQL Server right now

Reason # 1 - Microsoft SQL Server now works under Linux

On November 16, 2016, Microsoft published the first public cross-platform version of SQL Server VNext , which now works under Linux: SQL Server to Linux and Windows.

Download the distribution for Windows can be a direct link without registering.

Reason # 2 - Microsoft SQL Server Developer Edition is free to develop and test.

In April 2016, Microsoft finally made a free version for developers, which in its functionality completely coincides with Enterprise. Prior to this, the cost of one development license was in the region of 2-3 thousand rubles.

At the same time, Microsoft actually allows the use of Developer Edition 2016 and for testing, this is described in more detail in this article. Is User Acceptance Testing Covered Under Developer Edition?

In order to download your own version of SQL Server Developer Edition, you just need to join the Visual Studio Dev Essentials program. After registration, the link will be available the following distributions for installation:

Reason # 3 - Support and development of the R programming environment

Microsoft is investing enormous efforts in the popularization and development of the R language, trying to make it the leader in statistical calculations. At the same time, Microsoft offers 2 own versions of distributions of the R environment, the difference between them and Open-Source R is shown in the table below:

Read more about it here. Advanced Analytics with R & SQL: Part I - R Distributions

Reason # 4 - There is a free and monthly updated SSMS development environment for Microsoft SQL Server.

At one time, I started working with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and at that far time SSMS was a buggy scanty interface that, compared to TOAD for Oracle and even PLSQL Developer, caused only tears and pain. In general, 10 years ago working in the SSMS environment was a complete punishment. But now, more than 4 years, I haven’t met the best tool for working with a database (unfortunately so far only with SQL Server, but suddenly it will start working with others), although at one time I tried many tools and tools of Microsoft SQL Server . Moreover, if you add a few free extensions , then SSMS becomes simply out of competition among similar commercial and free products.

Starting from July 2016, SSMS began to be released as a separate distribution on a monthly basis, which significantly accelerated the process of introducing a new functionality and eliminating current bugs. Currently, the list of versions for SSMS looks like this:

The table is taken from here.

SQL Server Management Studio (17.0 RC1) notes:

1. Not recommended for use on production servers .
2. Works with CTP v.Next on Windows and Linux.
3. Fixed a problem with ShowPlan.
4. You can use both 16.x and 17.x versions regardless of each other on the same machine, but some settings (for example, Tools / Options) will be common.

Reason # 5 The update scheme for Microsoft SQL Server has been simplified and updates are now being released on a regular basis.

If earlier the abundance of various distributions and fixes for SQL Server was puzzling, and the correct order of their installation was a lot of selected administrators, now with the transition to the incremental update model, you need to know the following:

1. Install the necessary version and edition of SQL Server - Microsoft SQL Server Versions
2. Install the latest service pack for the current version of SQL Server - SP Service Pack
3. Install the latest cumulative update for the current update package - CU Cumulative Update
4. If there are certain problems, then we are looking for a fix to fix them - COD Critical On-Demand

Learn more about the benefits of upgrading to the incremental update model in the article Announcing updates to the SQL Server Incremental Servicing Model (ISM).

COD, CU, CTP, GDR, QFE, RC, RDP, RTM, RTW, TAP, SP - what is all this and how to live with it? Read more in the #BackToBasics wonderful article : Definitions of SQL Server release acronyms

Reason # 6 Microsoft SQL Server can now be installed in 3 clicks

If the bulky SQL Server installation interface and a lot of Next buttons scare you at first sight, then a simplified version of the installer (the so-called basic installer) was developed especially for you, which reduces everything to 3 clicks: The SQL Server Basic Installer: Just Install It! .

But I still recommend using the standard scheme or master the installation via the command line - Install SQL Server 2016 from the Command Prompt . You can also look towards the Open Source project of SQL Server FineBuild .

Reason # 7 - A very developed developer community.

The amount of resources for studying and solving problems related to SQL Server is simply enormous - in my estimation there are more than 170 high-quality and really useful projects, some of which are collected here: Resources on Microsoft SQL Server . The community itself is very friendly and always ready to come to the rescue, promptly answer the correctly posed questions, especially the twitter and slack channels are actively used:

• SQLServerCentral Forum (> 10 ^ 6 Members)
• Slack #sqlhelp (> 700 Members)
• Slack #firstresponderkit (> 70 Members)
• Twitter #sqlhelp (> 500 Members)
• SQL.ru SQL Server Forum (> 10 ^ 5 Members)
• VK.com #sqlcom (> 3600 Members)

The most active members of the SQL Server community with their blogs and contact details can be found here .

Reason # 8 Microsoft CloudDB

If you don’t want to download, install and configure SQL Server on your machine, you can test it very quickly in the Azure cloud for free. Starting with the version of CloudDB 2016, all new functionality is implemented in the cloud platform, and then the engine for non-cloud versions is being finalized. At the same time, the whole headache of supporting, maintaining and upgrading SQL Server will be on the shoulders of Microsoft Azure engineers.

You can try Microsoft Azure CloudDB for free in a test mode by registering here SQL Database - Cloud Database as a Service .

Reason # 9 - Many improvements and additions of functionality in version 2016

You can read more in the article T-SQL Enhancements in SQL Server 2016

Short for T-SQL:

• CREATE OR ALTER
• DROP IF EXISTS
• STRING_SPLIT Function
• TRUNCATE TABLE with PARTITION
• FOR SYSTEM_TIME Clause
• FOR JSON Clause
• JSON Functions
• OPENJON Function
• FORMATMESSAGE Function
• Stored procedure sp_execute_external_script to execute R scripts

Reason # 10 - With the release of SP1 for SQL Server 2016, most of the functionality from the business edition is available in the standard edition.

This news was published on November 16, 2016 and was received very positively by most developers.

Briefly, what is included in the standard edition:

• Performance features - in-memory OLTP (Hekaton), in-memory columnstore, operational analytics
• Data warehousing features - partitioning, compression, CDC, database snapshots
• Some security features - dynamic data masking

So it remains in the editorial for the business:

• Full Always On Availability groups (multiple databases, readable second)
• Master Data Services, DQS
• Serious security features - TDE, auditing
• Serious BI - mobile reports, fuzzy lookups, advanced multi-dimensional models, tabular models, parallelism in R, stretch database

Learn more about innovation on SQL Server 2016 SP1 editions.

Conclusion

I am by no means arguing that Microsoft SQL Server is the best relational database in our Universe and, all the more, I do not agitate to drop everything and start using it (and yes, it is not free for commercial use and it suffers problems). Just for the last 2 years, Microsoft has put in a huge amount of effort (which is worth putting it in Open Source PowerShell and ASP.NET Core MVC ) to make this product convenient, fast and reliable. And it seems to me that he did partly succeed. Like it or not, it's up to you.