7 Ways SQL Server 12 Brings Us into the Heterogeneous Big Data Era

SQL Server 12 is out – how do you like the new features?

Most of Izenda’s customers use our ad hoc reporting platform to connect to a Microsoft SQL Server database.  So, we are thrilled about some of the new capabilities available in SQL Server 12.  Here are seven features we are super excited about:

1. Columnstore indexes

You may have heard about columnar databases such as vertical that run some queries 100x faster.  These new indexes bring this feature to SQL Server. For a query like this, the database can process much more data because it does not have to read the the entire table to do the calculation. It optimizes on the specific column.  This makes multi-terabyte database perform a lot faster when only certain columns are used for reporting on specific columns.  A query like this could run orders of magnitude faster.

SELECT SUM(Freight) FROM Orders

2. SQL Azure Enhancements

You can now make individual databases on Azure up to 150GB.  Additionally you can do an azure sync to an on-premise database at this scale.  This accelerates cloud adoption to larger organizations who need more sophisticated reporting capabilities.

3. Hadoop Support

That’s right. The popular open source big data storage engine now integrates with SQL Server.  Having Hadoop integrated into a SQL server deployment will greatly reduce support and maintenance costs and, of course, brings Hadoop into Microsoft shops.  We are excited about this feature because Izenda Reports now has the ability to report on a variety of data sources through an integrated experience using Izenda Fusion.

4. AlwaysOn

You can now create multiple fail over mirrors with a lot less effort.  As an added benefit, the fail over servers can be used in read-only mode for reporting.

5. Windows Server Core Support

For virtualization fans that want minimal overhead, you can now run SQL Server without the windows GUI and administer remotely.  It has a lower footprint so queries should run faster, especially in a virtualized environment.

6. Enhanced Auditing

For customers with compliance requirements, you can not do better tracking of what SQL Server is doing in a more granular way.

7. Linux Client Support

If you haven’t heard, Microsoft is now one of the top contributors to the Linux Kernel. You can now connect to SQL Server databases from Linux applications.  As strange as this feels, it’s definitely a good thing.