There is a great deal of information about the upcoming SQL Server 2014 version, especially about Hekaton which is the In-Memory OLTP engine feature of SQL Server 2014. But is Hekaton the only new feature in SQL Server 2014? In this tip I will guide you through the new features that make SQL Server 2014 so outstanding.
Solution
Sometimes software vendors launch new versions of their products with minimal improvements with the sole purpose of maintaining visibility amongst competitors. Since migration of databases is a time consuming and expensive task, we as database professionals must decide what is best for our customers. That forces us to do some research about the new version’s features in order to make the most accurate decision.
Let's take a look at the new features and improvements with SQL Server 2014.
SQL Server In-Memory OLTP Overview
SQL Server 2014 includes an In-Memory OLTP engine code named Hekaton. This engine provides a lock and latch free environment for OLTP workloads. It is fully integrated into SQL Server and accessed using standard T-SQL. Contrary to other products in the market, Hekaton is not a separate system, it is part of the SQL Server Database Engine. Hekaton enables you to use both disk based tables and Memory-Optimized Tables together in the same queries and stored procedures.
Memory-Optimized tables can be defined as durable, so data persists on server restart and with schema only duration to preserve table definition alone, useful for ETL transformations and data staging.
Furthermore, Hekaton introduces Natively Compiled Stored procedures which are Transact-SQL Stored Procedures compiled to native code, to interact with Memory-Optimized Tables even more efficiently.
You can read more about Memory-Optimized tables and Natively Compiled Stored Procedures in my previous tips.
SQL Server 2014 Cloud Computing Enhancements
Since this version of SQL Server was designed with the premise of being a platform for a Hybrid Cloud it has some new and exciting features.
An on-premise SQL Server can have databases in which its data and log files are stored on Windows Azure Storage. This means that you can move your storage into the cloud while keeping all the transaction processing on your local server. Furthermore you can enable Transparent Data Encryption on databases while keeping the encryption key on the local server for added security.
You can deploy a SQL Server Database to a Windows Azure Virtual Machine with a few clicks with the SQL Server Management Studio Deploy a SQL Server Database to a Windows Azure Virtual Machine Wizard.
