SQL Server 2019: Do I need all the new features that it offers?

What is Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Enterprise?

Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Enterprise is the most complete and current version of Microsoft's data platform. It offers all the essential database, reporting, and analysis functions needed by modern companies that require a strong database system (RDMS). It is often used in systems like enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and customer relationship management (CRM).

This edition includes features for high availability like AlwaysOn, Big Data Cluster, and Service Broker. SQL Server 2019 Enterprise also provides strong data security and protection, ensures data integrity, offers wide communication options, and delivers top scalability.

If you already know you need SQL Server 2019 Enterprise, you can find the best deal on the market by clicking here.

What's New in SQL Server 2019 Enterprise?

SQL Server 2019 Enterprise builds on previous versions by adding many new and innovative features. This edition especially offers maximum performance and scalability.

Key improvements include:

• Better compliance and security.
• Smoother execution of critical business processes from start to finish.
• Many new tools to analyze large amounts of data, which is very useful for Big Data management.

SQL Server 2019 Enterprise is highly reliable and available, running queries in record time. It also protects data with advanced security features. Users can explore data easily with interactive visuals, which makes data recovery and processing more efficient. It also works well with various smart cloud solutions.

For the first time, SQL Server 2019 Enterprise can handle both structured and unstructured data. This is possible thanks to Java integration and connections to other databases like Oracle.

Key Features of SQL Server 2019 Enterprise

Beyond collecting data, SQL Server 2019 Enterprise offers important features like monitoring for systematic data collection and smart search query processing.

For large amounts of data, Intelligent Query Processing (IQP) is a highlight, making queries much faster. SQL Server 2019 Enterprise is also faster for many other database tasks, and new functions have been added. Let's look at these new features in more detail:

1. Data Virtualization with Big Data Clusters

The new Big Data Cluster feature in SQL Server 2019 Enterprise uses AI to analyze huge amounts of data almost instantly. This is great for big companies. Big Data Cluster also has all the tools needed to train machine learning models. Big Data Cluster (BDC) is a Linux-based system with SQL Server and Apache Spark, running on Kubernetes or Azure Kubernetes Services. It also supports Python and R applications.

PolyBase, a feature from SQL Server 2016, lets you run Transact-SQL queries on outside data sources. It has now been updated to work with Oracle, MongoDB, and Teradata.

2. AlwaysOn on SQL Server 2019 Enterprise

AlwaysOn was introduced in earlier versions of SQL Server. It's a high-availability feature that uses Windows Cluster Service with up to five nodes. It offers better uptime without needing shared storage, unlike failover clustering. AlwaysOn lets you keep several backup databases that can run in different data centers.

3. Service Broker for Developers

Service Broker is a tool for building very scalable apps that use SQL Server for communication. It's scalable and lets you send messages within or between databases. Apps built with Service Broker can also be scaled up later.

4. Java Availability on SQL Server 2019 Enterprise

For the first time, you can use Java code directly with SQL Server 2019 Enterprise Edition, thanks to Java Runtime integration. This means compiled Java code can run right in SQL Server without needing to be moved first. Other programming languages can also be added using SQL Server language extensions.

5. Secure Enclaves for Data Encryption

Secure Enclaves add to what Always Encrypted already does for data encryption, from your computer to the database. Even database admins with high-level access cannot see this encrypted data.

6. Performance Improvements in SQL Server 2019 Enterprise

• Intelligent Query Processing makes queries faster, especially for large data sets.
• Intelligent Performance speeds up database tasks.
• Database Snapshot takes a picture of your database. This helps document its status for reports or checks.
• Last Query Plan Statistics show you the most recent query plans.
• The lightweight query profile is better and now turned on by default in SQL Server Management Studio.
• Accelerated Database Recovery helps your database recover faster after a restart or if a transaction fails.

7. General Features of SQL Server 2019 Enterprise Edition:

• Maximum database size: 524 PB
• Big Data Cluster with integrated Apache Spark and HDFS
• Data virtualization with PolyBase (works with Oracle, Teradata, MongoDB)
• Single AI platform for training models using SQL Server ML Service
• Machine learning with Python and open-source R. It allows full parallel processing for R and Python, and can use GPUs.
• Adaptive query processing

8. Scalability of SQL Server 2019 Enterprise

SQL Server 2019 Enterprise Edition offers high scalability for these features:

• Computing power for the SQL Server database engine (per instance).
• Computing power for Analysis Services or Reporting Services (per instance).
• Memory for the SQL Server DB Engine buffer pool (per instance).
• Memory for SQL Server database engine buffer reservation (per instance).
• Memory-optimized data size per database in the SQL Server database engine.
• Memory for Analysis Services (per instance).
• Memory for Reporting Services (per instance).
• Maximum size of the relational database: 524PB
• Clustered or non-clustered columnstore indexes.
• In-memory database: includes in-memory OLTP, memory-optimized tempdb metadata, and persistent memory support.
• Stretch database
• Table and index partitioning.
• Intelligent database features: automatic optimization, batch mode for row storage, feedback on storage allocation, delayed compilation of table variables, and inlining for user-defined functions.

9. High Availability for Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS):

• Server Core support
• Database copying.
• Backup and database snapshot compression.
• Always On Failover Cluster Instances and Always On Availability Groups.
• Basic availability groups
• Online page and file recovery.
• Optimized database queries and resumable online index recovery.
• Add storage while the system is running.
• Failover server for high availability and failover in Azure.

For more information, visit the official Microsoft website, click here.

10. SQL Server 2019 Enterprise Core Licensing

SQL Server 2019 Enterprise Edition uses the per-core licensing model, first seen with the 2016 server version. This means you cannot use the older server/CAL licensing.

Unlike previous versions where the number of cores in a processor didn't matter, with per-core licensing, the number of cores now decides how many licenses you need. This per-core model also applies to hybrid and cloud setups.

All physical cores on a server require their own core license. Microsoft requires a minimum of eight licenses per server, with these conditions:

• At least 8 core licenses are required for each processor.
• At least 16 kernel licenses are required for each server.

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