The big announcement at the PASS Data Community Summit 2022 was that SQL Server 2022 is now generally available. See the official announcement.
My top 10 list of new features are:
- Integration with Azure SQL Database Managed Instance — the Microsoft-managed, cloud-based deployment of the SQL Server box product. This integration supports migrations to Managed Instance through the use of Distributed Availability Group (DAG), which will enable near-zero-downtime database migrations. Additionally, you will have the ability to move back to on-premises through a database restore (only available for SQL Server 2022), giving bi-directional HA/DR to Azure SQL. You can also use this link feature in read scale-out scenarios to offload heavy requests that might otherwise affect database performance. More info
- Implementation of the ledger feature that already exists in Azure SQL Database (announced in May of last year), bringing the same blockchain capabilities to SQL Server. More info
- Azure Synapse Link for SQL Server, which provides for replication of data from SQL Server 2022 into Azure Synapse-dedicated SQL pools. More info
- Integration with Microsoft Purview, which assures that the cloud-based data governance platform encompasses SQL Server data, bringing data stored on-premises into its governance scope. That scope even includes propagation of Purview policies for centralized administration of management operations. More info
- Query Store on secondary replicas enables the same Query Store functionality on secondary replica workloads that is available for primary replicas. More info
- Query Store hints leverage the Query Store to provide a method to shape query plans without changing application code. Previously only available on Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance, Query Store hints are now available in SQL Server 2022 (16.x). Requires the Query Store to be enabled and in “Read write” mode. More info
- A new feature called Parameter Sensitive Plan Optimization which automatically enables the generation of multiple active cached query plans for a single parameterized statement, accommodating different data sizes based on provided runtime parameter values. More info
- An update to PolyBase that uses REST APIs to connect to data lakes (Azure storage and Amazon S3) in addition to using the ODBC drivers, as well as supporting the OPENROWSET command. More info
- New built-in server-level roles enable least privileged access for administrative tasks that apply to the whole SQL Server Instance. More info
- Enhancements to T-SQL that includes an enhanced set of functions for working with JSON data and new time series capabilities. More info
For the full list of new features, check out What’s new in SQL Server 2022 (16.x), What’s new in SQL Server Analysis Services, and What’s new in SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS).
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