Benefits of SQL 2014/2016 over 2005 ??

  • I'm sure it's a long list, but what are the "Top 10" list of improvements I can take to management to help justify spending the $$ to upgrade ?? I'm looking at "Standard" Edition. Can't afford Enterprise.

    We have a fairly small website with SQL back-end, developing in-house search, using full-text searching, and some lightweight reporting Services on a reporting server.

    Being able to run on Win 2012 and utilize more RAM should help right off the bat.

  • homebrew01 (11/10/2016)


    I'm sure it's a long list, but what are the "Top 10" list of improvements I can take to management to help justify spending the $$ to upgrade ??

    We have a fairly small website with SQL back-end, developing in-house search, using full-text searching, and some lightweight reporting Services on a reporting server.

    Being able to run on Win 2012 and utilize more RAM should help right off the bat.

    Think this is the wrong question, should be "what are the justifications for running an unsupported version of SQL Server"

    😎

  • Eirikur Eiriksson (11/10/2016)


    Think this is the wrong question, should be "what are the justifications for running an unsupported version of SQL Server"

    😎

    Doesn't cost any money ?? $10,000 to upgrade is a lot for us.

  • homebrew01 (11/10/2016)


    Eirikur Eiriksson (11/10/2016)


    Think this is the wrong question, should be "what are the justifications for running an unsupported version of SQL Server"

    😎

    Doesn't cost any money ?? $10,000 to upgrade is a lot for us.

    MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSql?

    😎

  • Eirikur Eiriksson (11/10/2016)


    homebrew01 (11/10/2016)


    Eirikur Eiriksson (11/10/2016)


    Think this is the wrong question, should be "what are the justifications for running an unsupported version of SQL Server"

    😎

    Doesn't cost any money ?? $10,000 to upgrade is a lot for us.

    MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSql?

    😎

    The costs for those are on training and getting people up to speed.

    Luis C.
    General Disclaimer:
    Are you seriously taking the advice and code from someone from the internet without testing it? Do you at least understand it? Or can it easily kill your server?

    How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help: Option 1 / Option 2
  • This might help: http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/A/2/8A2BC8C5-BBA0-4A9C-90BC-AC957D3454D9/SQL_Server_2016_Editions_datasheet.pdf

    The improvement on window functions and error handling.

    Native compressed backups, which would speed up your maintenance process.

    Extended events to mostly replace traces.

    New cardinality estimator.

    Improved security and High Availability.

    That's what came up from the top of my head that's not included on the pdf.

    Luis C.
    General Disclaimer:
    Are you seriously taking the advice and code from someone from the internet without testing it? Do you at least understand it? Or can it easily kill your server?

    How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help: Option 1 / Option 2
  • Luis Cazares (11/10/2016)


    This might help: http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/A/2/8A2BC8C5-BBA0-4A9C-90BC-AC957D3454D9/SQL_Server_2016_Editions_datasheet.pdf

    The improvement on window functions and error handling.

    Native compressed backups, which would speed up your maintenance process.

    Extended events to mostly replace traces.

    New cardinality estimator.

    Improved security and High Availability.

    That's what came up from the top of my head that's not included on the pdf.

    Alwayson AGs are a big step forward, also query store in 2016.

    Improvements in clustered instance configuration and security too

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" πŸ˜‰

  • Query Data Store.

    It's probably the biggest change to query metrics, query tuning, performance knowledge and system behavior since the upgrade of the optimizer between SQL Server 7 & 2000.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • Eirikur Eiriksson (11/10/2016)


    homebrew01 (11/10/2016)


    I'm sure it's a long list, but what are the "Top 10" list of improvements I can take to management to help justify spending the $$ to upgrade ??

    We have a fairly small website with SQL back-end, developing in-house search, using full-text searching, and some lightweight reporting Services on a reporting server.

    Being able to run on Win 2012 and utilize more RAM should help right off the bat.

    Think this is the wrong question, should be "what are the justifications for running an unsupported version of SQL Server"

    😎

    The majority of clients I come across or have still have unsupported instances of SQL Server, more than a few are completely so.

    Best,
    Kevin G. Boles
    SQL Server Consultant
    SQL MVP 2007-2012
    TheSQLGuru on googles mail service

  • Getting supported RAM up to 128GB is a HUGE deal for most instances, although you did say a small website so this may not be that important.

    Binoogle "sql server 2016 it just runs faster" for something like 3 dozen reasons why you should go straight there. The product team FINALLY got to doing things that had been put off ever since Steve Ballmer said "The Cloud - We're All In!" far too long ago. πŸ™

    Backup compression can save in both time and money (for storage retention).

    LOTS of improvements in optimization and query processing - in addition to the new cost estimation engine in 2014.

    JSON if you use it (2016 only).

    Full Text has had a fair bit of improvements

    Windows Server has also had significant improvements

    Reporting Services finally got some much-needed loving in 2016

    Windowing functions if you refactor some queries that could use them can result in orders-of-magnitude more efficient solutions

    If you or a consultant do performance tuning then the query store can be of great assistance

    I'm sure there is more but I have to go catch a plane. 😎

    Best,
    Kevin G. Boles
    SQL Server Consultant
    SQL MVP 2007-2012
    TheSQLGuru on googles mail service

  • TheSQLGuru (11/10/2016)


    Eirikur Eiriksson (11/10/2016)


    homebrew01 (11/10/2016)


    I'm sure it's a long list, but what are the "Top 10" list of improvements I can take to management to help justify spending the $$ to upgrade ??

    We have a fairly small website with SQL back-end, developing in-house search, using full-text searching, and some lightweight reporting Services on a reporting server.

    Being able to run on Win 2012 and utilize more RAM should help right off the bat.

    Think this is the wrong question, should be "what are the justifications for running an unsupported version of SQL Server"

    😎

    The majority of clients I come across or have still have unsupported instances of SQL Server, more than a few are completely so.

    Yes, I see this also and many being forced into an hasted expensive upgrades due to PCI compliance etc.

    😎

  • homebrew01 (11/10/2016)


    Eirikur Eiriksson (11/10/2016)


    Think this is the wrong question, should be "what are the justifications for running an unsupported version of SQL Server"

    😎

    Doesn't cost any money ?? $10,000 to upgrade is a lot for us.

    There are costs in remaining on unsupported systems. Mainly in terms of decreased security and so increased risk - a large scale data breach because you have knowingly left yourself vulnerable could make that $10K seem like peanuts.

    Additionally you may have increased development/maintenance and support costs in terms of the extra time dev/support staff need to spend to investigate where they need to research an incident and all the examples turn out to only work on later versions.

    You could pay Microsoft for extended support but that certainly isn't cheap. Where I worked previously the first years support for XP OS was Β£200K, the second around Β£1M. (Its based on headcount)

    I would imagine their pricing structure for SQL Server beyond the standard extended support period is similar

  • homebrew01 (11/10/2016)


    I'm sure it's a long list, but what are the "Top 10" list of improvements I can take to management to help justify spending the $$ to upgrade ?? I'm looking at "Standard" Edition. Can't afford Enterprise.

    We have a fairly small website with SQL back-end, developing in-house search, using full-text searching, and some lightweight reporting Services on a reporting server.

    Being able to run on Win 2012 and utilize more RAM should help right off the bat.

    You mentioned that this SQL Server database is the back-end for a website, therefore public facing security features introduced subsequent to 2005 should be of interest, 2016 in particular. I would first highlight Row Level Security, which can help mitigate how much data is revealed in the event of a SQL injection attack or other type of programming bug. These features are supported by Standard Edition.

    https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2016/01/21/limiting-access-to-data-using-row-level-security/

    Also Dynamic Data Masking: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt130841.aspx

    Introduced in 2014, Delayed Durability, basically asynchronous write commits, can perhaps be leveraged to reduce latency in high transaction volume applications.

    https://sqlperformance.com/2014/04/io-subsystem/delayed-durability-in-sql-server-2014

    Also, encrypted and/or compressed backups are great.

    The following references are helpful:

    SQL Server 2016β€”Standard Edition Doesn’t Suck!

    https://www.dcac.co/syndication/sql-server-2016-standard-edition-doesnt-suck

    Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2016

    https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645993.aspx

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • Thanks for all the helpful replies !

    πŸ™‚

  • From a programmer's point of view, I couldn't live without these features, which were not available in SQL Server 2005:

    Common Table Expressions: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175972.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

    MERGE: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb510625.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

    ROW_NUMBER(): https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms186734.aspx

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