This may well impact the entire Microsoft application software industry as they move from XML to JSON data.

SQL server 2016 offers a wide range of performance boosting features aimed to the modern workforce. In this post I will be discussing four key features which I find the most interesting.

1. JSON in SQL 2016
2. In Memory OLTP
3. Live Query Statistics
4. Row Level Security SQL 2016

JSON in SQL 2016

Most applications utilise XML or JSON (Java Script Object Notation) as data-interchange format used in new or modern web and mobile applications.

One good thing about JSON is it does not need a parser to parse the data whereas XML does need parser. This functionality is making the JSON format very popular in web applications, including SharePoint.

In MS SQL 2016 we get native support for JSON data, which can now be directly generated by SQL server 2016 query using FOR JSON PATH syntax.

This may well impact the entire Microsoft application software industry as they move from XML to JSON data. It suggests that there will be a huge in application migration scenario as well as having the potential to bring lot more projects to market.

In Memory OLTP

A second interesting feature is in Memory OLTP, also known as project Heckaton, this has been supported in SQL 2016 which provides row based in-memory data access and modification capability.

In-Memory  uses technology called lock- and latch- free architecture and is inbuilt in to SQL 2016. This allows the same database to be on both on-disk and in-memory and enables lower cost of ownership. This also improves throughput and transactional processing latency on processing workload and provides significant performance improvement.

Live Query Statistics

In SQL 2016 there is promised a very interesting feature called Live Query Statistics (LQS). LQS will empower DBAs and developer to see runtime execution plan query execution, allowing them to collect actual metrics about the query execution statics. In previous SQL versions we needed to wait until the query completely executed to get those statics with LQS it allows you to view what is currently happening in SQL server, during the actual query execution and it allows to DBA and developers to identify the bottleneck of a query execution which can boost performance by fixing issue.

Row Level Security SQL 2016

SQL Server 2016 has improved data security and provides a new feature called Row-Level Security (RLS) that allows DBA’s and Developer’s to granular fine-grained access control over rows in a table.

RLS restricts access to rows, based on a query execution context where data, for example, regarding customer department can be stored in same table. Another example, ensuring that on hospital database the Mid Wives should see only those patients to whom they are attending on his/her shift whereas the doctors should be able to see all the patients.

The logic applies the access restriction and is located within the database. The restriction will also be applied every time when the data is accessed from database.

The impact on fine –grained data access will reduce potential data protection issues and bring a new approach towards data and application lifecycle.

In conclusion new features In SQL server 2016 will bring lot of changes in software industry and evidently bring improvements to the market and maybe even more jobs for information workers.

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