So, I thought I’d write a little catch-up blog post, to help you to find all LinkedIn Posts!

First, a bit of humour with this image of SQL Server scrolling through LinkedIn and wondering if anyone still loves it… Meanwhile, Power BI and Azure Data Fabric are stealing the show.

Let’s talk about SQL Server, and in particular all tests done on SQL Server 2025:  

SSRS Deprecation – It’s time to rethink your reporting architecture explain you how with our Team, we can help you to go forward!

dbi services’ blog on fire for SQL Server 2025 with this Tips to find all our SQL Server blogs : just Google: site:dbi-services.com/blog SQL Server 2025

Exploring SQL Server 2025 blogs with tests on SQL Server 2025 new features

Time to review your SQLServer licenses with 10% price increase for SQL Server licences, we can help you to optimize your SQL Server Architecture!

SQL Server 2025: AI, Performance… and real-world Lessons with a lot of deep tests and new thinking about  Tuning, Performance & AI

Your SQL Server might be exposed right now is a very important topic because Microsoft put in Augaust and Septembre critical patches in High importance

SQL Server 2025 – What’s new & What’s next? withgood feedback and ideas from SQLBits 2025  in London

It’s time to rethink your data strategy with SQL Server 2025 with the end of DQS, MDS and Synapse Link, it’s  the opportunity to see our expertise in Microsoft Fabic

And also, publications about how we can help beside SQL Server and share these experiences & expertise:

Struggling with rising Azure Data Fabric & Power BI costs? with our experience to help to optimize the cost of your Azure Platform using the BI stack

When M-Files meets SQL Server with our SQL Server & M-Files expertise, we are on the top to help you to configure, customize, optimize, secure  your M-File infrastructure

Continue to follow us in our blogs and linkedIn posts!

L’article SQL Server’s LinkedIn Posts catch-up! est apparu en premier sur dbi Blog.

How to begin? Read the documentation of course here but you will see a lot of informations…

After reading the documentation, how to have the first useful information?

The first information will be about the SQL Server installed like the server name, instance name, build and version with also some advanced information like last update date, the KB or CU.

Here this first query:

SELECT  
  SERVERPROPERTY('MachineName') AS [Server_Name],
  SERVERPROPERTY('InstanceName') AS [Instance_Name], 
  SERVERPROPERTY('Edition') AS [Edition],
  SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion') AS [Product_Version], 
  SERVERPROPERTY('ProductLevel') AS [Product _Level],
  SERVERPROPERTY('ProductBuild') AS [Product _Build],
   SERVERPROPERTY('ProductMajorVersion') AS [Advanced_Product_ Major_Version],
  SERVERPROPERTY('ProductMinorVersion') AS [Advanced_Product_Minor_Version],
   SERVERPROPERTY('ProductUpdateReference ') AS [Advanced_KB_Version],
  SERVERPROPERTY('ProductUpdateLevel') AS [Advanced_Update _Level],
  SERVERPROPERTY(' ResourceLastUpdateDateTime ') AS [Advanced_Last_Update_Date]

Result of a test:

I run all queries on my sql server container under Visual Studio Code and sql server 2025 CPT2.1.

You can have more info about it here (dbi Blog)

After, some other useful information will be if the instance has features installed like Polybase or Full-Text seach but also some configuration like filestream or HA.

 Here the query:

SELECT 
  SERVERPROPERTY('MachineName') AS [Server_Name],
  SERVERPROPERTY('InstanceName') AS [Instance_Name], 
  SERVERPROPERTY('IsPolyBaseInstalled') AS [Is_Polybase_Installed],  
  SERVERPROPERTY('IsFullTextInstalled') AS [Is_Full-Text_Search_Installed],
  SERVERPROPERTY('IsAdvancedAnalyticsInstalled') AS [Is_Advanced_Analytics_Installed],
  SERVERPROPERTY('FilestreamConfiguredLevel') AS [is_Filestream_enabled],  
  SERVERPROPERTY('IsBigDataCluster') AS [Is_BigData_Cluster_enabled],
  SERVERPROPERTY('IsClustered') AS [Is_Clustered],  
  SERVERPROPERTY('IsHadrEnabled') AS [Is_HADR_enabled],
   SERVERPROPERTY('IsTempDbMetadataMemoryOptimized') AS [Is_TempDB_for_Memory_Optimized_Tables_Enabled],  
  SERVERPROPERTY('IsXTPSupported') AS [Is_IN_Memory_OLTP_Supported],
  SERVERPROPERTY('IsExternalGovernanceEnabled') AS [Is_External_Governance_Enabled];

Result of a test:

You can notice that the last property is the External governance. This is linked to the  Microsoft Purview access policies.  

The next useful information will be about the security.

Here the query:

SELECT 
  SERVERPROPERTY('MachineName') AS [Server_Name],
  SERVERPROPERTY('InstanceName') AS [Instance_Name], 
  SERVERPROPERTY('IsIntegratedSecurityOnly') AS [Is_Integrated_Security_Only],
  SERVERPROPERTY('IsSingleUser') AS [Is_Single_User],
  SERVERPROPERTY('IsExternalAuthenticationOnly') AS [s_External_Authentication_Only];

Result of a test:

The External Authentication concerns the Microsoft Entra-only authentication  for Azure SQL Database & Azure SQL Managed Instance.

The last information package is the collation/character set with this query:

SELECT 
  SERVERPROPERTY('MachineName') AS [Server_Name],
  SERVERPROPERTY('InstanceName') AS [Instance_Name], 
  SERVERPROPERTY('Collation') AS [Collation], 
  SERVERPROPERTY('LCID') AS [Windows_Locale_Identifier], 
  SERVERPROPERTY('SqlCharSetName') AS [SQL_Character_Set_Name], 
  SERVERPROPERTY('SqlSortOrderName') AS [SQL_Sort_Order_Name];

Result of a test:

To conclude, you have now in this blog 4 useful queries to find information on the server level.
Don’t hesitate to add your comments or give me other useful property that you use.!

L’article SQL Server: Do you know how to use SERVERPROPERTY()  function in a useful way? est apparu en premier sur dbi Blog.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ssms

You will see 6 parts in the main panel:

• Overview
• Get Started
• Install
• Customize SSMS
• What’s new in SSMS?
• Troubleshoot

If you have a look on the left menu, you will find more like Copilot in SQL Server Management Studio (Preview) and have a deep dive into this subject:

To follow how to enable and use it, follow the blog of Steven Naudet: Step-by-Step Guide to Enabling Copilot in SSMS

One part I like in the documentation is the “Tips and Tricks” in “Get Started” to be more efficient when you use it:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ssms/tutorials/ssms-tricks

Have a good start with the new landing page of SSMS!

L’article SQL Server: New SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)  landing page est apparu en premier sur dbi Blog.

One new feature in preview is the “Schema Design compare” in this last MSSQL extension for Visual Studio Code:

Let’s start and see on a database (db2 in my example):

Et voila, I have my 2 tables created during the test on Schema Compare blog here

Now, I create a new table t3 with some columns:

Very easy to create a table without being a SQL Expert.

As you can see, you have easily access to the option and add some specific input like the size or a default value.

The table t3 is created with a primary key on column c1.

Now, I change my table t2 and want to put c1 as primary key.

To edit the table t2, just click on the pen:

In the edit table, I just check the column c1 as primary key:

And I have my primary key on table t2:

Now, I want do link between my 3 tables (this is named/known as a Foreign Key…)

First between t2 and t3, I go the side of the table t2 and a blue point appears. Take it and go to the table t3

Let’s try between the table t2 and the table t1

Aie! Error message:

• Failed to create a foreign key
• Column ‘c1’ must be a primary key

It’s very good to have this control and information.

This will help a lot of developers…

I will not continue more with the design.
It’s already and really a good tool to design our schema.

One good point is the export button to have the schema design as a picture with 3 formats possibilities svg ,png or jpeg.

No excuse to not do a documentation!

The definition button gives you the design script:

The last button to use is the Publish Changes:

I wait a little bit, and I have the resume of the design change:

I like the checkbox “I have read the summary and understand the potential risks” and I publish.

It’s just a discovery about the Schema design preview.

It will be a good help for developers.

See you soon for the next episode!

L’article SQL Server 2025: Local SQL Server Container – Schema design preview est apparu en premier sur dbi Blog.

One new feature in preview is the “schema compare” in this last extension for Visual Code:

I like new feature and now let’s go for a test!

I create 2 identically databases db1 & db2 with 2 tables and some data inside:

I do a select on both tables on both databases to see if everything is the same:

I run the “schema compare” to be sure I have everything is aligned:

I select the source “db1”, select the target “db2” and click on compare:

After few seconds (due to my small databases), we have the result:

Good! No schema differences were found! It’s a good start…

Now, I play and change a little bit the db1:

• On table t1:
  • Add a column c4
  • Drop a column c1
  • Change the data type of the column c2

• Create a new schema test2

• Transfer the table t2 from schema dbo to scema test2

• Create a new table t3

I run again the schema compare…

This time, we have a result:

I have all my change but like other tools it will delete the table dbo.t2 and create a new one test2.t2. This is not really the same as a schema transfer…

Otherwise, we see the missing table dbo.t2

I will now run the compare in the other way db2 as source and db1 as target:

I see now the delete of what I change on db1, then it’s good and fine except the schema transfer like usual…

I come back to my precedent comparison and this I use the “Switch Direction”:

I test now the script generation:

Et voila, I have my change script:

It will be very nice to use for developers but as you see in my post, you need to be careful with your change (schema change for tables), control and test the script generated before do it on Production databases!

See you soon for the next test on my Local SQL Server Container!

L’article SQL Server 2025: Local SQL Server Container – Schema compare preview est apparu en premier sur dbi Blog.

SQL Connectivity and Drivers – SQL Server | Microsoft Learn

As you can see, you can download, have a quick start and some code samples…

Let’s test on Python!

When I click on “Download”, I have the page for “Python SQL Driver”:

Python SQL Driver – mssql-python (Preview) – Python driver for SQL Server | Microsoft Learn

When I click on “Get Started”, I have the page for “Quickstart: Connect with the mssql-python driver for Python”:

When I click on “Code Sample”, I have the page for “Quickstart: Deploy a Python (Django, Flask, or FastAPI) web app to Azure App Service”:

Very easy to find out and simple to start with a connection to SQL Server from your development tools…

I hope others like Ruby, Spark, … will also come soon!

L’article SQL Server: New connectivity and Drivers landing page est apparu en premier sur dbi Blog.

• Create and manage SQL Server containers locally without Docker commands
• Use SQL Server 2025 by default with vector and AI-ready features
• Auto-connect with a ready-to-use connection profile
• Start, stop, restart, or delete containers from the connection panel
• Automatic port conflict detection and resolution
• Customize container name, hostname, port, and version

See all Preview Features here

First Step: Download and install Visual Studio Code here

Second Step: Download and install MSSQL extension for Visual Studio Code here

You can also directly from Visual Code, download and install the extension:

I choose this easy way…

After few minutes, it’s ready to use:

Third Step: create the Local SQL Server Container

Go to the “SQL Server” tab, select the “Create Local SQL Container” in the “connections” menu:

Oups… I forget to install Docker:

Second Step BIS: Download and Install Docker on my desktop here

Et voila, Docker is installed:

After the restart, I go back to my SQL Server connection in Visual Code.

I see that I’m ready to start…

I can choose the SQL Server image until the version of SQL 2017:

I choose the SQL server 2025 version, enter a password and a profile name:

Check also Accept the Terms & Conditions after reading it of course like every time…

I press the button “Create Container”:

The are three steps:

• Creating Container
• Setting up container
• Connecting to Container

After few minutes, my container is online and ready to be use direclty:

Last Step: Test the connection with a query

I open a query and just do a SELECT @@Version and a SELECT @@Servername:

As you can see, we have the SQL server in version 2025 & Edition Developer on Linux Ubuntu installed without any Docker command to deploy it…

Conclusion

Very easy to install and do the first steps with this new feature and without any skills in Docker command…

I know a lot of developers who want to use it asap!

L’article SQL Server 2025: Local SQL Server Container without Docker Command est apparu en premier sur dbi Blog.

To do this, I will compare SQL 2022 and SQL 2025 using the system view sys.configurations.

I begin with a count(*) to see how many differences I have:

95 configurations for SQL 2022 and 105 configurations for SQL 2025.
Seems that we have 10 new configurations.

Go now to the details with the query on both instances :

SELECT * FROM sys.configurations

I save the result as csv and will see what is double and not:

And finally, I have the 10 new configuration’s possibilities in SQL Server 2025 for the instance:

If I go deeper into these new options, we can already see:

• ADR cleaner lock timeout (s)
  • Default value: 5
  • Description:  Accelerated Database Recovery cleaner lock timeout will be a good complement to already “ADR cleaner retry timeout (min)”,” ADR Cleaner Thread Count” and “ADR Preallocation Factor”
  • Is dynamic: Yes (no restart needed)
  • Is advanced option: Yes
    
• SLOG memory quota (%)
  • Default value: 5
  • Description: SLOG memory quota percentage
  • Is dynamic: Yes
  • Is advanced option: Yes

• max RPC request params (KB)
  • Default value: 5
  • Description: Maximum memory for RPC request parameters (kBytes)
  • Is dynamic: Yes
  • Is advanced option: Yes

• max UCS send boxcars
  • Default value: 5
  • Description: Maximum number of UCS boxcars for sending messages.
  • Is dynamic: No (need a restart of the SQL Server Engine)
  • Is advanced option: Yes

• availability group commit time (ms)
  • Default value: 5
  • Description: Configure availability group commit time in milliseconds for SQL Server only. Will be a good configuration for some of our customers…
  • Is dynamic: Yes
  • Is advanced option: Yes

• tiered memory enabled
  • Default value: 0
  • Description: tiered memory memory-optimized is disabled by default.
  • Is dynamic: No
  • Is advanced option: Yes

• max server tiered memory (MB)
  • Default value: 2147483647
  • Description: Maximum size of server tiered memory (MB)
  • Is dynamic: No
  • Is advanced option: Yes

• external rest endpoint enabled
  • Default value: 0
  • Description: Enable or disable invocations of external REST endpoints
  • Is dynamic: Yes
  • Is advanced option: No

• external xtp dll gen util enabled
  • Default value: 0
  • Description: Enable or disable using external xtp dll generation via HkDllGen.exe
  • Is dynamic: Yes
  • Is advanced option: No

• external AI runtimes enabled
  • Default value: 0
  • Description: Enable or disable using external AI runtimes
  • Is dynamic: Yes
  • Is advanced option: No

These option are not documented yet on the Microsoft website but it will come soon. here the link to the configurations options:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/configure-windows/server-configuration-options-sql-server?view=sql-server-ver17

Of course, we will test these options and have best practices to help our customers to have an optimized SQL Server platform.

See you soon for others blogs…

L’article SQL Server 2025: What news on the instance configuration est apparu en premier sur dbi Blog.

CRITICAL: Database xxxx [replica: xxxxxx] [role: SECONDARY] state is SUSPECT, synchronization health is NOT_HEALTHY, synchronization state is NOT SYNCHRONIZING [suspended: true] [failover ready: false] [joined: true]

After creating the ticket, I go to the environment and see with SSMS that on the secondary, the database is in the state Not Synchronizing / Suspect…

Like usual, I go to the errorlog and see this error:

It seems that we have a file on a share which is not accessible, and which is putting the database in a suspicious state. If you look at the database on the primary, you can see that someone has created a data file on a share…

SQL Server has allowed you to create files on shares for years.

When you’re in an HA system with AlwaysOn AG and with automatic seeding(the problem coming from this point), adding a file on the primary will be replicated on the secondary and so in our case, it will be necessary to create the file on the same share with the same name, which isn’t possible.

The second consequence is that the Tlog file doesn’t get emptied and continues to grow despite the backup logs, because the pending synchronisation anticipates the commit… until the big alert that the Tlog disk is full…

The moral of the story is simple: before making a structural change to a database, think about how it works and the consequences. 

In any case, we’ll always be here to help!

L’article SQL Server AlwaysOn – Alert database Not Synchronizing / Suspect est apparu en premier sur dbi Blog.

I connect to the first node of AlwaysOn cluster who is the primary and check the cluster with the Failover Cluster Manager.

Nothing tells us that it is not working. All is green! It’s a good point!

I connect also to the instance with SSMS and check all AAGs in the instances through the dashboard of all listeners. Everything is green, and databases are synchronized.

First, I try to do a failover through the Failover Cluster Manager:

Strange, it’s not working, it’s coming back to the primary…

As you can see in the screenshot, I have the message “The action ‘Move’ did not complete. For more data, see ‘Information Details’”

If you click on “Information Details”, you have the error message:

error code 0x80071398
The operation failded because either the specified cluster node is not the owner of the group or the node is not a possible owner of the group

Ok, let’s try also by script with SSMS:

ALTER AVAILABILITY GROUP [xxx]  FAILOVER;
GO

I have also an error message:

I begin to check all the parameters of the cluster…

After some minutes, hours…, I find that we have 2 little missing checkboxes on the Failover Cluster Manager…

When you are in the Failover Cluster Manager, on our listerner, verify the Resources and specifically the Advanced Policies of the “Other Resources” and on Server Name on both Name and IP address. In my case, the second server was not checked on the name of the server name and on the Other resources:

After checking the box, the failover was possible.

My advise is to control everytime these “Advanced Policies” on the Resources of the cluster.

I hope this post can also help you when you are facing the problem.

See you soon to continue to share our experience with you!

L’article SQL Server AlwaysOn – Failover does not work but everything is green on the cluster est apparu en premier sur dbi Blog.