SQL Server 2016 CTP2 is out!

As announced by Satya Nadella at the Microsoft Ignite keynote in Chicago, SQL Server 2016 CTP2 is finally out and it follows a previous private CTP.

This CTP will provide some interesting features to evaluate as:

• Always Encrypted
• Stretch databases
• Operational analytics

However, this CTP does not stop here and will incorporate a myriad of new features and many improvements, such as:

• Polybase
• AlwaysOn enhancements
• Row level security
• Dynamic data masking
• Native JSON support
• Temporary data support
• Query store
• MDS enhancements
• Enhanced hybrid backup to Azure

Installation updates are also included with CTP now!

Ok just for fun, here the first point that I noticed during my first SQL Server 2016 installation:

Tempdb is now configurable during the installation process  (the number of files is computed according to the number of CPUs available on the server). There will be other points for sure!.

Ready to evaluate SQL Server 2016? At dbi services, this is the case and we’ll have the opportunity to talk about the new features during this summer.  We’ll also the opportunity to give you an quick overview of new In-memory features during our In-Memory event.

By David Barbarin