Growing SQL Server

Features from 2008 to 2017

SQL Server 2017: more than just a database

SQL Server 2017 helps business from the ground up, extending your reach
further than before. But at Microsoft, we remember our roots—including
the features that grew SQL Server to where it stands today. Performance
As you prepare for the end of support for SQL Server 2008, get to know
the features and benefits now available to you in SQL Server 2017.
2017 Features

Automatic Database Tuning

Availability
Adaptive Query Processing

2017 Features Columnstore Indexes

Enhanced Always On

In-Memory OLTP
Always On Failover Cluster Instances and Availability Groups

Query Store

2008 Features

Log Shipping
Read-Scale
Availability Database Mirroring
Groups 2008 Features
Failover Clustering
Compressed Indexes
Replication and Tables

Filtered Indexes and

Statistics
Security

2017 Features

Dynamic Data Masking

Always Encrypted 2008 Features

Transparent Data
Row-Level Security Encryption

Extensible Key
Backup Encryption Management

SQL Server Auditing

Change Data Capture

Scalability &
cloud-readiness
Management & 2017 Features
programmability
Add Azure Replica Wizard

2017 Features

Support for Linux and Azure Site Recovery

Docker Containers

SQL Graph Backup to Azure

Temporal Tables Stretch Database

2008 Features

Partition Table
Parallelism
Business intelligence &
Full-Text Search
analytics
Policy-Based
Management and 2017 Features
Automation

SQL Server Machine Learning Services

Real-Time Operational Analytics

Azure Machine Learning

PolyBase

2008 Features

Business Intelligence
Development Studio

Data Mining

Report Designer

Prepare for SQL Server

2008 end of support 
SQL Server

Performance
Regardless of complexity, today’s database engines are expected to return query results extremely quickly.
With a shift from index optimization to in-memory transaction processing, today’s SQL Server isn’t just
faster, its adaptive querying and tuning features make it smarter, too.

SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017

Compressed indexes and tables improve query Columnstore indexes accelerate analytics performance
performance in I/O bottleneck scenarios. by redefining data storage and queries.

Filtered indexes and statistics offer better In-Memory OLTP achieves greater speed through
query performance and optimized storage. memory-optimized tables.

Adaptive Query Processing shapes optimization

strategies based on your application workload’s runtime
conditions and characteristics.

Automatic Database Tuning corrects query execution

plans causing performance issues.

Query Store gives you insights on query plan choice

and performance.

Availability
The global economy never sleeps and neither does the demand for data. Building on the old standbys of high
availability—mirroring and failover, Always On Failover Cluster Instances, and Availability Groups—doesn’t
just ensure access to your database. It ensures the data returned is the right data.

SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017

Database mirroring increases the availability Always On Failover Cluster Instances and Availability
of your SQL Server database. Groups enable HADR scenarios on both Linux and Windows.

Failover clustering helps you recover an Enhanced Always On offers up to eight secondary replicas
entire SQL Server instance. per primary database, plus a Replica Wizard to guide you
through the process.
Log shipping supports high availability at the
database level. Read-Scale Availability Groups provide clusterless support
for read-only workloads.
Replication maintains consistency between
databases and synchronizing.

Security
As technology advances, so do the potential threats to business continuity and data privacy. Access to and
protection of personal information is at the forefront of data security today and SQL Server 2017 now has
multiple layers of data security built in, enabling administrative access without exposing sensitive data.

SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017

Transparent Data Encryption performs real-time Always Encrypted provides separation between
I/O encryption and data decryption. those who own and manage data.

Extensible Key Management enables third-party Dynamic Data Masking limits data exposure while
vendors to register their devices in SQL Server. simplifying security design and coding.

SQL Server Auditing creates customized audits Row-Level Security controls access to rows in a
of Database Engine events. database table based on user characteristics.

Change Data Capture helps you view table Backup encryption gives you extra security for
changes in an easily consumable format. backup files.

Scalability & cloud readiness

Today’s databases in the cloud offer portability and redundancy. Cloud-based computing is the modern server
farm. Although SQL Server 2017 can still be used on-premises, economies of scale really add up in the cloud.
SQL Server 2017 gives you multiple deployment options that just didn’t exist before.

SQL Server 2017

Stretch Database migrates cold data transparently, securely, and cost-effectively.

Backup to Azure enables backup and restoration from the Azure Blob service.

Azure Site Recovery provides replication and failover through high availability technologies.

Add Azure Replica Wizard simplifies disaster recovery and extends your Always On Availability Group to include Azure replicas.

Azure SQL Database Managed Instance helps you move to the cloud with minimal application and database reengineering.

Management & programmability

Upkeep is essential to any software as a service (SaaS), but only certain tasks really require frequent
human intervention. SQL Server 2017 offers so much more flexibility than past versions—both around
deployment options, with support for Linux and for Docker containers, and data presentation with
relationship graphing.

SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017

Partition table parallelism provides better Support for Linux and Docker Containers empower
performance and resource utilization. you to use SQL Server tools on Linux.

Full-Text Search enables comprehensive queries SQL Graph enables you to map and query
against character-based data. relationships in a graph structure.

Policy-based management and automation Temporal tables help you to see data changes in your
defines and enforces policies across an enterprise. tables from any point in time.

Business intelligence & analytics

With increases in consumer data collection, data analysis and BI have become essential to strategic decision-
making. Machine learning and AI on SQL Server 2017 can transform your data into meaningful insights at
speeds that keep up with the torrent of today’s data-gathering techniques.

SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2017

Business Intelligence Development Studio PolyBase joins structured, semi-structured, and unstructured
offers solutions such as Analysis Services, data in platforms like Azure Blob storage or Hadoop.
Integration Services, and Reporting Services
projects. SQL Server Machine Learning Services bring calculations
and processing to where the data resides, eliminating the need
Data mining tools perform powerful analytics to pull data across the network.
without you needing to know data mining
concepts. Azure Machine Learning provides packages of machine
learning algorithms plus pretrained models for image
Report Designer organizes data in reports and extraction or sentiment analysis.
helps you design reports interactively.
Real-Time Operational Analytics enables you to run both
analytics and OLTP workloads on the same database
tables simultaneously.

Prepare for SQL Server 2008 end of support 

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