We are excited to announce that our first SQL Server 2016 release candidate, SQL Server 2016 Release Candidate (RC) 0, is now available for download. This is an important milestone in the release of SQL Server 2016, as this marks feature completion for most dimensions of the product. It also means a very rich set of capabilities is now available, including real-time operational analytics, rich visualizations on mobile devices, built-in advanced analytics, new advanced security technologies, and new hybrid scenarios allowing you to securely stretch data to the cloud.
As part of our new rapid release model, we will be publishing multiple release candidates on a more frequent cadence. SQL Server 2016 RC 0, which you can try in your development and test environments, is available for download or in an Azure VM today.
In SQL Server 2016 RC 0, we made enhancements to several features, including:
- Stretch Database service: With this preview, SQL Server 2016 users can dynamically stretch their on-premises warm and cold data to an Azure service that is engineered from the ground up for compute capacity and virtually infinite storage.
- Enhancements to In-Memory OLTP: In-Memory OLTP, which dramatically improves transaction processing performance, now has reduced downtime during upgrades.
- Enhancements to SQL Server Analysis Services: A new Tabular Object model is released to allow easier development and maintenance through code against tabular models.
- Enhancements to SQL Server Reporting Services: You can do much more in this next preview of the new Reporting Services web portal, including subscribe to reports, manage shared datasets, manage data caching and refresh, and more.
For additional detail, please visit the detailed RC 0 technical overview blog post and the RC 0 Analysis Services blog post.
To learn more, visit the SQL Server 2016 preview page. To experience the new, exciting features in SQL Server 2016 and the new rapid release model, download the preview or try the preview by using a virtual machine in Microsoft Azure and start evaluating the impact these new innovations can have for your business. To learn more about the SQL Server Stretch Database service preview, visit the product page in Azure.
Questions? Join the discussion of the new SQL Server 2016 capabilities at MSDN and StackOverflow. If you run into an issue or would like to make a suggestion, you can let us know with the Connect tool. We look forward to hearing from you!
Is it possible to upgrade from the CTP 3.3 to the RC 0?
Hi Augusto, yes upgrading from CTP 3.3 to RC 0 is supported. Thank you!
Will it be possible to upgrade from RC0 to RTM?
In the Reporting Services Preview, there is a button in the top right hand corner that displays the Full Name of the user. When clicked it says, “Coming Soon… We’re working on this feature. Switch to classic Report Manager in the meantime. ” What feature is this button supposed to embody and is it documented anywhere?
Anyway, thanks for the good work!
Thanks for the feedback! That particular text isn’t meant to be clickable and isn’t clickable in our upcoming preview release.
RC0 is not yet available as Azure Image, when will this be online?
The update still say’s that there is a newer version of the ODBC driver.
Microsoft ODBC Driver 11 for SQL Server
Installed
13.0.1000.255
Latest
13.0.1100.213
Is there a new driver? if so where can we download this.
For the rest a like what I see
Resolved
SSMS do not complain anymore about a new version., because the control of the driver is now gone
Guys, you give some great features like always on encryption, and temporal tables. Then prevent system versioning with encryption. That kind of defeats the purpose for anything real.
Hi
I’ve installed this revision without having any previous installation. There are no “Management tools” in feature list. I’ve installed “Client tools connectivity” but didn’t get SQL Server Management Studio. How can I install it for this version?
Actually SSMS available as separate product so not an issue anymore.
Moving forward, will the limitations for temporal tables be addressed? In particular I am referring to always encrypted working with temporal tables. They are both great features, but without the ability to use them in together, the value of each is diminished significantly.
Its hard to imagine a table that is significant enough to warrant temporal data, that wouldn’t include sensitive information.
-Alan
Hi Alan, in fact, temporal tables already work with Always Encrypted.
We seem to have an issue in Always Encrypted wizard in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) that prevents you from configuring this combination from the UI.
However, you can avoid this limitation and enable both features by modifying and reusing the following Transact-SQL script:
/*Create CMK and CEK (regular steps)*/
CREATE COLUMN MASTER KEY [TceTestCert1] WITH (KEY_STORE_PROVIDER_NAME = ‘MSSQL_CERTIFICATE_STORE’, KEY_PATH = ”);
CREATE COLUMN ENCRYPTION KEY [myCEK]
WITH VALUES ( COLUMN_MASTER_KEY = [TceTestCert1], ALGORITHM = ‘RSA_OAEP’, ENCRYPTED_VALUE = )
/*Create table path*/
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[temporal_table]
([FirstColumn] int NOT NULL,
[EncryptedColumn] int ENCRYPTED WITH ( ENCRYPTION_TYPE = RANDOMIZED,
ALGORITHM = ‘AEAD_AES_256_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256’, COLUMN_ENCRYPTION_KEY = [myCEK] ),
[SysStartTime] datetime2(7) GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW START NOT NULL,
[SysEndTime] datetime2(7) GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW END NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([FirstColumn]),
PERIOD FOR SYSTEM_TIME (SysStartTime, SysEndTime) )
WITH (SYSTEM_VERSIONING = ON )
/*Alter table path*/
ALTER TABLE [dbo].[temporal_table]
ADD [EncryptedColumn] int ENCRYPTED WITH
( ENCRYPTION_TYPE = RANDOMIZED, ALGORITHM = ‘AEAD_AES_256_CBC_HMAC_SHA_256’, COLUMN_ENCRYPTION_KEY = [myCEK] )
When you use AE with temporal identical encryption definition is applied both to current and history tables.
Please share what are the other limitations you had in mind for Temporal Tables?