SQL Server 2017 went on general release a couple of weeks ago. This brings a whole host of benefits
Microsoft SQL Server 2017 features the much-anticipated SQL Graph, which provides new graph database capabilities for representing complex many-to-many relationships. Social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn use graph databases extensively, and in the era of big data, use cases are emerging across many industries.
Businesses can explore these relationships to reveal valuable information – from changes in the types of structures to the query abilities being requested of you and your teams. Whether it’s identifying similarities in customers behind trends in purchasing behavior, or mapping patterns in credit card usage to determine credit limits or risk indicators of defaulting on repayments, the introduction of graph capabilities to SQL Server makes the processes more streamlined.
Perhaps the most touted feature of the new version is that it will be available to be installed on Linux; an entirely inconceivable premise 10 years ago, which just goes to show how far Microsoft have changed in their approach to supporting non-Windows platforms as standard.
The announcement earlier this year that Power BI would be included as part of SSRS in was welcome. Previously, each tool was well suited for a specific reporting purpose – SSRS was great for designing reports that require a lot of visual tailoring and widely common formats for exporting, whereas Power BI is more geared towards real-time, dashboard views that marry together disparate data sources in a straightforward way. By being able to leverage SSRS to fully utilise Power BI reports, the application suddenly becomes a lot more versatile and the potential for combining together functionality becomes a lot more recognisable. So, for example, having the ability to drill down to an SSRS report from a Power BI report would be an excellent way of providing reporting capabilities that satisfy end-user consumption in 2 different, but wildly applicable, scenarios
The updated SSMS client for SQL Server 2017 has been given refreshed icons that bring the application more in line with how Visual Studio and other Microsoft products are looking these days
