There’s a new feature: the default system health Extended Events session can now store a lot more data and you can edit how much it should hold.
Several hotfixes
• SQL Server can shut down when you hit the max number of sessions
• SQL Server can shut down due to lock conflicts during error message processing
• “SQL Server crashes frequently” when you check a clustered columnstore index for corruption
• AGs may have “interruption”
• Stack dumps when transaction replication has a heavy workload on the publication database
• Stack dumps when you query persisted computed columns
• Stack dumps when you run a batch mode query with multiple joins (that’s columnstore indexes in 2016)
• Scalar functions run slower than they did on SQL Server 2008 R2
• Non-yielding scheduler when the primary AG replica runs low on memory
• AG may think there’s a missing log block when the database isn’t very active
• AG automatic seeding may fail
• AGs with persistent log buffers: “all of the secondaries in the AG become unavailable”
• Change tracking auto cleanup causes access violations and stack dumps
• Access violations when Extended Events tries to capture query text on busy servers
• Error when stored proc in database A pulls data from database B while being audited in database C
• Stack dumps when you alter database-scoped configurations
• Incorrect statistics histograms when they’re updated in parallel – which also means that after you apply this CU, you should probably update your statistics.
Cumulative updates (CU) are now available at the Microsoft Download Center.
Only the most recent CU that was released for SQL Server 2016 SP2 is available at the Download Center. Each new CU contains all the fixes that were included togetrher with the previous CU for the installed version or service pack of SQL Server.
•Microsoft recommends ongoing, proactive installation of CUs as they become available: •SQL Server CUs are certified to the same levels as Service Packs, and should be installed at the same level of confidence.
•Historical data shows that a significant number of support cases involve an issue that has already been addressed in a released CU.
•CUs may contain added value over and above hotfixes. This includes supportability, manageability, and reliability updates.
•Just as for SQL Server service packs, we recommend that you test CUs before you deploy them to production environments.
•We recommend that you upgrade your SQL Server installation to the latest SQL Server 2016 service pack.
