Build a Test Lab of SQL Server 2025 on Windows Server 2025 using Hyper-V Virtual Machines

Create your own test lab on Hyper-V to evaluate SQL Server 2025 and Windows Server 2025

How to Use the New PRODUCT() Function in SQL Server 2025

Introduced in SQL Server 2025 CTP 1.3, the PRODUCT() function acts similarly to SUM(), but multiplies values rather than adds them. It is an aggregate function in SQL Server and therefore operates on a data set, rather than on scalar values.

Columnstore Index Improvements in SQL Server 2025

Columnstore indexes are a powerful tool for storing analytic data directly in SQL Server. This feature has improved in every version of SQL Server since their inception over ten years ago, and SQL Server 2025 is no exception!

Your Favorite Improvement

This Friday Steve asks about what you're looking forward to in SQL Server 2025, if anything.

New Backup Compression

Split strings by Regular Expressions in SQL Server 2025

SQL Server users have been asking for native regular expression support for over two decades. There are third-party Common Language Runtime (CLR) modules that offer this functionality, but these can be complicated to install and simply aren’t possible in some environments. I want to split a string using a regular expression instead of a static string. Will that be possible in SQL Server 2025, without CLR?

How SQL Server 2025’s Optional Parameter Plan Optimization Works

SQL Server 2025 improved PSPO to handle multiple predicates that might have parameter sensitivity, and that’s great! I love it when Microsoft ships a v1 feature, and then gradually iterates over to make it better. Adaptive Memory Grants were a similar investment that got improved over time, and today they’re fantastic.

SQL Server 2025 Excitement

Today Steve wonders how many of you might be looking forward to SQL Server 2025 and consider it to be a major release.

AI in SQL Server 2025: Embeddings

One of the cornerstones of AI is a concept called embeddings. Virtually every AI model, whether for text, video, or audio, uses something related to embeddings. Starting with SQL Server 2025, this is a term you’ll be hearing a lot, as its potential for applications is enormous!

Announcing SQL Server 2025

Bob Ward announces the next version of SQL Server, now in private preview.