Wednesday, August 28, 2013

SQL 2014 new feature (Updatable columnstore)

One of the new features introduced on SQL server 2012 was a memory optimized columnstore index. This feature not only reduces the amount of storage but also the speed of the query. During my test, I found that the speed of a query performance before and after columnstore index was in magnitude of 15 times faster. Wow, that was very impressive. As being new feature it have its own drawbacks. You are not able to update the data, hum. The workaround was very cumbersome and not suitable for some of data warehouse solutions. If you want to update data you need to drop the columnstore index update the data and recreate it.

If you have already upgraded to 2012 to make use of the columnstore index then you may have to upgrade to the new SQL server 2014. SQL 2014 doesn’t require the workaround of updating data. The new release enhanced the columnstore to be a pure columnar store. Bang on!!

Data warehouse is much happier place to be with SQL 2014. Not only you will be able to save space but also increase query performance.

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