Download Microsoft SQL Server 2019 CTP 2.2

Microsoft has released a new community technology preview of SQL Server 2019 with version number 2.2. SQL Server is a relational database management system that supports T-SQL, a dialect of SQL. It is available in different flavors and can therefore be used for small, medium and large databases. It runs on the Windows platform of course, but also on Linux, such as Red Hat Enterprise Server and Ubuntu. For the 2019 edition they have a lot of work done to improve big data clusters and the database engine. The SQL Server 2019 CTP 2.2 announcement looks like this:

Announcing SQL Server 2019 community technology preview 2.2

In September we announced SQL Server 2019 preview, the first release of SQL Server to create a unified data platform by packaging Apache SparkTM and Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) together with SQL Server as a single, integrated solution. SQL Server 2019 promises to simplify big data analytics for SQL Server users, break down data silos using data virtualization, and provide industry-leading performance and advanced security for your mission-critical applications. Today, Microsoft is now pleased to announce SQL Server 2019 community technology preview 2.2, the third in a monthly cadence of preview releases.

This preview brings the following new features and capabilities to SQL Server 2019:

• Customers can now use SparkR from Azure Data Studio on a big data cluster.
• Customers can use UTF-8 character encoding with SQL Server Replication. Depending on the character set in use, switching to URF-8 encoding has the potential for large storage savings.

Getting started

Ready to learn more? Here are some ways to get started with SQL Server 2019:

• To get started with SQL Server 2019 CTP 2.2, find download instructions on the SQL Server 2019 web page.
• For an overview of the new features in SQL Server 2019, view our webinar Introduction to SQL Server 2019.
• If youre looking for information on these and other great features, you can read more at the SQL Server 2019 documentation page, What’s new in SQL Server 2019.