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Refreshed Cumulative Update #6 for SQL Server 2014 SP1

'Dear Customers,

The refreshed 6th cumulative update release for SQL Server 2014 SP1 is now available for download at the Microsoft Support site.

To learn more about the release or servicing model, please visit:

Original post date: Apr 19, 2016

Updated on: May 31, 2016'...

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sqlreleaseservices/cumulative-update-6-for-sql-server-2014-sp1/

More infos about the problem of the original CU6 release...

https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2016/05/breaking-news-literally-2014-sp1-cu6-breaks-nolock/

Why DBAs Need to Know about Kerberos – Notes from the Field

'Most database professionals avoid Kerberos like, well, the three-headed guard dog, Cerberus, that the technology is named after. Most DBAs don’t have the permissions to change the settings in Active Directory (AD) that affect Kerberos, but I believe that DBAs should understand Kerberos authentication so that they can help troubleshoot issues that come up.'...

http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2016/05/26/sql-server-dbas-need-know-kerberos-notes-field-126/

CPU Scheduling Basics – Windows and SQL Server

'In this post we’re going to introduce the basics of CPU scheduling.

In a computer system, only one thing can happen at a time. More specifically, only one task can be on a processor at a point in time. This can expand to several tasks if the system has multiple processors or a processor with multiple cores, which most modern systems have. For example, a four core system can potentially execute four tasks concurrently. 

So since only one task can be on a logical processor (or core) at one point in time, something has to manage which task gets access to the CPU. This is what the scheduler does. CPU scheduling is a very (VERY) deep topic and I’m going to introduce you to a couple basic concepts that can help you understand how scheduling works in Windows and SQL Server. So when you see things slow down in either of one of these technologies you know where you can start to look first.'...

http://www.centinosystems.com/blog/sql/cpu-scheduling-basics-windows-and-sql-server/

Natively Compiled Stored Procedures: What they are all about

'In SQL Server, the classic stored procedures that we know and love are interpretive. This means that when a stored procedure is executed for the first time, the SQL Server relational engine first compiles it, and then executes it. By contrast, when we create a natively compiled stored procedure, SQL Server compiles it into machine code immediately, and stores it in a DLL.

Since the stored procedure is now expressed in machine code, the CPU can run it directly, without any interpretation. The lack of interpretation means that the resulting code will be much simpler and more efficient than our standard stored procedures.

Natively compiled stored procedures can reference only in-memory tables. This, for most people, will be the biggest "barrier to entry". The time and effort needed to convert old tables into In-Memory OLTP tables can be significant. For example, foreign keys are not allowed in In-Memory tables, which may be problematic for a highly relational environment. In addition, there are many other restrictions on the T-SQL that is allowed inside a natively compiled stored procedure, compared to classic stored procedures.

As such, it's typically a good idea to save in-memory OLTP, as well as in-memory stored procedures for applications where speed and efficiency are of the utmost importance. However, for those tables and procedures that you can move to in-memory, you will often see a huge improvement in performance over standard disk-based stored procedures.'...

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQL+Server+2014/111460/

Enabling Data Compression – October 2015 Update

'It’s been about a year and a half since I last posted an update to my script that scans databases for objects to compress and, optionally, compresses them. This time around, I’ve just incorporated a bug fix and added a check to make sure the script is running on an edition of SQL Server that supports compression – namely Enterprise or Developer.'...

http://shaunjstuart.com/archive/2015/10/enabling-data-compression-october-2015-update/

Implementing SQL Server In-Memory OLTP

'How do you go about transferring a disk-based workload to the respective memory-optimized design? How do you process memory-optimized tables? How important for performance are natively-compiled Stored Procedures? Artemakis Artemiou comes up with a step-by-step guide to implementing an in-memory OLTP solution .'...

https://www.simple-talk.com/sql/learn-sql-server/implementing-sql-server-in-memory-oltp/