Like all previous versions, Microsoft SQL Server 2019 is packed with new features and capabilities. Let's look at some of the most helpful features for database management systems (DBMS).

Indexing

One of the new capabilities is related to indexing. If indexing goes wrong, SQL Server 2019 gives DBAs the tools to deal with such situations. For instance, if an indexing operation ends interrupting normal database operations, the indexing process can be paused and then resumed when there is less activity to release the system resources that are so necessary. Another improvement for the indexing engine is the new ability of SQL Server 2019 to recover an indexing failure. The indexing process may fail due to many factors, such as lack of disk space. In SQL Server 2019, Microsoft has made it possible to resume the indexing process without having to start over. Also, it reduces the amount of log space that is required to create a massive index compared to previous versions of the DBMS. Another positive change is the online conversion of specific row store tables into column store indexes. In earlier versions of SQL Server, different conversations only vary offline. In SQL Server 2019, it is possible to do it transparently in the background, while the database continues to run.

Always On

Always On availability groups are not new to SQL Server 2019, but Microsoft has made some improvements to the high availability and disaster recovery features. SQL Server 2019 allows an Always On availability group to contain up to five synchronous replicas for failover purposes. Microsoft has also introduced the ability to redirect connections for client applications from a secondary replica to the primary one, which means that a client can be redirected to the main replica without the use of an availability group listener.

Linux

Many of the new features and capabilities found in Microsoft SQL Server 2019 are aimed at users running SQL Server on Linux.  SQL Server for Linux now supports data replication. A database instance in a Linux virtual machine running SQL Server 2019 can act as a replication editor, distributor or subscriber, as long as the SQL Server Agent task scheduler is installed. Another important addition to the Linux version of the DBMS is the ability to configure Always On availability groups in Docker containers orchestrated with Kubernetes. Microsoft is also making certified container images available to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and placing all of its Linux and Windows container images for both SQL Server 2017 and SQL Server 2019 in the Microsoft Container Registry.

OpenLDAP

One of the biggest improvements to SQL Server on Linux is SQL Server 2019 support for OpenLDAP, the open-source version of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Although OpenLDAP can operate independently of Microsoft Active Directory, the new OpenLDAP support indirectly allows Linux-based SQL Server databases to access Active Directory SQL Server 2019