Introduction Microsoft has officially ended mainstream support for SQL Server 2016. With this version of SQL Server support ending, many are wondering what the next step will be. Some have made a switch to SQL Server 2019. However, next down the line is the same situation and the inevitable question, “When will support for SQL 2016 and 2019 end?” To find this solution, we must first understand Mainstream Support and the optional Extended Support that follows. After that, we can learn about potential solutions to help continue the lifespan of both SQL 2016 and 2019. In a nutshell, the end of mainstream support is when there are no more free fixes and updates. This means that it's time to prepare an upgrade path or plan your migration to a supported SQL version. Microsoft will only provide security and critical bug fixes until the summer of 2021, when extended support begins. However, there is another option that can provide continued support for both versions. What is Mainstream Support? Mainstream Support is the first phase of the product lifecycle. This phase provides customers with free fixes and security updates for a set period of time. During Mainstream Support, Microsoft also provides hot-fixes for non-security issues, but these hot-fixes are not supported by Microsoft. After this phase ends, Extended Support begins. What this means is that you will no longer receive free fixes or security updates from Microsoft unless you have an active Software Assurance contract in place that includes coverage under an Enterprise Agreement or Team Subscription Agreement with Software Assurance coverage. Updates and Hot-fixes Microsoft provides mainstream support for each SQL Server product for a period of five years from the date of general availability (GA). This means that during this time, Microsoft provides free patches and fixes for any issues that are discovered in the product. When this initial period ends, SQL Server enters its extended support phase, where it continues to receive security updates and non-security hotfixes for an additional five years. The end of mainstream support date was July 13th, 2021 (5 years after GA) and the end of extended support will be July 14th, 2026 (10 years after GA). As you can see below, there is a substantial difference between these two phases because they have different purposes: Mainstream Support - Provides high-quality software updates to all customers who have purchased SQL Server Extended Support - Provides critical patching and fixes only to those customers who have opted into this level of service Moving to Extended Support You can purchase Extended Support now and continue to receive patches until July 24th, 2026. After that date, you'll need to find another option to continue using SQL Server 2016. Microsoft will publish a list of security issues fixed in each update on their website as soon as they are available. The Cost of Extended Security Updates In general, SQL Server 2016 Security Updates were available as a free physical software upgrade to users of SQL Server 2016 Standard Edition, Web Edition, and Express. The cost of Extended Security Updates is approximately 75% of the on-premises license cost annually. One way to avoid paying for security updates is by upgrading to a newer version of SQL Server. Upgrading from an older version will not incur any additional fees if you qualify for an upgrade path that does not require purchasing new licenses or purchasing any additional product keys. SQL Server 2019 Support It is highly recommended to always stay up to date with the most recent version of SQL Server. For example, if you have a SQL Server 2016, many will choose to upgrade it to SQL Server 2019 as soon as possible. SQL Server 2019 will remain in mainstream support until January 14th, 2025. After that, users of this version will only have 5 years before it is no longer available. If you want to take full advantage of security updates and bug fixes offered by Microsoft during those phases, consider upgrading your SQL Server instances to an updated version as soon as possible. Bennyhoff Products and Services There is another option that could help continue the supported life of your 2016 SQL Server or 2019 version when the time comes around. That option is to utilize a third party who can support not only SQL Server 2016, but all SQL Servers from the year 2000 and up. That third party is Mike Bennyhoff with Bennyhoff Products and Solutions. Mike can help you find the right path to continue using SQL Server 2016 and/or other versions of SQL Server. He has been working with SQL Servers for over 20 years. Bennyhoff Products and Services focuses on creating business solutions and blending IT to find what will work best for you. Contact Bennyhoff Products and Services for SQL Server assessments and audits, SQL Server upgrades, or moving to Azure or cloud-based operations.

A client recently needed to stop and re-start their SQL Agent so that settings changes to SQL Mail would take effect and the we could send mail / alerts from the system. However when I attempted to stop the Agent has their SQL Agent it did not error out or stop. We can see in the image below that the Agent was stuck in a limbo state “Stopping” after waiting 30 minutes to see if the agent would stop I needed to take other steps. What worked for be and saved me from a reboot. Start a command prompt with “Run as Administrator” Next type queryx SQLServerAgent This should result in a screen with a PID number. Next use the taskkill (no spaces) / f /pid xxxx where the x’s are the PID from above.

For any one out there who needs to know the steps to install SQL 2019 here are the steps that I use. I did not install machine learning, that will be a separate post.

To change the Prevent saving changes that require the table re-creation option, follow these steps: 1. Open SQL Server Management Studio. 2. On the Tools menu, click Options. 3. In the navigation pane of the Options window, click Designers. 4. Select or clear the Prevent saving changes that require the table re-creation check box, and then click OK. More info from Microsoft https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/ssms/error-when-you-save-table

Backgrounds - Details In our previous blog, we talked about custom backgrounds for Power BI tables and matrices. However, what are the details for increasing accessibility and appeal for a report? Easy steps include: · Formatting page – no visuals · Canvas backgrounds · Browse Themes – Details “Custom themes are very helpful because it is a way to quickly change all the fonts and colors on your report without having to manually go and format each one individually,” says Grant from Collectiv. If you make “multiple reports that are all a part of the same set of reports, … you’re going to need the same style.” He confirms users who require more than 1 background use this a lot to create similar backgrounds. This enhances professionalism and ease. Buttons – Bookmarks Bookmarks increase functionality with users – click on the Information icon and make bookmarks visuals. Grant advises knowing how to use this to save space and improve Power BI reports. Other – ToolTips and Drillthrough Turn on Tooltips, click on report page, and tooltips: this increases more use of your report. Filters are applied on the page, also. With Drillthrough, detailed view of reports is a benefit. To know why your numbers are changing, increase your analyzing distribution, and save space while utilizing data, use Drillthrough.

Buttons do so much for Power BI report creators. Interaction and ease of use are paramount in Power BI. “Buttons can do more than point to bookmarks – they can also open up a Q-and-A dialogue or go to a web URL anywhere on the internet, but in this case, bookmarks are the magic sauce,” says Amanda Cofsky on Guy in a Cube. “Bookmarks … say a lot of interesting stuff about their report: cross-highlighting, filter states, if something’s visible or not: (they) have a lot of power behind (them,) but you can control what that bookmark is saving, at any given time.” Adam says you need to turn off data related things so filters don’t revert. “That part is key: … some people … get into this funky state of, ‘Woah, I hit this button, … and also … my slicers changed on me.’” Add navigation points as well. “Set up a bookmark per page of your report and tie it to the button for each of those pages,” says Amanda. Report Enhancing Different information with cards (static) can be created. Cards show data; buttons make data accessible. Layer buttons on top of cards to display interactive buttons. Hover state and blank buttons show visuals: visuals can be switched to show metrics. “The bookmark is actually changing the visual that I’m seeing … I want to be able to switch the visual to show that metric that I just clicked on … Each of these buttons is just pointing to a bookmark that is changing the visibility,” Amanda says. “There [are] many visuals layering there – I’m hiding and showing them.” Adam talks about how clients have questions about these issues. “It really can improve what we … actually show,” he says. “A lot of folks will be like, ‘How do I change accesses dynamically on the report?’ or ‘How do I get that different state and feel?’ This is a great way to go about doing it.” Amanda advises to open the selection pane to see if something is hiding. Buttons are necessary to enhance ease of use for creators. “This pane is incredibly useful: … it lists everything that you have … in the “z” order that the things are… This is also where you would change the visibility of things as well, so if you can’t find something, always open the selection pane and you can see if there [are] any hidden objects on the page.” Amanda and Adam recommend using buttons and bookmarks in Power BI to improve user accessibility and visual appeal.