1. Performance and Scalability with SQL Server 2012
Microsoft development has taken a huge turn with SQL Server 2012. SQL Server 2012 would
help deliver a major leap forward in performance of Microsoft Software Development. These
improvements have, to a large extent, made customers rely on SQL Server 2012 to manage their
explosive growth in data volume and complexity. A few of the major enhancements in
performance and scalability include:
Increase in Partition Support
The number of table partitions has been extended from 1000 to 15000 per table, by default, to
dramatically boost scalability and performance associated with large tables and data warehouses.
With the 15000 limit, partitions can be stored for 40+ years if the data is partitioned on a daily
basis. Large sliding-window scenarios for data warehouse maintenance are now enabled with the
help of this new expanded support. Also, a change in the sampling algorithm for partitioning has
improved the query performance and puts the memory to better use. Starvation of partition
switch due to schema stability lock has been eliminated.
Columnstore Indexes
Microsoft has included Column Store index, a revolutionary indexing technique feature in the
database world, in the upcoming SQL Server code name “Denali”. It is built directly in the
relational engine. It is mainly designed to accelerate data warehouse queries. The performance of
query in the data warehouse environment is known to have become 1000 times better. Some
customers have also said to have experienced a 400 percent improvement in performance. It
helps Microsoft products deliver breakthrough and predictable performance on large data sets to
stay competitive.
Create, Rebuild, and Drop Online Indexes
Online operation is a key to performance and throughput, as it does not block other operations
accessing the same resources. Especially in case of those queries that run frequently and are long
running.
SQL Server 2012 enables indexes that contain varchar(max), nvarchar(max), and varbinary(max)
columns to be created, rebuilt, and dropped as an online operation.
This proves to be highly beneficial for running mission-critical workloads in Microsoft
development scenarios which require maximum uptime and concurrent user activity during index
operations.
Fast Fulltext:
FullText queries now use query optimization and parallel query execution algorithms. Fulltext
index creation uses parallel master merge algorithm which creates indexes in parallel and then
merges them together. So, the operation is faster with minimal blockings. Earlier, the fulltext
engine would send all the documents to the database engine that would discard non-qualifying
rows. But now, the fulltext engine in SQL Server 2012 understands the “Top”.

2. Temporary statistics generation on database snapshots
If you query the database snapshot in SQL Server 2012, it automatically generates the required
statistics temporarily. So, the query would generate a better execution plan and will be faster
without any change by the developer.
New and Enhanced Query Optimizer Hints
The syntax for the FORCESEEK table hint has been modified. Index and index columns to
further control the access method on the index can now be specified. The FORCESCAN table
hint has also been added.
Windows Server Core Support
SQL server 2012 can take advantage of many new features supported by Windows 8. One of the
biggest improvements in Windows 8 is the Windows Server Core Support. Windows Server
Core Support is a GUI less version of Windows. It works on DOS and PowerShell commands,
consumes 50% less memory and has a lower disk space utilization ratio. SQL Server 2012 has
potential to be truly a server product.
To sum it up, performance and scalability enhancements in Microsoft SQL Server 2012 enables
more online operations, interactive response time and business value from data. It also requires
less hardware and reduces the need for summary aggregates.