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SQL Server Β· Expert Β· question 80 of 100

How do you use SQL Server In-Memory OLTP features to improve performance for memory-optimized tables and natively compiled stored procedures?

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SQL Server In-Memory OLTP is a feature that allows you to improve the performance of memory-optimized tables and natively compiled stored procedures. This feature enables you to use memory-optimized tables, indexes, and natively compiled stored procedures to achieve higher performance and scalability than traditional disk-based tables and stored procedures.

Memory-optimized Tables:
Memory-optimized tables are designed to be used in-memory, which means they can be accessed much faster than disk-based tables. When you create a memory-optimized table, you specify the schema and indexes that you want to use. Because the table is stored in memory, there is no need to perform disk I/O operations, which can significantly reduce the latency of queries. Memory-optimized tables can also be accessed by natively compiled stored procedures, which can further improve performance.

Here is an example on how to create a memory-optimized table:

CREATE TABLE dbo.MyMemoryOptimizedTable
(
   ID INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY NONCLUSTERED HASH WITH (BUCKET_COUNT = 1000000),
   Name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
   Age INT NOT NULL,
   CONSTRAINT PK_MyMemoryOptimizedTable_ID PRIMARY KEY NONCLUSTERED HASH (ID) WITH (BUCKET_COUNT = 1000000),
) WITH (MEMORY_OPTIMIZED=ON, DURABILITY=SCHEMA_ONLY)

In the example above, we create a memory-optimized table with a hash index on the ID column. We also specify the durability option as schema-only, which means that the table data is only stored in memory and not on disk.

Natively Compiled Stored Procedures:
Natively compiled stored procedures are compiled into machine code that runs directly on the CPU. This eliminates the overhead of interpreting T-SQL statements at runtime, which can significantly improve performance. Natively compiled stored procedures can only access memory-optimized tables and do not allow any disk I/O operations.

Here is an example of how to create a natively compiled stored procedure:

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.MyNativelyCompiledStoredProc
    WITH NATIVE_COMPILATION, SCHEMABINDING, EXECUTE AS OWNER
AS
BEGIN ATOMIC WITH (TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL=SNAPSHOT, LANGUAGE='us_english')

    DECLARE @Name VARCHAR(50) = 'John'
    
    SELECT *
    FROM dbo.MyMemoryOptimizedTable
    WHERE Name = @Name
    
END

In the example above, we create a natively compiled stored procedure that selects data from the memory-optimized table we created earlier. The stored procedure is compiled into machine code and executed directly on the CPU, which can significantly improve performance.

In conclusion, using In-Memory OLTP features such as memory-optimized tables and natively compiled stored procedures can help improve the performance of SQL Server databases. By carefully designing and implementing memory-optimized tables and stored procedures, you can achieve higher levels of scalability and performance than with traditional disk-based tables and stored procedures.

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