Microsoft Updates Forthcoming SQL Operations Studio

SQL Operations Studio, which is very new (and still in public preview), is a management tool you can use to interact with Microsoft SQL Server running on premise or on the cloud platform of your choice (just as the flagship SQL Server Management Studio ISE allows.) What differentiates SQL Operations Studio from SQL Server Management Studio is that SQL Operations Studio is cross platform: It can be run on Windows, Linux, and MacOS. 

The new preview release of SQL Operations Studio includes a ported Flat File Import extension from SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Server Profiler session management updates, a First Responder extension and community-requested improvements for handling connection strings. These enhancements are, of course, in addition to bug fixes. A complete list of updates can be reviewed in the SQL Operations Studio Release Notes. 

The Flat File Import Extension

The Import extension was developed from the Import Flat File Wizard released in SQL Server Management Studio release 17.3 from October 2017. It quickly became the most-used wizard in SSMS, based on collected telemetry data. The SQL Operations Studio version was the result of work conducted during an internal hackathon by a team made up of established engineers and interns. 

SQL Server Profiler Session Management Improvements

The SQL Server Profiler extension improvements come on the heels of initial improvements from the July preview of SQL Operations Studio that included template support. This new release adds Profiler session management to the extension. Now, you can manage and configure Profiler sessions just as you would in SQL Server Management Studio.

First Responder Kit Extension

The SQL Operations Studio Marketplace is integrated into SQL Operations Studio and features extensions developed by the Microsoft Data Platform community, third-party vendors and Microsoft. The August release includes the First Responder Kit from Brent Ozar Unlimited:

The First Responder Kit extension includes diagnostic scripts for health checks, assessing high-impact queries, determining reasons behind slowness and identifying what queries are currently running. This extension joins others, including the stalwart sp_whoisactive script from Adam Machanic already in the SQL Operations Studio marketplace.

Connection String Creation

The community asked, and Microsoft delivered. It’s now possible to generate connection strings from within SQL Operations Studio, and it’s easy! You can create a connection string from any query editor window, which will create a connection string using the current security context (minus the password, which will be obfuscated).

Download SQL Operations Studio Now

The August public preview update continues to improve upon all the advancements to date. The current state of this tool is greatly improved from the initial preview release, and it is only getting better. If you’ve yet to download SQL Operations Studio, I strongly recommend doing so now and getting familiar with the future of cross-platform tooling for SQL Server management. The download is available from Microsoft Docs here.