Notes on installing SQL Server Management Studio June 2015 Preview

SQL Server Management Studio June 2015 Preview released recently (June 27) supports the latest capabilities of Azure SQL Databases and SQL Server 2016 (?CTP). ). This version also has bug fixes to the earlier version as well as customer requested features. You could also work with other versions of SQL Server.

Read more here.

However, in order to install this version on your computer you should first remove the SQL Server 2016 CTP2 (version SQL Server 2016 CTP2 version 13.0.200.172(x64)) as the new version is not compatible.

You need to upgrade your SQL Server version to the new version or remove the old version and install the June 2015 Preview downloading the web installer.

7/12/2015: After installing SQL Server Management Studio 2016 CTP2.1 the version of SSMS you have is the following:

The June 2015 preview is probably an even more recent SSMS version (to be checked).

7/13/2015: Looks like the SSMS version for both SQL Server 2016 CTP 21 and SQL Server Management Studio June 2015 Preview are one and the same.

How do you query a database using PowerShell?

You can invoke the SQLCMD from PowerShell with the invoke-sqlcmd commandlet.

MSDN defines Invoke-SQL CMD thus,

"Invoke-Sqlcmd is a SQL Server cmdlet that runs scripts that contain statements from the languages (Transact-SQL and XQuery) and commands that are supported by the sqlcmd utility."

Now as to the exact procedure, you need to get to Powershell with the SQL Server snap-ins.

If you run the SQLPS.exe which is installed with your SQL Server installation(SQL Server 2012 for example) then you have got yourself a good start.

 

Double clicking SQLPS.exe in your computer will bring up the PowerShell command line for SQL Server as shown for both 2012 and 2016 CTP2 versions of SQL Server.

 

 

 

sqlps2012.png

sqlps2016ctp2.png

I will be using the 2012 version for this post.
Now you need to run the invoke-sqlcmd commandlet as shown. This is specific for my installation of SQL Server and you need to change parameters around. I have a SQL Server named instance RegencyPark on my laptop called Hodentek8 and I have chosen Windows authentication for access.
Now I run the following statement:
PS SQLSERVER:\> invoke-sqlcmd -ServerInstance Hodentek8\RegencyPark -Database AdventureWorks2012 -Query "Select top 2 * from Person.person"

I immediately get a response to my query as shown:
-----------------------------------
PS SQLSERVER:\> invoke-sqlcmd -ServerInstance Hodentek8\RegencyPark -Database AdventureWorks2012 -Query "Select top 2 * from Person.person"

BusinessEntityID      : 1
PersonType            : EM
NameStyle             : False
Title                 :
FirstName             : Ken
MiddleName            : J
LastName              : Sánchez
Suffix                :
EmailPromotion        : 0
AdditionalContactInfo :
Demographics          : <IndividualSurvey xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adv
                        enture-works/IndividualSurvey"><TotalPurchaseYTD>0</TotalPurchaseYTD></Indi
                        vidualSurvey>
rowguid               : 92c4279f-1207-48a3-8448-4636514eb7e2
ModifiedDate          : 2/8/2003 12:00:00 AM
BusinessEntityID      : 2
PersonType            : EM
NameStyle             : False
Title                 :
FirstName             : Terri
MiddleName            : Lee
LastName              : Duffy
Suffix                :
EmailPromotion        : 1
AdditionalContactInfo :
Demographics          : <IndividualSurvey xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adv
                        enture-works/IndividualSurvey"><TotalPurchaseYTD>0</TotalPurchaseYTD></Indi
                        vidualSurvey>
rowguid               : d8763459-8aa8-47cc-aff7-c9079af79033
ModifiedDate          : 2/24/2002 12:00:00 AM
That is all there is to it.

SQL Server 2016 CTP2 is ready, get it now!

Starting May 27 you can download your own copy of SQL Server 2016 Community
Technology Preview 2 from this site:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-sql-server-2016

Since it's lifetime is 120 days download right away to test drive. You can
download a CAB file or an ISO file. I believe there is a virtual image on the
Microsoft Azure cloud as well.

SQL Server 2016 has taken a big, big step in what it can offer compared to the
previous versions.

It offers a whole lot of benefits listed here from a
Microsoft site:

◾Enhanced in-memory performance provide up to 30x faster transactions, more
than 100x faster queries than disk based relational databases and real-time
operational analytics
◾New Always Encrypted technology helps protect your data at rest and in motion,
on-premises and in the cloud, with master keys sitting with the application,
without application changes
◾Built-in advanced analytics– provide the scalability and performance benefits
of building and running your advanced analytics algorithms directly in the core
SQL Server transactional database
◾Business insights through rich visualizations on mobile devices with native
apps for Windows, iOS and Android
◾Simplify management of relational and non-relational data with ability to
query both through standard T-SQL using PolyBase technology
◾Stretch Database technology keeps more of your customer’s historical data at
your fingertips by transparently stretching your warm and cold OLTP data to
Microsoft Azure in a secure manner  without application changes
◾Faster hybrid backups, high availability and disaster recovery scenarios to
backup and restore your on-premises databases to Microsoft Azure and place your
SQL Server AlwaysOn secondaries in Azure
You can get it for both x32 and x64 bit architectures.

SQL Server 2016 CTP2 CAB file:
Download the following files from the Evaluation Center to a temporary directory on your device:

◦SQLServer2016CTP2-<architecture>-<language>.box
◦SQLServer2016CTP2-<architecture>-<language>.exe

Once the download has completed, extract the zip files then double click on the SQLServer2016CTP2-<architecture>-<language>.exe to begin the installation process.