Development Environment:

Visual Studio 2015/2017/2019/2022

Prerequisites to run SQL Nexus

1. .NET framework 4.8 (runtime is sufficient). Windows 11 has version already.
2. Download and install SQLSysClrTypes
3. Download and install ReportViewer control (ReportViewer.msi)
4. Download and install RML Utilities (RMLSetup_AMD64.msi)
5. An instance of SQL Server (2012 or above) to connect to and process data
6. Optional: PowerBI Desktop

Automate Prerequisites Installation

You can use the following PowerShell file (https://github.com/microsoft/SqlNexus/blob/master/Setup-Related/SetupSQLNexusPrereq.ps1) to install the three required and one optional prerequisites for SQL Nexus

How to Download and Use

1. Download the SQLNexus_7.23.06.06_Signed.zip from Assets below. This is a zip file that contains Microsoft digitally-signed binaries
2. Extract in a path location of your choice
3. Go to the path and run sqlnexus.exe

Verify downloaded file:

You can verify the download by computing the hash of the SQLNexus_7.22.03.23_Signed.zip file, using this command:

certutil -hashfile SQLNexus_7.23.06.06_Signed.zip SHA512

Compare to this:

e66372056b59795e0bf1aa69f763d73f9df2d6818a045889963dc9119a651f029144fd5a239ff104059b0bf5202cd94d26e84e85f1f618652d52d0e6506ce505

List of fixes and enhancements:

• Added 8 new sp_configure best practices rules to call out certain config values and recommend actions on them
• Multiple improvements in Best Practices report and back-end table rules (visual changes, new icons, tablix changes, colors, report parameters, added report column to jump directly to specific report) #217, #209
• Improve performance of Perfstats analysis queries to speed up overall post import (#215, #213, #150)
• Added Duration metric for some import phases that were missing on the main import window (#214)
• Perf improvement and improvement of batchsort rule message, removed some old test file
• Updated best practices rules - Memory grants, Excessive trace, Missing indexes, Deadlock Trace flag (#215)
• Changed behavior of Import form: when the db already has Nexus data, don't close the form after error. Stay on and allow user to choose to drop existing db (#216)
• Added rowsets for the following tables to be importable (#219):
  • tbl_hadr_ag_automatic_seeding
  • tbl_hadr_ag_physical_seeding_stats
  • tbl_sp_certificate_issuers
  • tbl_certificates
  • tbl_dm_db_log_info
• Added new best practices rules for Spinlock stats, Optimizer timeout, Loaded modules (#215)
• Added a new tablix in the Database Configuration report for Database Scoped configuration (#210)
• Enabled Loaded Modules report to work - it was not showing up
• Added 2 Best practices rules for AG health check and endpoint check (#196)
• Updated Best practices rule to detect abnormal gaps in data collection script outputs (#91)
• Added rowsets for the following tables to be imported (#222, #228):
  • tbl_dm_io_virtual_file_stats
  • tbl_query_store_wait_stats
  • tbl_database_query_store_options
  • tbl_query_store_query_hints
  • tbl_query_store_plan_feedback
  • tbl_query_store_query_variant
• Allow for Best Practices main report to be visible even when no Perf data is collected (#223)
• Created Tempdb space usage report (#204)
• Fixed Active Traces and XEvents report to show non-MS Xevents under the proper section + Show expensive Xevents and Trace events (#229)
• Updated SetupSQLNexusPrereq.ps1 to install RML utilities with latest version and better checks (#235)
• Add installation of .NET Framework 4.8 in the prerequisites setup script - SetupSQLNexusPrereq.ps1 (#234)