Does my SQL Server Database Support Compression?

Some time back, Praveen Dabade had written a nice article on SQL Server Compressed Tables and Indexes in SQL Server where he explained how compression is now supported on ‘ROW and PAGE’ for tables and indexes. However did you know that compression is an enterprise-level feature?

How do determine what Enterprise Edition features are enabled on your database? Well you can use the sys.dm_persisted_sku_features DMV to find what Enterprise Edition features are
enabled on your database.

Learn more about Dynamic Management Views (DMV’s) here

Here’s the query for the same

SELECT feature_name,feature_id
FROM
sys.dm_db_persisted_sku_features;

Running this query will list all edition-specific features that are enabled in the current database. Some of the database changing features restricted to the SQL Server Enterprise or Developer editions are Compression, Partitioning, ChangeCapture etc.

This DMV is also useful in situations where you are planning to move a database from a higher to a lower edition. Eg: From Enterprise to Standard edition. Running the query will tell you if there are any Enterprise Edition features enabled that may not work when you move to a lower edition.

The DMV will return no rows if no features restricted to a particular edition are used by the database.

About The Author

Suprotim Agarwal, MCSD, MCAD, MCDBA, MCSE, is the founder of DotNetCurry, DNC Magazine for Developers, SQLServerCurry and DevCurry. He has also authored a couple of books 51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls and a new one recently at The Absolutely Awesome jQuery CookBook.

Suprotim has received the prestigous Microsoft MVP award for nine times in a row now. In a professional capacity, he is the CEO of A2Z Knowledge Visuals Pvt Ltd, a digital group that represents premium web sites and digital publications comprising of Professional web, windows, mobile and cloud developers, technical managers, and architects.

Get in touch with him on Twitter @suprotimagarwal, LinkedIn or befriend him on Facebook