What do you like best about the product?

SQL Server 2016 is really the peak of classic SQL Server, with huge innovations from its previous incarnations. This is where Microsoft introduced massive memory optimisations, plus QueryStore and lots of other terrific functionality.

Running SQL Server 2016 Enterprise on a Windows Server 2016 server cluster is an ideal environment for .NET developers, data warehouse and data analytics professionals and experts alike. It's a solid foundation with a highly robust, highly performant product.

What do you dislike about the product?

I don't dislike anything about the product, but it has to be noted the pricing of SQL Server 2016 Enterprise gets pretty expensive. We used a data centre subscription through our hosting provider instead of buying it ourselves.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

We ran a Windows Server 2016 environment with Active Directory, HyperV, clustering, etc.,
We ran SQL Server 2016 Enterprise on top of this for all our internal applications (plus other third-party applications, e.g. ERP platform) and it handled all the RAM and cores we could give it. We used it not only for transactional applications but for our data warehouse and analytics. It was a terrific, stable platform, and one we had no shortage of ability to recruit skilled people for.