We have released for general availability Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 6.1. This .NET Data Provider for SQL Server provides general connectivity to the database and supports all the latest SQL Server features for applications targeting .NET, .NET Framework, and .NET Standard.
To try out the new package, add a NuGet reference to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient in your application.
If you've been following our preview releases, you know we've been busy working to add features and improve stability and performance of the Microsoft.Data.SqlClient library.
Highlights
Some of the highlights of new features in 6.1 over the 6.0 release of Microsoft.Data.SqlClient include:
- Added dedicated SQL Server vector data type support Read more
- Revived .NET Standard 2.0 target support
Added packet multiplexing support to improve large data type async read performance(See Lowlight)
Lowlight
The initial release, 6.1.0, had regressions introduced by the changes to improve large data type async read performance. The 6.1.0 release was delisted and 6.1.1 was released with the performance changes reverted to maintain stability and reliability of the library. Fixing the performance of fetching large data types in async mode was the highest user-upvoted issue in our GitHub repository and had been worked on for a long time. We regret that the changes introduced regressions and are taking steps to address them as well as expand testing to cover the scenarios that were affected to ensure we don't regress those scenarios in the future. We hope that the performance changes can be brought forward in a future release, but stability of the library will always be a higher priority for us.
For the full list of added features, fixes, and changes in Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 6.1, please see the Release Notes.
Again, to try out the new package, add a NuGet reference to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient in your application. If you encounter any issues or have any feedback, head over to the SqlClient GitHub repository and submit an issue.
David Engel
Microsoft