Hybrid transactional and analytical processing (HTAP)

Hybrid transactional and analytical processing (HTAP), is the application of tools and features to be able to analyze live data without affecting transactional operations.

In the past, data warehouses were used to support the reporting and analysis of transactional data. A data warehouse leads to many inefficiencies. First, the data has to be exported from the transactional database and imported into a data warehouse using ETL or custom tools and processes. Making a copy of data takes more space, takes time, may require specialized ETL tools, and requires additional processes to be designed, tested, and maintained. Second, access to analysis is delayed. Instead of immediate access, business decisions are made, meaning the analysis may be delayed by hours or even days. Enterprises can make business decisions faster when they can get real-time operational insights. In some cases, it may be possible to affect customer behavior as it is happening.

Microsoft SQL Server 2019 provides several features to enable HTAP, including memory-optimized tables, natively compiled stored procedures, and Clustered Columnstore Indexes.

This chapter covers many of these features and will give you an understanding of the technology and features available.

A more general discussion of HTAP is available here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_transactional/analytical_processing_(HTAP).