System-versioned temporal tables in SQL Server 2017
SQL Server 2016 introduces support for system-versioned temporal tables. Unfortunately, application-time tables are not implemented neither in this version, nor in SQL Server 2017. System-versioned temporal tables bring built-in support for providing information about data stored in the table at any point in time rather than only the data that is correct at the current moment in time. They are implemented according to the specifications in the ANSI SQL:2011 standard with a few extensions.
How temporal tables work in SQL Server 2017
A system-versioned temporal table is implemented in SQL Server 2017 as a pair of tables: the current table containing the actual data, and the history table where only historical entries are stored. There are many limitations for both current and history tables. Here are limitations and considerations that you must take into account for the current table of a system-versioned temporal table:
- It must have a primary...