Hello all,
Advance notice for everyone still using SQL Server 2016. Mainstream support by Microsoft has ended last July. As per our lifecycle policy, official support for this version will be discontinued in a future release.
As it stands, Thinkwise Platform 2022.1, to be released early next year, will no longer officially support SQL Server 2016 and will require SQL Server 2017 or higher.
Note that the upcoming release of the Thinkwise Platform (version 2021.3) will still support SQL Server 2016.
Impact on the platform databases
The Software Factory (SF) and the Intelligent Application Manager (IAM) are planned to leverage T-SQL language features exclusive to SQL Server 2017 and up.
The Deployment Center will prevent installation or upgrade of an SF or IAM to version 2022.1 when the SQL Server version is below 2017 or the database compatibility level is below 140.
Impact on product databases
SQL Server product databases running on SQL Server 2016 do not have to be upgraded directly on release of Thinkwise Platform 2022.1.
There are no concrete plans for the runtime components interacting with the product database to leverage new T-SQL language features in the forseeable future. However, runtime components with version number 2022.1.* and higher may start using SQL Server 2017 language features on a moment’s notice.
Furthermore, Software Factory version 2022.1 may not be able to upgrade, deploy or test product databases using SQL Server 2016. To be able to continue development on the product, upgrading to SQL Server 2017+ will be required.
The changes in SQL Server version support will be reflected in the lifecycle policy.