The Difference a Day Makes: SSMS 2016, Azure, and Extended Events

You may have rushed to install CTP 3.3 when it was released yesterday. If you did, your SSMS build is 13.0.11000.48. Look closely, because that's going to be important in a moment.

SSMS 2016 (13.0.11000.48)

In this build of SSMS, which shipped with CTP 3.3, if I connected to an Azure SQL Database, right-clicked on an existing Extended Events session in Object Explorer, and selected Properties (or New Session...), I received this error:

Failed to connect to server (local). (Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo)
Login failed for user 'login_name'. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18456)
 

 

If I instead tried to script the Extended Events session using Script > Create As, SSMS would crash. Not just a normal crash, but an I-have-stopped-responding, do-not-pass-go, do-not-auto-receover-any-open-files crash. In the event viewer I saw this pair of errors (omitting full stack trace for brevity):

Error 1000, Application Error
Error 1026, .NET Runtime
Application: Ssms.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.XEvent.XEventException
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.ObjectExplorer.S…
 

I was able to fix this thanks to a message from Julie Koesmarno, who said that the first issue was fixed in a newer build (13.0.11000.78), but that she could still reproduce the crash. So, I installed the newer build, and for me, it fixed both issues.

If you have 13.0.11000.48, and you are encountering any Object Explorer click- or right-click-related issues, there is an easy way to get to the newer build, 13.0.11000.78. I think the later build is a good idea anyway - it likely has just an extra day or two of development and fixes baked in (the build in the CTP 3.3 distribution was constrained by publishing schedules).

Please do not install either of these SSMS builds if your current SSMS version is 13.0.11000.28 — I haven't tested this scenario, and I have a sneaking suspicion it will not go well. Anything <= 13.0.1001 should be fine, though.

The download for 13.0.11000.78 is currently available from TechNet (direct link), though that page erroneously states:

 

The version number for this latest preview is: 13.0.1000.281
 

And in fact, you might see the following prompt sooner than later, if you have enabled update notifications for SSMS, or go to Tools > Check for Updates...

SSMS 2016 Update Notification

By all means, go ahead and run the update.

After installing this build — which may require a restart both before and after installation — you should be here:

SSMS 2016 (13.0.11000.78)

Notice, though, how the SSMS version has taken a step forward, but the SSAS client version has taken a step backward. In fact, on three separate systems, I'm seeing mismatches in some of these component versions that I can't explain:

SSMS 2016 version mismatches

I think there is a lot of shuffling going on due to parallel work in Management Studio. A story for another day perhaps.

Aaron (@AaronBertrand) is a Data Platform MVP with industry experience dating back to Classic ASP and SQL Server 6.5. He is editor-in-chief of the performance-related blog, SQLPerformance.com. Aaron's blog focuses on T-SQL bad habits and best practices, as well as coverage of updates and new features in Plan Explorer, SentryOne, and SQL Server.


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