What are compute pools in a SQL Server big data cluster?

• 11/04/2019
• 2 minutes to read
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Applies to: SQL Server 2019 (15.x)

This article describes the role of SQL Server compute pools in a SQL Server big data cluster. Compute pools provide scale-out computational resources for a big data cluster. The following sections describe the architecture and functionality of a compute pool.

You can also watch this 5-minute video for an introduction into compute pools:

Compute pool architecture

A compute pool is made of one or more compute pods running in Kubernetes. The automated creation and management of these pods is coordinated by the SQL Server master instance. Each pod contains a set of base services and an instance of the SQL Server database engine.

Scale-out groups

A compute pool can act as a PolyBase scale-out group for distributed queries over different data sources--such as HDFS, Oracle, MongoDB, or Teradata. By using compute pods in Kubernetes, big data clusters can automate creating and configuring compute pods for PolyBase scale-out groups.

Next steps

To learn more about the SQL Server Big Data Clusters, see the following resources:

• What are SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters?
• Workshop: Microsoft SQL Server Big Data Clusters Architecture