Hash indexes are used as entry points for memory-optimized tables; both features were introduced in SQL Server 2014. Let's look at index performance in scenario "key-value store".

Scenario and environment

The table stores a significant volume (about 10 millions rows) of pairs key-value. The key is of integer type and the value is a small random string.

The table store is used :

• random read of a value from a key
• random update of a value by a key

We will tests the scenario for the following types of table :

Collection of methods to generate random string in a single SQL statement

M1: Recursive string concatenation

On SQL Server the method is limited by 100 characters because of CTE recursion level limitation. The method has the performance issues when using in loops/joins because the table always have 100 rows generated every time.