Supported SQL Server database compatibility level for SharePoint Server installations

Original KB number:   4469993

Symptom

When you use SharePoint Server together with Microsoft SQL Server, you may notice decreased query performance or increased CPU usage on the database server.

Cause

This issue happens because content databases that are created by SharePoint Server use the default database compatibility level for the version of SQL Server that the database is installed on. For example, if SharePoint databases are deployed in an instance of SQL Server 2016, the databases are set to the 130 database compatibility level. Similarly, in an instance of SQL Server 2017, the databases are set to the 140 database compatibility level.

Workaround

SharePoint Server content databases that are deployed on SQL Server versions are tested and validated to work best with a specific database compatibility level. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you set the database compatibility level to 110 for SharePoint Server 2016 content databases, 130 for SharePoint Server 2019 content databases and 150 for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition content databases.

To change the compatibility level, run the following TSQL command:

ALTER DATABASE database_nameSET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 130

You can view the compatibility level of all the databases in an instance of SQL Server by using the following TSQL query:

SELECT name, compatibility_level FROM sys.databases

More information

The following table shows the supported database compatibility levels to use for different versions of SharePoint Server.

For more information about database compatibility during version upgrades and a list of default and supported database compatibility levels for each version of SQL Server, see ALTER DATABASE (Transact-SQL) compatibility level.

References

• View or change the compatibility level of a database
• Recommended updates and configuration options for SQL Server 2017 and 2016 with high-performance workloads