***Alerting**: Option to disable OK alert notifications [#12330](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/12330) & [#6696](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/6696), thx [@davewat](https://github.com/davewat)
***Postgres/MySQL/MSSQL**: Adds support for configuration of max open/idle connections and connection max lifetime. Also, panels with multiple SQL queries will now be executed concurrently [#11711](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/11711), thx [@connection-reset](https://github.com/connection-reset)
***MSSQL**: Add encrypt setting to allow configuration of how data sent between client and server are encrypted [#13629](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/13629), thx [@ramiro](https://github.com/ramiro)
***MySQL**: Support connecting thru Unix socket for MySQL datasource [#12342](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/12342), thx [@Yukinoshita-Yukino](https://github.com/Yukinoshita-Yukino)
***MSSQL**: Add encrypt setting to allow configuration of how data sent between client and server are encrypted [#13629](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/13629), thx [@ramiro](https://github.com/ramiro)
***Stackdriver**: Not possible to authenticate using GCE metadata server [#13669](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/13669)
