IKNOW do you?
Offline files allow users to be productive when disconnected. In Windows Vista, new Offline Files features make working off the network better than ever.
Desktop Deployment
BDD 2007 contains best practices, configuration files, scripts, and templates. All together they make desktop deployment faster, easier, and more scalable.
Communications
Once you've deployed Exchange Server 2007 Edge Transport servers to control spam and other unwanted e-mail, you'll want to implement logging and tracing and configure Edge Transport agents to perform the tasks you need.
Networking
ISA Server 2006 can serve as a remote access server. This article looks at ISA's VPN capabilities as a solution for providing VPN remote access and as a method for providing site-to-site VPN connections.
SQL Server
Hardware tuning isn't all there is to efficient operation of SQL Server. Often the way queries run can spell the difference between a fast application and real bottlenecks. Here's how to identify offending queries.
The RPC Group, a packaging supplier with almost 30 plants in continental Europe, wanted to consolidate IT operations across multiple facilities. To streamline financial reporting and provide high availability, RPC decided to virtualize its environment by running several virtual machines on each physical server. For this purpose, RPC chose Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition software, running on the Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition operating system. With the x64 operating system, RPC gains better access to more memory and takes full advantage of hardware performance. Older 32-bit software applications can run flawlessly on virtual machines set up to run them, and the 64-bit technology provides long-term, big-picture scalability. RPC looks forward to expanding its x64-driven virtual environment to consolidate IT at additional factories.
RPC decided to virtualize its environment by running several virtual machines on each of its physical servers. By doing so, RPC would gain high availability. For example, if a power outage affects one physical server, the virtual machine can instantaneously switch to run on another server located at another site. Virtualization also aids in disaster recovery and reduces administrative burdens.
RPC discussed virtualization with Microsoft representatives in Belgium (me), with whom they had worked on several previous projects. The company also considered other vendors, but eventually RPC group chose Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition. “With its Virtual Server product, Microsoft now delivers functionality and performance that are similar to competitors’ offerings, but without the additional purchase, maintenance, and training costs. And we believe the best is yet to come. Microsoft is very clearly communicating about what to expect from the Windows Server 2008 product line.” However, a key component of the virtualization strategy was the selection of the servers and operating systems. “We decided to start from scratch with new hardware,” says Meuleman
For more information about this customer case: http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000000648
I worked together with the customer on this project and they where one of the first to join the IT Pro Momentum program and have the benefits of it.
The next step for this customer should be the implementation of System Center Virtual Machine Manager and System Center Data Protection Manager 2007. By using those technologies this customer could easily manage and protect their Virtual Environment. Expect more information (posts) about those products in the coming weeks, months. I will deliver some screencasts around DPM and SCVMM.
Momentum is a Microsoft program focused on supporting “early adopters” – IT professionals who bet on the newest technologies to drive business value for their companies and advance their career.
Program participants have access to the latest information and cutting-edge technologies developed by Microsoft.
Does this sound interesting to you? Then send me a mail (arlindo.alves@microsoft.com)
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 introduces many new features for each server role. Lets
As you can see we have made a lot of improvements onto Exchange Server 2007 with this Service Pack and especially for the Unified Communication Role.
Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging combines voice messaging, fax, and e-mail into one Inbox, which can be accessed from the telephone and the computer. Unified Messaging integrates Exchange Server 2007 with the telephony network in your organization and brings the features found in Unified Messaging to the core of the Exchange Server product line.
As you might have noticed already we have officially launched the Unified Communication Suite and here in Belgium we will have the local launch organized on Nov 29th. If you want to know more about the Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 improvements I invite you to join us during the event where Ilse Van Criekinge (MVP Exchange Server) will talk about those improvements.
We've just announced that we are going to separate the SharePoint Services from Windows Server 2008. The SharePoint services will be available as an additional download and free of charge of course. By doing that the team will be able to be more flexible in their development cycle. Read more about this announcement at the Windows Server Division Blog
Source: Techlog
Recently I received a mail from one of my colleagues with some links to PowerShell stuff. I just wanted to share them with you.
PowerGui has been available for quite some time now and the new release includes a script editor now, they call it "NotePad for PowerShell"
This editor has all you would expect:
Peter Provost writes about PowerShell++ and his love for PowerShell. In his post he talks about PowerTab which is a tab completion snap-in that has been developed by the PowerShellGuy and is much completer than the tab completion we have out of the box. Further he talks about an IRC channel FreeNode.net, mmm I didn't know people where still using IRC. :)
When: Nov 6th - 19:00 Doors open - 19:30 Session Starts
In this session we focus on key Windows Server 2008 RC0 features and the development philosophy behind these features. We will take a close look at Server Manager, Security, Failover Clustering, Server Core, Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0, Terminal Services (TS), and more! If you don't know what Windows Server 2008 is all about – than you should come and have a look yourself.
Speaker: Arlindo Alves - IT Pro Evangelist Microsoft
Where: Howest dept. PIH - Graaf Karel de Goedelaan 5 - 8500 Kortrijk
How to Register? Send a mail to info@mctkring.be and mention "Windows Server 2008".
More info on http://www.mctkring.be/kalender.php
Hope to see you there!
I have multiple live ID's one I use for personal matters and another one for work. Up till now it was always painful to switch between the ID's. This is not true anymore :). I linked my two live ID's together and I can now switch from one account to the other without the hassle of signing out and in again.
I'd love to see that kind of integration in more of our sites for example the TechNet site.
How does it work? Jeff Steinbok who is a member of the Spaces development team explains it on his blog.
Basically you have to go to https://account.live.com and sign in with your account.
Linked Windows Live IDs. There's a link there to manage your linked IDs and if you click that, you'll get a screen where you can add IDs.
Once you have this done, Sign Out, and then Sign In Again.
You can now easily switch between the two accounts by clicking onto the arrow sign next to your name.
There has been quite some noise around the talk that Eric Traut (Distinguished Engineer) give at the University of Illinois. During his talk Eric showed something is called MinWin which is a stripped kernel of Windows 7 that will be the basis of our future products. Not just the Windows OS but it's also the OS used for media centers, for servers, for small embedded devices . However MinWin is internal-only and won’t be productized as such.
MinWin is 25 MB on disk; Vista is 4 GB, Traut said. The MinWin kernel does not include a graphics subsystem in its current build, but does incorporate a very simple HTTP server. The MinWin core is 100 files total, while all of Windows is 5,000 files in size. This is something big, the kernel is so small that there is no graphical subsystem, in the screenshot below you see that when booting the Logo is build from ASCII characters. Pretty cool.
If you only want to see the MinWin demo, istartedsomething.com has an 8-minute excerpt
Further Eric also explains that in the Windows Server Virtualization technology we expose Hypercall's which can be compared to kernel calls and earlier this week we announced that those Hypercall API's will be available via Open Specification Promise. Read more about that at the Windows Virtualization Team Blog
I encourage you to watch the full video of Eric Traut’s talk ,because he explains our Virtualization technology more in depth.
Now with support for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10Microsoft is committed to testing and supporting many third-party operating systems for use as guest operating systems on Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 virtual machines. To help make sure that you have a favorable experience when you run third-party guest operating systems in Virtual Server 2005, Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) has created a product support model for these third-party guest operating systems. This support model is consistent with the support model that is used for Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1. Product support for the Virtual Machine Additions will be provided through the normal support channels available for Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1.
Virtual Machine Additions informationTo improve the interoperability between virtual machines running Linux guest operating systems and Virtual Server 2005 R2, Virtual Machine Additions are available for Linux guest operating systems. You can install these Virtual Machine Additions components in your Linux guest operating systems to improve the following operating system capabilities:
Download
Did you ever hit the sent button too early? I do it from time to time and when it happens it's always oh sh*t it was not supposed to be sent to this person, forgot to put someone in cc or I needed to add the attachment, etc ... . Now I was playing around with some outlook rules and why not apply it onto the Outbox. So what I mean is to apply the rule to an outgoing mail instead of the mostly used inbox rules. By default, I now defer my outgoing mails with 5 min's which gives me the time to change the mail, add recipients or add the attachment that was needed. What I did is I created the following Rule in Outlook:
Apply the rule to all mails that you wish to send.
Defer the mail with a number of minutes, in my case I selected 5 min's.
And I don't want to apply this rule when I mark the mail as important. You could also apply another rules for those type of mails but I didn't want to create to much rules neither.
The first few hours I used this rule I didn't always realize that the 5 min were counting down before the mail left my outlook and I thought that my mailbox was full again (it happens) and therefore could not be sent out.
Once you are used to it you will see that it's very handy to have this. Note that this obviously a Client Only rule which means that it can only run when your Outlook is running.
On October 17th at Storage Networking World, Ted Kummert, Microsoft Corporate VP for Data and Storage Platforms announced the release to manufacturing of System Center Data Protection Manager 2007.
With the RTM, we are now counting down the days until General Availability (GA) in November, where the product will be available through all of the traditional channels, including Microsoft Partners, Volume Licenses (VL/EA), as well as there will be OEM appliances running DPM 2007 which will be announced at our launch.
DPM 2007 is scheduled to officially launch in November at Microsoft Tech-Ed IT Forum, in Barcelona, Spain – along with other components of the System Center family of management products.
So, if you have not already done so, please visit the new DPM website for updated product information and download the evaluation software.
And for a more personal observation on the announcement today, check out Jason’s blog on the RTM as well.
Yesterday 16th of October 2007, Microsoft launched the next wave of Microsoft Unified Communications products AND services, including Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, and Office Live Meeting 2007, as Bill Gates and Jeff Raikes took the stage to keynote the Worldwide Kickoff Event in San Francisco.
MAY I INVITE you to Watch the Keynote RECORDING from the Worldwide Kickoff Event
We encourage you to view the keynote recording (1h 22 min) internally as soon as you can and tell our value story
From Microsoft PressPass you find
GARTNER'S MAGIC QUADRANT FOR UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS
The Infrastructure Planning and Design series is the next version of Windows Server System Reference Architecture. The guides in this series help clarify and streamline design processes for Microsoft infrastructure technologies; each guide addresses a unique infrastructure technology or scenario. All guides share a common structure including:
SoftGrid Application Virtualization Guide
Microsoft SoftGrid® Application Virtualization is the only virtualization solution on the market to deliver applications that are never installed, yet securely follow users anywhere, on demand. It dramatically improves IT efficiencies, enables much greater business agility, and provides a superior end-user desktop experience. The Infrastructure Planning and Design Series: SoftGrid Application Virtualization assists designers in the infrastructure planning process for SoftGrid by providing a clear and concise workflow of the decisions and tasks required for each method. This guide enables you to plan the infrastructure required for meeting your application virtualization service goals.
Windows Server Virtualization Guide
A virtualized computing environment can improve the efficiency of your computing resources by utilizing more of your hardware resources. Windows Server virtualization enables you to create a virtualized server computing environment using a technology that is part of Windows Server 2008. The Infrastructure Planning and Design Series: Windows Server Virtualization guide discusses Microsoft virtualization options using Windows Server virtualization in Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1. The guide explains design considerations at critical decision points and helps with plans for an optimized server virtualization architecture to meet organizational goals for performance and consolidation.
The Infrastructure Planning and Design Series beta releases for SoftGrid Application Virtualization and Windows Server Virtualization are available as open beta downloads.
To join the Infrastructure Planning and Design beta, follow these steps:
1) Visit the Microsoft Connect Web site (http://connect.microsoft.com).
2) Click Invitations on the Connect menu.
3) Sign in using a valid Windows Live ID to continue to the Invitations page.
4) Enter your Invitation ID in the box. Your invitation ID is: IPDM-QX6H-7TTV
5) Click Go.
If you have not previously registered with Microsoft Connect, you might be required to register before continuing with the invitation process.
If the link in step 1 does not work for you, copy the full link and paste it into the Web browser address bar.
SoftGrid TechCenter on Microsoft TechNet
Windows Server Virtualization on Microsoft TechNet
Windows Server 2008 on Microsoft TechNet
Windows Server System Reference Architecture for Windows Server 2003 on Microsoft TechNet
Solution Accelerators on Microsoft TechNet
Have a look at this ad for Project Gotham Racing 4. Pretty cool! Look at the differences what's better?
This is definitely a game I will buy!
Last week I read an interesting article about the 10 strategic technologies for next year according to Gartner. I am happy to see that Green IT has been put on top of the list because it's something we must care about and show commitment to it. So my work to get a Green IT Panel discussion at TechEd IT Forum is useful :)
Other technologies that interests me and that are put into the top 10 are Unified communication (register for our local launch event), Virtualization and the web platform. All of these technologies will be launched or have an improved version in the near future. In one of my previous posts I wrote about the fact that Microsoft is winning market share in the web cloud is very interesting and I would love to know if people start adopting our latest IIS7 server. An last but not least we see a lot if interest in our Windows Server Virtualization which is our Hypervisor based virtualization technology. What do you think about the Top 10, can you agree with their vision?Anyway here is the top 10 from Gartner:
This is a path that more and more companies are taking as a socially responsible strategy. A green approach is multifaceted and can affect data center operations in a number of ways, such as moving workloads based on energy efficiency and using the most power-inefficient servers only at times of peak usage, said Carl Claunch, an analyst.
But data centers also face the threat of regulatory action to curb power usage. The problem, said Claunch, is you can't predict what may trigger regulation or when mandates will arrive.
"Some event somewhere, a popular movie, some shift in election politics, and suddenly you are forced to change dramatically and it comes with little warning," he said. "You need to be thinking what to do."
The move to unified communications systems is happening as the world shifts from analog to digital over IP networks. But it's not just the obvious things that will converge, such as telephony and messaging. Companies may make security videos part of this convergence, which may give businesses, for instance, new ways to analyze a retail outlet's traffic patterns. This video data would require a lot of storage, so using it in this way could prompt IT managers to introduce the security team to the networking group.
This is not a technology, its a way of using technologies to enable companies to simulate, model and design the processes that run their businesses. A key trend is the evolution of the business process management suite, Cearley said. This may include, model-driven development, content and document management, collaboration capabilities, system connectivity, business intelligence activity monitoring and management, rules and systems management.
This is becoming important as companies integrate data -- for instance, customer and product data and warehouse data.
Virtualization technology is critical, but not just for consolidation; it also offers a way to mirror production systems for disaster recovery. In Gartner's view, Virtualization is now into its 2.0 version, as software vendors begin to ship their software in virtual machines with the operating system and needed middleware. This approach avoids the "deleterious effects of one piece of software on another," Claunch said.
Mashup tools allow users to take things from multiple Web sites and combine them together to create a Web-centric composite application. "You want to start building mashability into everything you do," Cearley said.
This is the model for services in the future. An example, said Cearley, is the cloud computing announcement by Google Inc. and IBM, which are jointly offering a platform for use by universities for application development initiatives, including Web 2.0 projects. "Put this on your radar screen," he said.
A server design that is still a work in progress, computing fabric involves treating memory, processors and I/O cards as a pooled resource instead of a fixed arrangement. Blade servers allow you to do some of this pooling with I/O, Claunch said. "Be aware of this, because blades are not the final step," he said.
This is the name of the computing experience made possible by ubiquitous access to networks of even-increasing bandwidth via mobile technologies. Thanks to the Real World Web, users can have ready access to all kinds of information, including travel information or the location of a jar of pickles in a grocery store.
Social software includes podcasts, blogs and wikis -- anything that fosters the development of social networks.
One IT manager at the session, Ted Stoddard, director of operations at Federal Signal Corp. in Oak Brook Ill., a company that makes security and safety products, said he suspects that many people, as he has, have already assembled their strategic plans for next year.
While some of the items on Gartner's list, such as virtualization, are part of his plan, he hasn't considered others, such as social networking technologies like blogs. Those are probably worth looking at, Stoddard said, "but there are more important things to work on now."
Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9041738&pageNumber=1
Thanks to Frank Arrigo his blogpost I came across this tool called Outsync.
OutSync is a free Windows application that syncs photos of your Facebook friends with matching contacts in Microsoft Outlook. It allows you to select which contacts are updated. So you can update all contacts at once or just a few at a time.The main benefit of OutSync is for Windows Mobile users. Updated contacts are automatically synced with Windows Mobile devices by Exchange server or ActiveSync. Thus new and fun photos appear during calls and other places where contacts are used.OutSync is compatible with Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003. It requires Outlook 2003 or 2007.
Download: http://www.melsam.com/outsync/
Since a few months now we see a shift and a decreasing adoption of Apache servers and Microsoft IIS gaining market share. Does this mean people are moving from Linux boxes to Windows Servers with ISS? Or do we just have more websites running on our install base? I'm wondering how much of the IIS Servers are running on top of Windows Server 2008. Anyway the microsoft.com site are hosted on an IIS 7 platform and it run's great. I advise you to take a look at our new IIS Web platform.
Apache loses 2.8% share this month, partly through the strong growth at the major blogging systems, and partly due to 2.5 million domains on Apache expiring at trouble-free.net. Apache has around a 10% market share advantage over IIS now, which is the smallest gap between the two since IIS was launched in 1996.
The SkyDrive team made the announcement that they are doubling everyone's storage to 1GB, way cool.
Other changes that have been announced are:
Another live service that is listening to their users and keeps improving.
Book your agendas for the launch of your new way of communications. Join us in Louvain-La-Neuve on November 29th and see how the Microsoft Unified Communications strategy is integrating traditional messaging, like email and voice, with presence, instant messaging and online meetings. Be the first to KNOW how the next wave of Microsoft Unified Communications products will positively impact your way of collaborating and communicating.
09:30 – 10:30h
Welcome & Registration - Opening Exhibition Area (until 18:30h)
10:30 – 12:00h
General Keynote
How (Microsoft) Unified Communications will positively impact your business collaboration and business results.
Philip Vandervoort, General Manager Microsoft BeLux
12:00 – 13:00h
Lunch
Track 1
Track 2
13:00 – 14:15h
Secure Presence, Instant Messaging & Enterprise Voice
We will focus on presence management, secure instant messaging and enterprise voice as core modalities of communications in Microsoft’s Unified Communications Portfolio. Technologies involved: Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Key Clients (including Communicator, Communicator Web Access, Communicator Mobile), UC devices (Softphone, Desktop & USB Phones, Peripherals), Microsoft’s Voice Strategy and Investments (Voice and Telephony infrastructures for Exchange and OCS)
The Unified Communication Administration Experience
This session will cover the Administration Experience across the messaging and communications solutions offered by Microsoft. You will get a glimpse of the various management features available across the products. By the end of this session you will know how to use the MMC administration console for provisioning, which PowerShell Interfaces Exchange Server 2007 SP1 and OCS 2007 will bring to you and much more.
14:15 – 14:45h
Break
14:45 – 16:00h
Conferencing Solutions
Discover the Audio, Video and Web Conferencing as core modalities of communications in Microsoft’s Unified Communications Portfolio. Technologies involved: Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007, Key Clients (including Communicator, Office Live Meeting Console) and UC devices (WebCams & Microsoft Roundtable, Desktop & USB Phones, Peripherals)
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Overview
Introducing the new features in Service Pack 1. Via demos you will get acquainted with the benefits Exchange Server 2007 Sp1 has available in reference to Public Folders, increased security for mobile workers, high availability and site resilience, Unified Communications, and support for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.
16:00 – 17:45h
Unified Communications: Security and Compliance
Hear any of the security and organizational governance features of Microsoft’s next wave of UC products and services. Understand how Microsoft`s Unified Communications solutions provide built-in protection for secure communications, support organizational governance requirements, and offer protection from external threats.
Core Technologies involved: Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Office Communication Server 2007, Forefront Security
Office Communications Server 2007 Deployment
Here’s how you can deploy Microsoft OCS 2007 in the organization. Are you exploring Office Communications Server 2007? How do you run a pilot or plan for an Enterprise environment? By the end of the session you will know how to run an OCS2007 pilot for your Organization or customers. Together we will look at the various key considerations that you should address for planning and deploying within an Enterprise environment.
17:45 – 18:30h
Cocktail & Networking
Thursday, November 29, 2007 10:30 AM - Thursday, November 29, 2007 6:30 PM ParisWelcome Time: 9:30 AM
Aula Magna, Louvain-la-Neuve4 Terrasse de l'AulaLouvain-la-Neuve B-1348 Belgium
Here are the top 5 sessions for the Data Management track according to Michael Anderberg track owner.
Kimmy Sharpe is not alive today. She is a fictitious victim who was approached by 9 predators within her first 10 minutes online. This presentation examines global case studies, various online predator tactics (luring and befriending techniques), the “Perfect Victim,” performing a reconnaissance on your child’s online information, fictitious victim chat logs, offender profiles, tips from a sex exploitation unit law enforcement officer, and parental resources. This presentation is part of the Internet Safety Program launched by Laura Chappell and Brenda Czech of the Protocol Analysis Institute in March of 2005. Free book, presenter materials and resources are online at www.packet-level.com/kids.
Long gone are the days when you knew your data was safe because it resided only in your data center. The explosive proliferation of laptops, notebooks, handheld computers, smartphones, removable drives, and Internet file storage demands that we rethink how we protect information. Because it's the information the bad guys are after, and because the information flows so freely from device to device, our obligation is to protect the information. People want to work wherever they can find a computer and an Internet connection. How can you do this safely? Steve Riley considers strategies and explore technologies to help you solve a number of thorny problems: how to classify mobile data, how to keep track of where it is, and how to control its movement. We explore the new Data Encryption Toolkit for Mobile PCs, technical guidance and deployment tools that help you plan and implement EFS and BitLocker™ throughout your enterprise, with lower cost and extended centralized management and control. One question we will ponder: maybe it's time to do away with the locked-down desktop?
Are you the kind of security person who enables a setting just because it's there? Do your users constantly seek ways to bypass all your fine-tuned security, just so they can do their jobs? Every security decision your organization makes ought to consider the security-usability (or even the security-usability-cost) tradeoff. While perfect security seems an admirable goal, in reality we must remember that usability often will trump our strongest desires. If people can't get work done, they'll either circumvent the security (without understanding they just created new attack vectors) or your company will simply lose out to your competitors. Steve Riley discusses several examples of real-world tradeoffs and helps you learn how to navigate the tradeoff in your own organization.
As today’s threat landscape continues to evolve and Microsoft’s commitment to a secure ecosystem solidifies itself, it’s important for the Microsoft Security Research and Response Team (a.k.a. MSAV) to evolve and provide even greater support to the Microsoft Forefront, OneCare, Defender and Windows customers. In addition, our growing presence in the security industry requires us to participate at an even greater level with our partners day-to-day. This session is designed to update our customers and partners as to our new direction not only in anti-virus and anti-spyware but also in the area of vulnerability assessment, content and URL filtering and as an information provider. We look at the current trends provided by our vast submission process and also review our upcoming roadmap's in addition to how we operate on a day-to-day basis around the world.
Throughout the years, military strategy has evolved even though the tactical operations might look the same. However, information security in the Enterprise has not evolved when compared to the changes in the threat landscape.This session will cover the evolution and the different protection mechanisms trying to give the audience food for thought in building protection for the future, instead of protecting current environments against past problems. With ad-hoc hardening, typical attacks have been working.To illustrate the reasoning in this session imagine this; It is the year 2003 again, Blaster will be released in 6 hours - what will you be doing? It is the year 2004 again, Sasser will be released in 3 hours - what will you be doing? It is the year 2007 - something is out there, what will you be doing?
Want to know which other sessions that have been planned at the event? Check out the Content Search tool.
The DPM website has been updated (www.microsoft.com/DPM) - with new information on the upcoming release of DPM 2007, pricing/licensing details, and best of all - new downloads.
We have a release candidate for DPM 2007 - and now everyone can start to evaluate it.
This evaluation downloadable is the complete feature set for the upcoming release, so check out:
And new since Beta 2 for this evaluation and the upcoming RTM:
Source: Jason Buffington
Here are the top 5 sessions for the Data Management track according to the client track owner:
This session provides an overview of the next release of SQL Server, SQL Server 2008. The session will cover the core value-proposition, major themes and scenarios, and some specific improvements. We also cover the new development processes being used to build this release, the release timeline and the disclosure calendar.
The next release of SQL Server will contain exciting new manageability features targeted at reducing total cost of ownership. Come learn more about what's in store in areas like policy-driven administration and performance data collection and analysis. The session focuses on the database engine.
As a part of the “Pervasive Insight” theme, a lot of work was done to make SQL Server 2008 an even better platform for relational Data Warehouses (DWs), from small to multi-Terabyte. New T-SQL commands like MERGE are introduced to make updating a DW a better experience. Change Data Capture enables you to do high performance tracking of changes in production tables. Star Join enhancements make typical DW queries faster and more efficient. Data and Backup compression reduces both on-disk size and I/O bandwidth requirements on large DWs. Partitioned Table parallelism enhance multithreaded queries against partitioned tables. Native support for new Date/Time data types enable hassle-free import of temporal data from other platforms. Come to this session to see how all of these features work and how they make SQL Server 2008 a great Data Warehousing platform.
Resource Governor is a new technology in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 that enables DBAs to manage SQL Server workload and resources by specifying limits on resource consumption by the workloads. In an environment where multiple distinct workloads are present on the same server, Resource Governor enables one to differentiate these workloads and allocate shared resources based on the specified limits. This would improve predictability of execution and minimize "run-away query" scenarios when combining workloads with different resource requirements. Understanding Resource Governor model will help writing smarter applications to utilize it to the full extent. During the session we will go over the functionality of SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor. We will cover typical user scenarios, explain the model, and describe ways to control resources in this release followed by a demo of the functionality.
How can you tell whether your data is corrupt? If you have corruption, how do you work out what’s wrong with the database? How do you ensure you have a valid backup? If you don’t have a valid backup, how and what do you repair? If you do have a backup, how do you work out whether you should restore or repair? And at what granularity? How do you go about determining what went wrong in the first place? It’s all about limiting downtime and data-loss when a corruption occurs - from knowing the tools to understanding the choices to planning a successful strategy. Some of the features discussed:
Facing database corruption is almost inevitable in every DBAs career - make sure you're prepared when it happens to you.
Want to know which other sessions that have been planned at the event? Check out the Content Search tool