Server and Tools Business News Bytes blog : SQL Server 2008

Download SQL Server 2008 R2 August CTP Today

grantkd — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Today we are excited to announce the availability of the first community technology preview (CTP) of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 for MSDN and TechNet subscribers, with the CTP generally available on Wednesday, August 12th.

Building on the momentum of SQL Server 2008, “R2” improves IT efficiency by reducing the time and cost of developing and managing applications; empowers end users to make better decisions through Self Service Business Intelligence and enables organizations to scale with confidence by providing high level s of reliability, security and scalability for business critical applications.

This public preview provides the opportunity to experience early, pre-release feature capabilities including:

· Application and Multi-server Management

· SMP scale up with support for up to 256 logical processors

· Report Builder 3.0 with support for geospatial visualization

We encourage everyone to download the bits and start exploring the new features and provide feedback. Sign up and get started.

SQL Server 2008 R2 August CTP is only the first in a string of CTPs launching this month. In the coming weeks we’ll also launch CTPs for low latency complex event processing now called StreamInsight, the first CTP for SQL Azure Database, a limited preview of Project “Gemini” Excel and SharePoint add-ins and a private technology preview of Project Madison, Microsoft’s massively scalable data warehousing solution, with a select group of customers. Stay tuned to this page, where we’ll be announcing new CTPs as they become available. We’re very excited about the progress toward the big launch of SQL Server 2008 R2 next year and are looking forward to your feedback to help us get there!

Other Resources:

o Download:

· SQL Server 2008 R2 CTP2

o Learn More:

· SQL Server 2008 R2 Multi Server Management

· Project Madison

· Project “Gemini”

o Let us know what you think:

· SQL Server Connect site

· Contact the Server developer team

Sign-up to be in the R2 Customer Evidence program, e-mail: SQLR2EV@microsoft.com

SQL Server 2008 SP1 Available Today

mdingle — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:02:00 GMT

Today, Microsoft made available the SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 via free download to current SQL Server 2008 customers. Microsoft recommends that customers currently running SQL Server 2008 should download SP1 via the SQL Server 2008 Web site to take advantage of these improvements.

With SQL Server SP1, Microsoft has made investments to ease deployment and help make the management of service packs more efficient. SP1 is primarily a roll-up of previous cumulative updates and there are no new features, however key improvements include increased supportability and stability as well as Slipstream, Service Pack Uninstall and Report Builder 2.0 click-once deployment.

o Slipstream allows administrators to install SQL Server 2008 and Service Pack 1 in a single instance. This decreases the total time for an installation, including a fewer number of reboots thereby increasing productivity and deployment availability.

o Service Pack Uninstall allows administrators to uninstall the service pack separately from the database release. This feature also improves DBA productivity, reduces the cost of deployment and improves overall supportability

o Report Builder 2.0 Click Once improves the existing SQL Server end-user report authoring application by easing deployment to business users

With over 3 million downloads of SQL Server 2008 since the RTM in August, our customers continue to view SQL Server 2008 as a smart IT investment.

To download the SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1, please click here.

For more information on SQL Server 2008, please click here.

Microsoft Partners With Cisco on New Unified Computing System

mdingle — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:01:00 GMT

Today, Microsoft Corp. announced its support of Cisco’s Unified Computing System entrance into the server datacenter market as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Through this agreement, Cisco will pre-package, resell and support Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V technology and Microsoft SQL Server 2008. In addition, Microsoft is working closely with Cisco to integrate System Center into this new solution.

Over the past five years Microsoft has built a strong alliance with Cisco, and Unified Computing System is a natural point of evolution for the relationship. These two companies that provide best-of-breed solutions are uniting network, compute and virtualization resources into one system. More information can be found on the Windows Server team blog and on PressPass.

SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse makes data warehousing deployments faster, easier, and more affordable.

grantkd — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Microsoft today announced the availability of SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse. Partners and customers using SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse benefit from the power of SQL Server 2008 combined with a variety of hardware configurations from partners Bull, Dell, and HP, making it fast, easy, and affordable to create an enterprise-class data warehouse.

Additionally, Microsoft’s systems integration partners are offering industry-specific solution templates for data warehousing projects as part of the SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse solution. SIs find that Microsoft’s Business Intelligence technologies are extremely attractive to their customers due to their market leading capabilities, overall value and price/performance. With increasing adoption of SQL Server 2008 in companies across all industries, SIs are offering their customers guidance on the best ways to maximize their SQL Server 2008 investment by extending its scalability and accelerating data warehousing initiatives.

Organizations that depend on information generated for use in business intelligence applications are faced with the prospect of scaling their data warehouses into the hundreds of terabytes or more. Though this has traditionally been very expensive, Microsoft’s vision is to make massive scalability accessible and affordable to organizations of any size. SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse helps SQL Server 2008 customers rapidly develop and deploy data warehouses that scale up to 32 terabytes, making this the ideal solution for enterprises looking for increased flexibility and performance, much higher scalability, and technical guidance applied through best practices for data warehousing.

For more information about SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse see http://www.microsoft.com/fasttrack, and for more information about SQL Server 2008 see http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/default.aspx.

Enterprise Customers Choose Microsoft Platform to Run SAP Apps

mdingle — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:24:00 GMT

Today, Microsoft announced the recent certification of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 to fully support SAP NetWeaver 7.0 and the newly released SAP Business Suite 7. Microsoft remains committed to delivering world-class enterprise capabilities to help customers take advantage of the latest innovations through joint Microsoft and SAP development.

Customer’s realizing the benefits of migrating to the Microsoft Platform with SAP include:

· QR Limited acknowledges that Microsoft’s application platform, including Windows Server and SQL Server, provides availability that is equal or superior to their experiences on IBM DB2 and the mainframe. Since moving SAP to SQL Server, QR Limited is experiencing up to a 40 percent faster SAP transactional response time.

· Kimball International Inc. recognizes up to 50 percent more processing power in using Microsoft’s Windows Server and SQL Server over an Oracle/Unix-based environment. Kimball International Inc. has achieved ROI within 12 month and has seen a savings of $450,000.

· SABMiller RUS found that Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V helped to reduce infrastructure costs by almost 50 percent and expects 234 percent ROI.

Additionally, customers can enjoy new enterprise services and support including:

· HP Microsoft Virtualization Infrastructure Service offerings provide customers with technical resources, prescriptive guidance and best practices to enable virtualized implementations of SAP Business Suite 7 and other critical business applications. Service offerings include:

o Virtualization strategy

o Consolidation

o Virtual Machine Management

o Security

· Worldwide availability of Premier Mission Critical Support, Microsoft Services recently announced an add-on designed to deliver Enterprise customers enhanced support for mission-critical solutions. Premier Mission Critical supports Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2005 SP2 & SP3 and SQL Server 2008. Through this support, Microsoft will provide its customers the following:

o Guaranteed response times backed by financial credits

o Round-the-clock access to expertise

o Prioritized access to product development teams

For more information please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/sap/sql, and click here to read the official press release.

SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack Released

grantkd — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:41:00 GMT

A collection of 26 free stand-alone tools, components and frameworks has been released. This collection is designed to enhance using and developing for SQL Server 2008 as well as other versions of SQL Server. Some of the more notable new enhancements for SQL Server 2008 include:

· Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Report Builder 2.0, which provides an intuitive report authoring environment for business and power users with a Microsoft Office look and feel. Report Builder 2.0 support the full capabilities of Report Definition Language (RDL) including flexible data layout, data visualizations, and richly formatted text features of SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services. The download provides a stand-alone installer for Report Builder 2.0.

· Microsoft Connector 1.0 for SAP BI, a set of managed components for transferring data to or from an SAP NetWeaver BI version 7.0 system. The component is designed to be used with the Enterprise and Developer editions of SQL Server 2008 Integration Services. To install the component, run the platform-specific installer for x86, x64, or Itanium computers respectively. For more information see the Readme and the installation topic in the Help file.

Click here to download SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Is the Value Leader According to Latest Benchmarks

grantkd — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:50:00 GMT

New TPC-E performance benchmark results from the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) rank Microsoft SQL Server 2008 No. 1 for price/performance on industry-leading hardware using Intel Corporation’s new Dunnington x64 processor, and on another TPC-E release, SQL Server 2008 is No. 1 for performance using the new IBM System x3950 M2 server. In China, OEM partner Inspur Group published the first Microsoft SQL Server TPC-E results in non-U.S. dollar currency. These results show further evidence that Microsoft SQL Server 2008 remains a global value leader in the data platform space and is a top choice of customers who require high performance from their enterprise-class data management systems.

For more information, please read the article on PressPass.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 RTM

grantkd — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:02:00 GMT

Microsoft Corp. today announced the release to manufacturing of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the new version of the company’s acclaimed data management and business intelligence platform. This version of SQL Server provides powerful new capabilities such as support for policy-based management, auditing, large-scale data warehousing, geospatial data, and advanced reporting and analysis services. SQL Server 2008 provides the trusted, productive and intelligent platform necessary for business-critical applications.

With more than 450,000 customer and partner downloads of SQL Server 2008’s community technology previews (CTPs), more than 75 large-scale applications already in production and more than 1,350 applications being developed by nearly 1,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) on SQL Server 2008, it’s clear that customers and partners are excited about the capabilities now available in SQL Server 2008.

For more information please check out the Press Release and Virtual Press Room.

Microsoft to Acquire DATAllegro

grantkd — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:34:00 GMT

Microsoft announced today at its Financial Analyst Meeting that it intends to acquire DATAllegro, a leading provider of data warehouse appliances. This acquisition will extend the capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server in the enterprise and make it even easier and more cost effective for customers of all sizes to manage and glean insight from the ever expanding amount of data they deal with.

Following the acquisition, Microsoft will retain most of DATAllegro’s employees as well as its headquarters in Aliso Viejo, Calif. DATAllegro will continue to develop their technology, which will be incorporated into the SQL Server product line in future releases.

For the full press release, click here: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2008/jul08/07-24DataWarehousingPR.mspx

TechEd 2008 IT Pros: News and Announcements

grantkd — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:31:00 GMT

Today at Tech Ed 2008 IT Pros in Orlando, FL Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools business at Microsoft, delivered a keynote address about how Microsoft is delivering against the Dynamic IT initiative. To read the press release, view the keynote, and get more information about the event, visit the Tech Ed 2008 Virtual Press Room at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/teched/default.mspx or check out TechEd Online.

Other areas Muglia outlined where Microsoft is making progress across Dynamic IT include the following:

· Identity Lifecycle Manager “2”. Delivering on comprehensive identity and access management in the enterprise, ILM “2” changes the current state of the art of identity management. The availability of ILM “2” beta 3, announced today at TechEd, brings powerful self-service capabilities for the end-user through integration in Office as well as rich administrative tools and enhanced automation for IT professionals in addition to .NET and WS-* based extensibility for developers. This Q&A with Microsoft’s Doug Leland offers additional details about the release. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2008/jun08/06-10QAleland.mspx

· Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Release Candidate. The availability of the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Release Candidate, the data platform which provides the highest levels of scalability, reliability and security for business-critical applications, helps reduce time and cost of development and management of applications, and delivers actionable insights.

· .NET Configuration Service 2.0. The availability of .NET Configuration Service 2.0, a freely downloadable and reusable set of code libraries available to help develop new composite application services across both .NET and Java. As part of Muglia’s keynote address, a demo of the Configuration Service showed how a composite application, running across Windows-, IBM WebSphere- and Apache-distributed components, could be dynamically virtualized against on-premises, physical resources and across the cloud.

· Forefront Security for Office Communications Server Beta 1. The availability of the Forefront Security for Office Communications Server Beta 1 helps provide fast and effective protection against IM-based malware by including multiple scanning engines and helps reduce corporate liability by blocking IM messages containing inappropriate content.

· Forefront Client Security. Forefront Client Security now supports Windows Server 2008, including native integration for Network Access Protection, providing granular access control over network access and maintain compliance

Microsoft disclosed several updates to help ready customers and partners to use virtualization in their infrastructure, including:

· Server Virtualization Validation Program. The Server Virtualization Validation Program is now operational and open to any software vendor to test and validate their virtualization software to run Windows Server 2008 and previous versions of Windows Server. The program enables Microsoft to offer cooperative technical support to customers running Windows Server on validated, non-Microsoft server virtualization software.

· Certifications. Four new virtualization certifications are being introduced for desktop support technicians, database administrators and Web developers who will work with virtualization technologies. Training resources also include eight instructor-led courses, five e-Learning courses, traditional academic learning courseware, and Microsoft Press training kits.

· Microsoft Application Virtualization. Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 release candidate one (RC1) will be available within the month for customers.

· Forefront security. Microsoft today outlined support for virtualization with the Forefront line of security products, which includes Forefront Client Security support for Hyper-V upon its release, and support within the next-generation Forefront security solution, code-named “Stirling,” with its release in the first half of 2009.

More information on today’s announcements can be found on these blogs:

· Windows Server Division Blog- http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2008/06/10/lone-server-a-new-man.aspx

· Windows Virtualization Team Blog- http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/default.aspx

· The System Center Team Blog- http://blogs.technet.com/systemcenter/

· Microsoft Assessment and Planning Team Blog – http://blogs.technet.com/mapblog

· Data Platform Insider Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dataplatforminsider/default.aspx

· Forefront Team Blog- http://blogs.technet.com/forefront/

An Addition to the SQL Server Team

Brittany M. — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT

David DeWitt, one of the top minds in the database systems industry, has joined Microsoft as a Technical Fellow on the SQL Server team. Microsoft recently asked DeWitt to create a new development lab in Madison, Wisconsin that will be named for Jim Gray, the Microsoft computer scientist who was lost at sea in a 2007 boating accident. The new center will conduct both product development and longer-term, exploratory technology development in the field of databases, working closely with the Computer Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Please visit the PressPass interview with David DeWitt for more information.

Wave of New Microsoft Enterprise Products Bring Big Benefits to IT Professionals and Developers

grantkd — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:15:00 GMT

Largest enterprise launch in company history includes Windows Server 2008, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008; focuses on security, Web, virtualization and better business intelligence.

Kicking off more than 225 events around the world and joined by more than 4,000 customers and partners, Microsoft Corp.’s Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer today showcased the next generation of infrastructure and application platform products, including Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

The launch represents a major milestone to help customers on the road to Dynamic IT, Microsoft’s initiative to help customers optimize their people, processes and technology, and in turn position IT as a strategic asset for their business. These new enterprise products help customers more efficiently and securely manage their entire infrastructure and move to a virtualized environment while also delivering business intelligence and next-generation Web experiences to boost business results. The theme of the events, “Heroes Happen Here,” highlights the outstanding work that IT professionals, developers and partners do every day to create solutions and cutting-edge applications that keep global commerce and industry running.

“IT professionals and developers tell us they spend too much time and money managing existing systems and not enough investing in new capabilities that create strategic advantage,” Ballmer said. “That feedback is at the core of the innovations in this new wave of products. Already, the overwhelming response from thousands of IT professionals and developers around the world is that this is the most secure enterprise platform we have ever delivered, and that it will simplify management and enable them to focus more on driving their businesses forward.”

For the full press release, please click here:

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2008/feb08/02-27HeroesHappenHerePR.mspx

LINKS

Heroes Happen Here

Virtual Pressroom

BLOGS

For more on these announcements, please visit these blogs:

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/

http://blogs.msdn.com/stevemar/default.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/applicationplatform/

http://blogs.technet.com/mapblog/

http://blogs.technet.com/dataplatforminsider/

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/

http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/

http://blogs.msdn.com/trika/default.aspx

VIDEOS

Watch the keynote

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announces the launch of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 with 4,000 customers and partners in Los Angeles.

Industry Luminary Panel

IDC's Al Gillen talks with executives from leading technology companies to discuss some of the innovations and challenges that will shape enterprise datacenters in the coming years. The members of the panel include: Al Gillen, Research Vice President, IDC; Randy Allen, Corporate Vice President Server and Workstation Division, AMD; Dr. Ajei Gopal, Executive Vice President, Enterprise IT Management Group, CA; Rick Becker, Vice President, Enterprise Software & Solutions, Dell; James Mouton, Executive Vice President, Technology Solutions Group, HP; Kirk Skaugen, Vice President, Server Platform Group, Intel; Bob Muglia, Senior Vice President, Server and Tools Business (STB), Microsoft; Mark Feverston, Senior Vice President and GM, Systems and Technology, Unisys.

Q&A: Steve Ballmer Talks with IDC's Al Gillen

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talks with Al Gillen, system software research VP at IDC, about what the launch means for business customers and industry partners.

San Diego Zoo Customer Case Study

Find out how the San Diego Zoo is using Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 to create the best possible experience for its nearly 6 million yearly visitors.

Training Aims to Help IT Pros Become Heroes

Chris Pirie, General Manager of Sales and Marketing for Microsoft Learning, talks with Michael Johnson, a Microsoft Certified Trainer about how early readiness for Windows Server 2008 has directly impacted his business and enables IT professionals to immediately adopt and deploy the new technology.

Hear about the First Customer to Deploy Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008

Jim DuBois, General Manager of Information Security & Infrastructure Services for Microsoft IT, highlights the internal Microsoft deployment of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008.