Hey folks be prepare to read more about new enhancements in SQL Server 2008 R2 edition, a lot of attention has been given to the new database engine and BI features to landing on the ground with SQL Server 2008 R2 edition. I’ve listed the top 10 features/enhancement here for your reference… Sure you will feel it is amazing…
1. Multi-server management
2. Data-tier applications (DAC)
3. Master Data Services
4. StreamInsight
5. SSMS enhancements for SQL Azure
6. Parallel Data Warehouse
7. Enhanced scale-up capabilities
8. PowerPivot for Excel and SharePoint
9. Reporting Services improvements
10. Report Builder 3.0
Multi-server management utility is a new feature in MS SQL 2008 R2 edition; it is very useful for DBAs to monitor their SQL instances from one instance. This feature named as UCP (Utility Control Point) you can setup this Multi-Server Management feature using View Menu à Utility Explorer. This feature is available only in SQL 2008 R2 and this will not support earlier versions. Read more
2. Data-tier applications (DAC)
DAC is a new feature in SQL Server 2008 R2, it is focused for database deployment best practice, DAC is a self-contained unit of deployment that enables data-tier developers and DBAs to package the SQL Server objects, including database and instance objects, into a single entity called DAC package. Developers can build a DAC package using the Data-tier Application project system in Visual Studio 2010, whereas SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) users can extract a DAC (reverse engineering) and generate a DAC package file for an existing database. In SSMS you can find Extract Data-tier Application (right click on database àTasksà Extract Data-tier Application) open which can be used to do reverse engineer your database (typically generate the script for all objects in a database) and can be deployed on different instance (Eg. Dev environment to Prod) using Deploy Data-tier Application (right click on Instance name àDeploy Data-tier Application option) Read More
3. Master Data Services
MDS (Master Data Services) is a feature in BI platform which helps an Enterprise to manage centralized master data entities and hierarchies. With MDS, people across the enterprise can contribute to and consume master data securely and as needed, without having to go through IT and MDS provides web-based access to the master data hub for browsing, editing, authoring, auditing, and approving master data. Read More
4. StreamInsight
MS SQL Server 2008 R2 StreamInsight feature is focused for event-driven applications where you need low latency requirements. What StreamInsight does is allow organizations to make decisions on streaming data in near real-time. An event-driven application use CEP (Complex Event Processing) technology and is different from traditional databases, and the new component could make SQL Server a better fit for areas like financial services and web analytics. Developers can develop the CEP applications using C# and .NET environments. StreamInsight implements a lightweight streaming architecture that supports highly parallel execution of continuous queries over high-speed data. Read More
5. SSMS enhancements for SQL Azure
The November CTP version of SQL Server Management Studio from SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2 Express can be used to access, configure, manage and administer SQL Azure. Previous versions of SQL Server Management Studio are not supported. Read More
6. Parallel Data Warehouse
MS SQL Server 2008 R2 PDW (Parallel Data Warehouse) (previously code named Project Madison) allows data warehouses to be scaled over several physical servers that deliver really high performance through a MPP (Massive Parallel Processing) architecture at a low cost on Windows 2008 R2 with industry-standard hardware. “In symmetric multi-processing (SMP) architecture, query processing occurs entirely within one physical instance of a database. CPU, memory and storage impose physical limits upon speed and scale.” A SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse MPP data warehouse appliance partitions large tables across multiple physical nodes, each node having dedicated CPU, memory and storage, and each running its own instance of SQL Server, in parallel shared nothing architecture “(oh man… my head is spinning …!)Read More
7. Enhanced scale-up capabilities
MS SQL Server 2008 R2 with Windows 2008 R2 now supports up to 256 logical processors with the new data center editions up from 64. It is a lot more in SQL and really a big step forward by Microsoft with SQL Server. Also it supports Memory in excess of 2 terabytes. Read More
8. PowerPivot for Excel and SharePoint
Finally the Project Gemini has been integrated with MS SQL Server 2008 R2, it officially named as PowerPivot and is integrated with SharePoint 2010. “Use PowerPivot to expand the reach of BI in your organization through familiar technologies and platforms from Microsoft.” Read More
9. Reporting Services improvements
In MS SQL Server 2008 R2 BI brings lots of new enhancements in the existing tools which you can feel more in SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). SQL Server 2008 R2 version of Business Intelligence Development Studio helps lot easier to open, modify, preview, save, and deploy both earlier and later versions of reports and Report Server projects by using the later version of Business Intelligence Development Studio. Read More
10. Report Builder 3.0
The new version of Report Builder 3.0 brings plenty of data visualization capabilities including maps, sparklines and databars (this feature not available in SQL 2008). This also brings with it new capabilities for working with gauges and charts in SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), and while it is part of the R2 suite of tools, the tool can be downloaded separately to run with previous versions of SQL Server as well. Read More 1Read More 2
You may feel like I covered here very little; of course yes it is, because we can write numerous pages here to talk about the new features and enhancements in MS SQL Server 2008 R2 edition, but I’m leaving that part with you…. Enjoy…