Access to data anytime and anywhere
SQL Server 2008 system starts from the concept of Microsoft data platform: it is easier to manage any data, anywhere and at any time. It allows you to store in databases information from structured, semistructured and unstructured sources, such as images and music. In SQL Server 2008 is a large suite of integrated services that enhance the use of data: you can make requests, to search, to synchronize, to report, to analyze the data. All data is stored on the servers included in the data center. They are accessed from desktop computers and mobile devices. So, you have complete control over data no matter where you saved them.
SQL Server 2008 system allows you to access to data from any application, developed using technology Microsoft. NET and Visual Studio, as well as within a service-oriented architecture and business processes — through the Microsoft BizTalk Server. Employees responsible for the collection and analyzing information, can work with data without leaving the familiar applications which they use every day, such as the 2007 Microsoft Office. SQL Server 2008 allows you to create a safe, productive, intelligent platform that meets all the requirements for working with data.
New features of SQL Server 2008
SQL Server provides the highest level of security, reliability and scalability for mission-critical applications.
Protect of the valuable information
Transparent data encryption
The dynamic encryption of the entire database, data files and log files do not require any changes in existing applications. The advantages are obvious: the search on encrypted data as the ranges, and fuzzy search, search secure data from unauthorized users, the use of encryption, without any changes in existing applications.
Extensible key management
SQL Server 2005 includes a comprehensive solution for encryption and key management. SQL Server 2008 takes this demanded direction by its support of third-party companies for key management and hardware security modules.
Audit
Audit shall be appointed and controlled by means of language DDL. Features of the Audit are now wider, and meet regulatory requirements more easily. You can easily get answers to frequently asked questions like «Which data was carried out treatment?».
Business continuity
Enhanced database mirroring
SQL Server 2008 extends the capabilities of SQL Server 2005, providing a reliable platform with enhanced database mirroring. Among the improvements are automatic correction of pages, high performance and lightweight support.
Automatic recovery of data pages
SQL Server 2008 enables the principal and mirror server transparently to eliminate the consequences of error number 823 and 824 in the data pages by requesting a fresh copy of "suspicious" pages from the mirror server transparent to applications and end users.
Log stream compression
For Mirroring is required to organize the transfer of data between the participating servers. SQL Server 2008 lets you compress the outgoing log stream for optimum performance mirroring and minimizes the load on the network.
The controlled response time
Resource governor
Resource Governor enables you to ensure the stable and predictable response times for end-user requests. It can help you to determine the limits of resources and set priorities for different workloads. This provides a smooth performance of tasks running simultaneously.
Predictable query performance
Opportunity to capture query plans can achieve better smoothness and predictability of their performance. Stable query plans will not be lost when replacing equipment, server upgrades and industrial deployment.
Data reduction
The data are stored more efficiently and take up less space in storage. Compression also provides significant performance gains on the problems associated with a large number of input and output, such as when working with data warehouses.
Hot-swappable of the processor
On supported hardware platforms, SQL Server 2008 allows to add the CPU dynamically without any downtime was. It should also be noted that the ability to add memory to a working system has already been present before.
To exploit the new opportunities that constantly arise in a rapidly changing business world, companies need to be able to quickly build and deploy solutions, data-driven. SQL Server 2008 reduces the time and costs required to manage and deploy these applications.
Managing policies
Policy-based management
Policy-based management is a system for managing one or more instances of SQL Server 2008, using policies. SQL Server Management Studio allows you to create policies that control the entities on the server side, such as instances of SQL Server, databases and other objects of SQL Server.
Simplified installation
SQL Server 2008 introduces significant improvements in the life cycle of service SQL Server. Processing has been Setup architecture, Setup and configuration. Now the physical installation of the equipment is separated from the configuration that allows the enterprises themselves and their partner companies create the installation configuration recommended.
Performance data collection
Fine-tuning and elimination of problem areas require a significant investment of time. To give into the hands of administrators efficient, practical information about the performance, the SQL Server 2008 includes more extensive facilities for collecting data about performance, the new centralized repository for storage and new tools for reporting and monitoring.
Facilitating the application development
Data queries can be performed using a managed programming language such as C # or VB.NET, instead of commands SQL. Strongly typed, set-oriented database queries written in. NET, can easily run to ADO.NET (LINQ to SQL), ADO.NET DataSets (LINQ to DataSets), the platform ADO.NET Entity Framework (LINQ to Entities) and provider Entity Data Service Mapping. The new LINQ to SQL provider enables through the LINQ to directly access tables and columns of SQL Server 2008.
ADO.NET object services
Object Services layer of ADO.NET enables the materialization, change tracking and data storage facilities as CLR. When using the ADO.NET database can be programmed in terms of objects managed by ADO.NET. SQL Server 2008 supports this technology more effectively, which improves performance and simplifies development.
Storage of any information
SQL Server 2008 introduces new data types of date and time:
DATE — only date;
TIME — time only;
DATETIMEOFFSET — date and time to support time zones;
DATETIME2 — time and date with a more precise division of seconds and a large range of years than the type DATETIME.
These new types of applications can be stored separately from the date the time of day, and increase the range of acceptable dates and adjust the precision of the time.
HIERARCHY ID
It allows developers to create tree structures more effectively than previously possible. The new system type HierarchyId used to store values that represent nodes in a hierarchical tree. It is implemented as a CLR custom type, and contains some effective and useful built-in methods for the flexible creation and manipulation of the nodes of the hierarchy.
FILESTREAM data
It allows you to store large amounts of binary data directly to the file system, NTFS. However, they remain an integral part of the base to which the provision of transactional integrity. Now, large chunks of binary data, traditionally stored in databases, can be placed in a much more efficient storage outside the base, not giving up on any important features.
Integrated full text search
Integrated full-text search allows you to seamlessly switch from relational data to text. It enables the use of text indexes for high-speed search of large text columns.
Sparse columns
NULL values are no longer occupy no physical space at all, which makes it very efficiently manage empty data fields. Due to sparse columns those object models, which contain multiple values NULL, will be stored in a database of SQL Server 2005 without requiring a significant storage space.
Large data types
In SQL Server 2008 remove restrictions on the size of 8 KB user data type. Now this amount is many times more.
Spatial data types
Applications can now benefit from the support of spatial data types.
For making "on the globe" intended data type «geography». Areas of the earth's surface in it are expressed by latitude and longitude.
For making "on the plane" intended the data type geometry. It stores the polygons, points and lines associated with both the projections on the plane, and with the initially planar data, such as drawings of the premises.
SQL Server 2008 is a comprehensive platform, analytic capabilities of which are available from the any workstation.
The integration of all data types
Backup compression
Permanent removal of backup to disk is costly and time consuming procedure. Appeared in the SQL Server 2008 backup compression helps to reduce the amount of backup storage, while itself back-up will run significantly faster because it requires less IO.
Parallelism of the partitioned tables
Due to partitioning can effectively cope with the rapidly growing tables, transparently breaking them into manageable blocks of data. SQL Server 2008 builds on the achievements of SQL Server 2005 in this area, improving performance on large partitioned tables.
Optimizing queries with unions "star"
In SQL Server 2008 enhanced the performance of queries that correspond to commonly used methods of data retrieval from storage. Optimizing Queries with the union "star" reduces the response time by recognizing patterns of association data.
Group sets
Sets group — an extension instruction GROUP BY, which combines in a single query several groups. Sets group returned only set of results equivalent to the union (UNION ALL) lines, grouped in different ways. In this way, aggregation queries, and reports are faster and easier.
Registration data on changes
Changes, made to the database, can be recorded and placed in change tables in the data. Changed content is recorded in full compliance with cross-table remains, and even changes in the schemes do not violate the normal operation. This technology enables the integration of the data store the most current information.
Operator SQL MERGE
With the SQL-statement MERGE developers can more effectively handle common in data warehouses situations, such as checking for the string before it is inserted or updated.
Improvements pipelines Integration Services SQL Server (SSIS)
Now, integration of data packets have a higher degree of scalability, better use of available resources and cope with even the largest load. Their new design increases the scalability of the implementation on multiple processors.
Saved views Integration Services SQL Server (SSIS)
View is one of the most frequent operations in the extraction, transformation and loading. This is especially true for data warehousing, where fact records, need to convert the business keys in the corresponding alternates with the viewer. The growth of performance of these views in SSIS can run even with the large tables.
Provision of relevant information
Performance and scalability of analytics
SQL Server 2008 allows the deeper analysis of the data through improved analysis capabilities and more complex computations and associations. New tools for the construction of cubes can accelerate the development of the analytical framework and improve the performance of generated solutions.
Modular calculations
Modular calculations can significantly increase the performance of calculations and create models with greater depth and complexity.
Write back
Introduced in SQL Server Analysis Services 2008 possibility of the write-back enabled MOLAP eliminate the need to query sections ROLAP. This improves performance in situations where the analytical application requires write back, with sacrifice performance OLAP is not necessary.
Reports can be easily transported to the any workplace enterprise, both inside and outside, it does not require complicated installation and configuration. This allows you to easily create reports of any size and complexity, and to organize public access to them.
Deploy reports over the Internet
Provide the necessary information to its customers and suppliers can by using the deploy reports on the Internet.
Creation of infrastructure management reporting
Memory management, infrastructure consolidation and centralized repository of all configuration settings and access interfaces to them allow to raise the level of support and control over the server.
Enhancements to report designer
Report designer allows you to easily create ad hoc and author reports with any structure.
Support of authentication using forms
Support of authentication using forms allows you to choose between this method and authenticated Windows.
The introduction of the report server applications
Introduction of report server application allows you to create links in the reports that return user in the interface of applications.
Integration with Microsoft Office
SQL Server 2008 allows the rendering of the Word, which allows you to view reports directly from Microsoft Office Word. In addition, the previously existing Excel renderer has undergone significant improvements and now the supports nested data region, accountability and extensive work with adjacent cells. All of this allows employees to remain in a familiar environment and improves the overall impression of working with reports in applications Microsoft Office.
Predictive analysis
Technologies of Data Mining SQL Server Analysis Services continue to improve. Improved support for time series extends the prediction. Enhanced mining structures give more flexibility to carry out directed analysis through the filtering as well as comprehensive reports are beyond the mining model. New cross-checking helps ensure both the accuracy and the stability of the results. Finally, new capabilities of superstructures of data mining SQL Server 2008 to Office 2007 provide for each workplace access to even more applicable practical information.
