Microsoft Launches SQL Server 2008

Microsoft has released a new version of SQL Server which promises to make the life of database administrators easier.

For database administrators, the addition of new management functionality makes SQL Server 2008 a great new product. The new policy management, multiple server query capability, configuration servers, and data collector/management warehouse offer powerful new abilities for database administrators who are often responsible for managing large and complex database environments with hundreds or thousands of databases on dozens or even hundreds of servers.

The new Multiple Server Interaction and Configuration Servers capabilities will come in handy when one needs to execute queries against multiple servers at the same time. One can register servers in the Management Studio and then place those servers together under a grouping. When needed to execute a policy or query against all the servers in the grouping, one can simply right-click on the grouping and do so.

Another great new management feature is the Data Collector. Database administrators often need to collect management data from a large number of servers, and many of these DBAs have created their own custom solution for doing so. The Data Collector is a built-in mechanism that eases the task of collecting management-related data. It allows you to use the SQL Server Agent and SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) to create a framework that collects and stores your data while providing error handling, auditing, and collection history.

Another new feature, Hot Add CPU, lets you add additional CPUs to a database server without affecting the availability of the databases residing on that server.

SQL Server 2008 also introduces sparse columns, which allow NULL values to be stored without taking up any physical space on the disk. Because sparse columns do not consume actual space, tables that contain sparse columns can actually exceed the 1,024 column limit.

You can access tutorials for SQL Server 2008 at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms167593.aspx and can see the details for various editions of SQL Server at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144275.aspx