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Topic: Software

Microsoft delivers near-final SQL Server 2012 code

Summary: The near-final test build of Microsoft's SQL Server 2012 is ready for download, a few months ahead of the slated launch.

Mary Jo Foley

By for All About Microsoft |

Microsoft released the near-final test build of its SQL Server 2012 product (codenamed "Denali") on November 17.

The Release Candidate (RC) 0 of SQL Server 2012 is available for download from Microsoft's Web site.

Microsoft has made some changes to the product since it delivered the previous release, Community Technology Preview (CTP) 3 this past summer. Among those modifications, according to company officials:

  • Added core capabilities for increased mission critical confidence, including multiple secondaries in SQL Server AlwaysOn and multi-tenancy enhancements with Resource Governor.
  • New functionality in the Power View ("Crescent") data-exploration and visualization tool, including the inclusion of Change Data Capture support for Oracle enables broader support for heterogeneous data with Data Warehouses.
  • Snapshot backups in Windows Azure from inside Management Studio.

Microsoft is encouraging customers to download today’s RC to prepare for the final release. Microsoft officials declined to say whether there would be additional release candidate test builds distributed to customers before the product is released to manufacturing.

Microsoft execs have said SQL Server 2012 will "launch" in the early part of 2012. Earlier this month, Microsoft made available some pricing and SKU information about SQL Server 2012, including the fact that there will be a new BI (business intelligence) version offered.

Topics: Software, Data Centers, Data Management, Enterprise Software, Microsoft

About

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

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  • RE: Microsoft delivers near-final SQL Server 2012 code

    Can it compete with the MySQL now? Hopefully they added support for stored proc finally.
    Win8AnUglyDisaster
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft delivers near-final SQL Server 2012 code

      @johndow1 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa174792%28v=sql.80%29.aspx
      Grayson Peddie
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Microsoft delivers near-final SQL Server 2012 code

        @Grayson Peddie - to be fair, that's an outdated and no longer relevant issue with MySql versions < 5.0: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/stored-routines.html

        Also to be fair though - SQL Server buries MySql on Windows in terms of performance. SQL Server's enterprise, data wharehousing and BI tooling, including Crescent (which has to be seen to be believed) are lightyears ahead of MySql, especially in the impending SQL2012.

        MySql is increasingly a pretty good SQL server, but is somewhat behind in tooling stability and performance. MySql workbench frequently crashes, blocks/hangs when performing lengthy tasks, oftentimes there's a measurable perf differential between different client access drivers (.NET / ODBC / Java / C++, etc).

        The thing that bites A LOT of people though is dealing with a database that is on MySql < v5 or that once was on MySql < v5 which wasn't upgraded to handle unicode, but has had unicode (double) encoded and stuffed in. Cleaning up such messes can be VERY time consuming and error-prone.

        Also consider that before MySql 5, it didn't support Stored Procedures or Foreign keys so older schemas tend to be loose collections of unrelated tables which can mean you've got a lot of work to port older DB's to schemas where RI is inforced.

        I know this because I have spent the last 2 weeks pulling the data out of an old MySql DB, scrubbing & fixing it and migrating it to SQL Server. (Would take the same amount of effort to migrate to MySql 5.5 before you ABM'ers pile on).
        bitcrazed
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Microsoft delivers near-final SQL Server 2012 code

        @bitcrazed What he is asking is "Can SQL Server 2012 compete with the MySQL now? Hopefully they finally added support for stored procedures in SQL Server 2012." Thus, my answer is that SQL Server 2000 and later supports stored procedures.

        But from your comment, it's more like this: "Can MySQL compete with the SQL Server 2012 now? Hopefully they finally added support for stored procedures in MySQL." And that's when I misread his question and that's when I'll stand corrected.
        Grayson Peddie
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft delivers near-final SQL Server 2012 code

      @johndow1,
      Support for stored proc? What do you mean?
      bmonsterman
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Microsoft delivers near-final SQL Server 2012 code

        @bmonsterman "Stored procedures."
        Grayson Peddie
        Reply Vote

  • XP support

    No XP support? Won't succeed.
    xp-client
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft delivers near-final SQL Server 2012 code

      @anonymuos Pay million dollars to have Microsoft support XP. Ain't gonna happen! :)
      Grayson Peddie
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft delivers near-final SQL Server 2012 code

      @anonymuos,

      Lol. Developers have been moving to Windows 7 ahead of the rest of the corporate bunch. 3 gig cap on memory just doesn't cut it with VS 2010. I doubt the developer community is going to care much about not getting XP support. Nevertheless, I'm sure SSMS 2008 will connect to a 2012 SQL Server instance.
      bmonsterman
      Reply Vote
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