During the preview, we published some of our early learnings, resources and guidance in a cook book on TechNet. Now that the services are generally available, we retired the cook book and are now pointing customers to our official documentation. If you are interested in jumping in, check out The Top 10 Things to Know When Running SQL Server Workloads on Windows Azure Virtual Machines which I wrote and was just published on the Windows Azure team blog. Next up, I'll be focusing on other interesting areas in Windows Azure like making the development of scale-out applications that run at Internet scale much easier.

Why should you care?  One of the big adoption blockers for building PaaS applications for Windows Azure are concerns over loss of control and data sovereignty.  Trust Services technology will make it possible to encrypt and store your data securely in Windows Azure, and independently define policies that allow only authorized consumers to decrypt the data.  This eliminates the risk of access to sensitive data by any unauthorized entity, including the cloud provider that is hosting your PaaS application.

So what’s new in the July 9th refresh?  Some pretty cool stuff, including:

• Search on encrypted data
• Encryption of streams
• Separation of roles for data policy administration, publishing and consumption

If you previously signed up for the lab, you will have to sign up again to get the July 9th refresh.  We haven’t announced any plans yet for general availability of Trust Services, but this refresh is a good sign that things are progressing well.  Have at it!

Meet the New Windows Azure

Virtual Machine

Are you interested in running SQL Server in a Windows Azure Virtual Machine? Then check out the SQL Server on Windows Azure Virtual Machine Early Adoption Cook Book at:

http://bit.ly/sqliaascookbook

It’s a work in progress and we’ll be adding lots of great stuff in the coming weeks!

The easiest way to find the specific videos you are interested in is to open this wiki page in the cook book, find the piece of content you are interested in, then simply click on the appropriate link to either download the content or watch the video.

A big thanks to the following folks who helped make this possible:

• Jonathan Kehayias for AlwaysOn content.
• Greg Low for developer content.
• Peter Myers for BI content.
• Joe Sack for engine content.
• Aaron Lower for coordinating and publishing all these videos.
• The Channel9 team for the use of their awesome engines.

Enjoy!

Microsoft creates a lot of content designed to drive early adoption for new releases of SQL Server. We use this as a tool to arm trainers, consultants and evangelists with the content they need to introduce developers and IT Professionals alike to key improvements in a new release so they can help us drive adoption. We don't always do a good job of communicating what all of these content assets are.

To address this problem, I’m pleased to announce the immediate availability of the SQL Server 2012 Early Adoption Cook Book TechNet wiki at: 

http://bit.ly/sql2012cookbook 

The wiki is intended to serve as a master index of some great SQL Server 2012 early adoption content being created by Microsoft and key partners. Rather than announcing new bits of content on various blogs, we will simply update this wiki so there is one place to find all the latest information about early adoption content assets.

We will be updating the wiki weekly with new content and information, so subscribe to the articles that you are most interested in if you want to be proactively notified of updates.

There is a big virtual team that has come together to make this project possible that includes people both inside and outside of Microsoft.  I would like to thank the following individuals up front for their significant contributions:

• Brian Knight of Pragmatic Works helped us with Expedition Denali.
• Greg Low and Peter Myers of SolidQ are helping us with developer and BI content.
• Jonathan Kehayias and Joe Sack of SQLskills are helping us with AlwaysOn and DBA content.
• Roger Wolter and Rohit Sharma of Scalability Experts are helping us with upgrade and application compatibility tools and content.
• Joe Homnick of Homnick Systems is helping us redeliver our content to trainers.
• Daniel Altamirano of Southworks is helping us with overall content development and training kit packaging.
• Richard Davis of SharpLogic is grinding out all of our virtual machines.
• Scott Forsyth of VaasNet is helping us host our virtual machines.
• Joe Yong and Mo Lin from SQL Server Engineering, along with Ross LoForte and George Huey from the Microsoft field are helping us with upgrade and application compatibility tools and content.
• Neeti Gupta, Manish Sharma, James Conard, Scott Klein, Steve DiMarco and Jackie Carr from Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism are helping us with funding, programs, content, tools, events and infrastructure.
• Betsy Pridmore, Sherri Brouwer, Jennifer Moser, Nick King and Emilie Bridon from SQL Server Marketing are helping us with marketing and funding.

We hope you join the party and help us drive the next wave of solutions built for SQL Server 2012! 

http://www.sqldownunder.com/SQLDownUnderWMAFeed.xml

Or:

http://www.sqldownunder.com/SQLDownUnderMP3Feed.xml

Enjoy and Happy Holidays to all my database and BI friends out there!

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9785999

This update includes eleven new hands-on labs covering popular topics like Integration Services, the new BI Semantic Model and Power View.

Remember, if you are new to training kits in general, you don’t need to install all the dependencies up front. As a matter of fact, you can skip them all and just install the content if all you want to do is browse it.

Here’s a complete list of the content available in the training kit including what’s new or updated:

Discover SQL Server 2012

Updated Presentation: Introduction to SQL Server 2012 (SQL11UPD00-DECK-01)

This presentation provides an overview of the key improvements in SQL Server 2012 from a developer perspective in the context of Microsoft's overall strategy for Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).

Demo: A First Look at SQL Server Data Tools (SQL11UPD00-DEMO-03)

This demo provides a quick tour of the new SQL Server Data Tools. SSDT makes it easy to develop powerful database solutions that target both your on-premise environment and the cloud.

Hands On Lab: Build Your First Web Application with SQL Server 2012 and ASP.NET (SQL11UPD00-HOL-01)

This lab shows how to build a simple web application in ASP.NET that performs CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete) operations against a SQL Server 2012 database. It also shows you how to work with images stored in the database.

Hands On Lab: Exploring Transact-SQL Improvements in SQL Server 2012 (SQL11UPD00-HOL-02)

In this Hands On Lab you will explore the Transact-SQL improvements in SQL Server 2012.

Hands On Lab: Managing Rich Unstructured Data in SQL Server 2012 (SQL11UPD00-HOL-03)

This lab will introduce you to several SQL Server 2012 improvements that make it easy to manage content as an integrated part of your solution, including FILESTREAM, FileTable, full text indexing and semantic search.

SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Information Management

New Hands On Lab: Exploring SQL Server 2012 Integration Services (SQL11UPD05-HOL-01)

This hands on lab will introduce you to the improvements in SQL Server 2012 Integration Services including project connection managers, parameters, SSIS catalogs, server package execution and monitoring.

New Hands On Lab: Exploring SQL Server 2012 Master Data Services (SQL11UPD05-HOL-02)

In this lab, you will create a Master Data Services model and entities to store a master list of geographic data. The entity and attribute creation will be achieved using the Master Data Services Add-in for Excel.

New Hands On Lab: Exploring SQL Server Denali Data Quality Services

In this lab, you will create a Data Quality Services knowledge base to cleanse US state codes and email addresses. You will then create a Data Quality Project to cleanse data in an Excel workbook. Next, you will update an Integration Services package to use the DQS Cleansing component to cleanse the data as part of an ETL process.

SQL Server 2012 Reporting and Analytics

New Hands On Lab: Developing a SQL Server 2012 Tabular BI Semantic Model with Visual Studio 2010 (SQL11UPD06-HOL-01)

SQL Server 2012 introduces the concept of a BI Semantic Model, which is a common metadata layer used to drive multiple user experiences including scorecards, dashboards and reports. BI Semantic Models can be developed in either Visual Studio or in Excel using the SQL Server 2012 PowerPivot add in. In this lab, you will develop a Tabular BI Semantic Model based on the AdventureWorksDWDenali sample database. Specifically it will allow the sales analysis of the reseller sales against sales quota. You will work with the entire development lifecycle including the creation of the project, the importing of data from both Microsoft SQL Server and a data feed data source, the enhancement of the model, and the definition of measures and a Key Performance Indicator (KPI). Once you have explored and tested the model you will enhance it with perspectives, partitions and a security role. Finally you will deploy the project to a Tabular instance of Analysis Services.

New Hands On Lab: Creating a SQL Server 2012 Tabular BI Semantic Model with PowerPivot (SQL11UPD06-HOL-02)

SQL Server 2012 introduces the concept of a BI Semantic Model, which is a common metadata layer used to drive multiple user experiences including scorecards, dashboards and reports. BI Semantic Models can be developed in either Visual Studio or in Excel using the SQL Server 2012 PowerPivot add in. In this lab, you will create a PowerPivot workbook that will import data from a SQL Server database and an Excel file. The PowerPivot model will then be enriched with calculated columns, hierarchies, a Key Performance Indicator (KPI), and a perspective. The principal goal of this lab is to create a user-friendly interface to the model to support self-service reporting, analytics and monitoring for Excel PivotTables, PerformancePoint Services dashboards and Reporting Services reports. You will explore the PowerPivot Field List interface by producing a PivotTable report. The final report will look like the following.

New Presentation: What's New in SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services (SQL11UPD06-DECK-03)

This presentation provides a high-level overview of SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services improvements including data alerts, improved SharePoint 2010 integration, Power View and SQL Azure Reporting.

New Hands On Lab: Exploring Data Alerts with SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services (SQL11UPD06-HOL-03)

SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services data alerts are a data-driven alerting solution that informs you about changes in report data that are of interest to you, and at a relevant time. In this lab, you will define a data alert to notify you when salespeople do not achieve at least the 1% profitability target.

New Hands On Lab: Optimizing a SQL Server 2012 Tabular BI Semantic Model for Power View (SQL11UPD06-HOL-04)

SQL Server 2012 introduces the concept of a BI Semantic Model, which is a common metadata layer used to drive multiple user experiences including scorecards, dashboards and reports. BI Semantic Models can be developed in either Visual Studio or in Excel using the SQL Server 2012 PowerPivot add in. In this lab, you will optimize a PowerPivot tabular BI Semantic model for Power View. This will involve unhiding columns used in hierarchies, defining reporting properties, and removing explicit measures.

New Hands On Lab: Exploring SQL Server 2012 Power View (SQL11UPD06-HOL-05)

In this lab, you will explore SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services Power View. Power View is a Web browser-based report authoring tool targeted at everyone to enable them to create compelling, interactive and rich data visualizations based on Tabular BI Semantic Models. You will create a report based on a PowerPivot workbook published to a PowerPivot Gallery, and this report will consist of three different, yet related, interactive data exploration experiences. You will explore the model data using the tables, column and bar charts, and an animated scatter chart.

New Hands On Lab: Creating Excel 2010 Reports Based on a SQL Server 2012 Tabular BI Semantic Model (SQL11UPD06-HOL-06)

In this lab, you will create a report in Excel 2010 based on a SQL Server 2012 tabular BI Semantic Model. You will then publish the workbook to SharePoint Server and then explore the report rendered by Excel Services in the Web browser.

New Hands On Lab: Creating a SQL Server Reporting Services Report Based on a SQL Server 2012 Tabular BI Semantic Model (SQL11UPD06-HOL-07)

In this lab, you will author a report in Report Builder 3.0 using the Map Wizard. The map analytic data will be retrieved from the Sales Analysis tabular BI Semantic Model.

New Hands On Lab: Creating a PerformancePoint Services 2010 Dashboard Based on a SQL Server 2012 Tabular BI Semantic Model (SQL11UPD06-HOL-08)

This hands on lab shows how to create a PerformancePoint Services 2010 dashboard based on a SQL Server 2012 Tabular BI Semantic Model.

Introduction to SQL Azure

Presentation: Introduction to SQL Azure (SQL11UPD07-DECK-01)

Provides a high level overview of SQL Azure from a developer perspective.

Presentation: Advanced SQL Azure (SQL11UPD07-DECK-02)

Provides a high level overview of advanced SQL Azure services including SQL Azure Reporting, SQL Azure DataSync and SQL Azure Federations.

Demo: Provisioning Logical Servers using Cmdlets (SQLAzureProvisioningServers)

This demo shows how to provision SQL Azure Logical Servers using the Azure Cmdlets.

Hands On Lab: Migrating Databases to SQL Azure (MigratingDatabasesToSQLAzure)

In this lab, you will use the AdventureWorksLT2008 database and show how to move an existing on-premise database to SQL Azure including: modifying the DDL and moving data via BCP.

Hands On Lab: SQL Azure Data-tier Applications (SQLAzureDAC)

In this lab, you will learn how to use Data-tier Applications to deploy and upgrade SQL Azure databases. Using the SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) you will create new database projects to publish a database schema and upgrade it with new changes.

Hands On Lab: Build Your First Report with SQL Azure Reporting (SQLAzureReportingServices)

This hands-on lab shows how to build a simple report, deploy it to SQL Azure Reporting, and access it from a Windows Azure ASP.NET application.

Hands On Lab: SQL Azure Data Sync (SQLAzureDataSync)

In this lab, you will learn how to synchronize data between SQL Azure and on-premises SQL Server databases, using SQL Azure Data Sync.

Hands On Lab: SQL Azure Federations (SQLAzureFederations)

SQL Azure Federations is an integrated capability of SQL Azure Database that dramatically simplifies database sharding implementations. In this hands-on Lab, you will learn how to create a database with federations and develop applications that interacts with federated tables using both ADO.NET and Entity Framework.

New Lab: SQL Azure Data-tier Applications

SQL Azure Database supports a variety of mechanisms for deploying, versioning and migrating databases. You can use the traditional Transact-SQL script based approach to create your database objects, then populate your data either using scripts, BCP or SQL Server Integration Services. Schema upgrade scripts tend to be either hand coded or generated using additional tools. This approach is well known by SQL Server developers, but can be tedious for developers who are new to SQL Azure, especially when dealing with the complexities associated with database schema versioning.

Microsoft is addressing this complexity with a new framework called the Data-tier Application Framework, or DAC Fx, which makes it much easier to deploy, migrate and version your database schemas for SQL Server and SQL Azure. DAC Fx shipped initially with SQL Server 2008 R2, and support was soon added for SQL Azure. Since then, DAC Fx has evolved significantly and is an important part of the developer and manageability story for SQL Azure. It is being integrated into developer tools like the SQL Server Data Tools, management tools like SQL Server 2012 Management Studio, and as a service accessible from the Windows Azure Management Portal.

Objectives:

In this hands-on lab, you will learn how to:

• Create a new SQL Server project using SQL Server Developer Tools Codename “Juneau” CTP3 (known as SSDT) to target SQL Azure.
• Publish a Data-tier Application to SQL Azure using SSDT.
• Export a .bacpac file into a blob storage container, using the Import/Export Service from the Azure Management Portal.
• Upgrade the exported .bacpac file and update the SQL Azure database.

Updated Lab: Build Your First Report With SQL Azure Reporting

Microsoft SQL Azure Reporting provides a complete, cloud-based platform designed to support a wide variety of reporting needs enabling organizations to deliver relevant information where needed across the entire enterprise. Now developers can deliver highly visual, interactive reports as an integrated part of a Windows Azure-based solution. There’s no need to install your own Reporting Services instance or apply software updates, because SQL Azure Reporting runs as a highly available cloud service. Best of all, SQL Azure Reporting is based on SQL Server Reporting Services, so you can build reports using the same familiar tools that can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud.

Objectives:

In this hands-on lab, you will learn how to:

• Create a SQL Azure data source and data set for a report.
• Add a table to a report.
• Work with report item properties to customize the report appearance.
• Add expressions to calculate values to be display in the report.
• Deploy the report in SQL Azure Report Server.
• Embed the SQL Azure report using the ReportViewer control.

New Lab: SQL Azure Data Sync

The SQL Azure Data Sync is a cloud-based data synchronization service, which provides uni-directional and bi-directional data sync, allowing data to be easily shared between SQL Azure and on-premises SQL Server databases as well as between multiple SQL Azure databases, within the same or different data centers. The SQL Azure Data Sync Previews can be accessed directly from the Windows Azure Management Portal.

In this Lab, you will synchronize two databases, a SQL Azure database against an on-premise SQL Server database, changing the sync settings available in a Sync Group.

Objectives:

In this hands-on lab, you will learn how to:

• Provision a SQL Azure Data Sync Server
• Create a Sync Group Topology with a SQL Azure Database, a SQL Azure Sync Hub and an on-premise SQL Server database.

New Lab: SQL Azure Federations

One of the key value propositions of the Windows Azure Platform is the ability to achieve elastic scale by adapting dynamically to changes in demand. A single SQL Azure Database has limited capacity in terms of size and transactional throughput. To add more capacity you must partition your data across multiple SQL Azure databases. To release capacity, you must consolidate multiple SQL Azure databases into one. This approach is known as database sharding. SQL Azure Federations (currently in CTP) is an integrated capability of SQL Azure Database that dramatically simplifies database sharding implementations.

Objectives:

In this Hands-On Lab, you will learn how to:

• Add federations to a database and spit them into different federation members.
• Query & Perform CRUD operations over federated tables using ADO.NET.
• Query & Perform CRUD operations over federated tables using the ADO.NET Entity Framework.

New Demo: Provisioning SQL Azure Servers using Cmdlets

SQL Azure Database is SQL Server database technology delivered as a service on the Windows Azure Platform, and is ideal for developers targeting Windows Azure who need database functionality as part of their application. Provisioning a new SQL Azure server is fast and easy, and can be done interactively using the Windows Azure Management Portal. You can also automate server provisioning using the Management REST API, or using the Windows Azure Platform Powershell cmdlets. Once your server is provisioned, you can connect to it using standard tools and technologies like ASP.NET, java and PHP. There is no need to install and maintain server hardware, software and storage, or worry about high availability or disaster recovery, these capabilities are all managed for you as part of the service. This means you can focus on building great solutions instead of maintaining infrastructure.

Objectives:

In this demo you will see several key features and tools:

• Windows Azure Command Lets 2.0
• SQL Azure Logical Servers
• Firewall Rules in SQL Azure

We’ll be Tweeting throughout the day and would love to see your Tweets as well!  Please use the following hash tags:

• Database Tweets: use #SQLServer + #DevConnections
• Business Intelligence Tweets: use #MSBI + #DevConnections
  

Keynote (Mandalay Bay E & G, 8:00 AM – 9:15 AM)

Kamal Hathi will deliver the keynote on Tuesday entitled KEY02: Delivering Breakthrough Insight with SQL Server 2012.  Kamal directs the engineering effort for SQL Server Business Intelligence technologies including both on-premise platforms and the cloud.  Attending this keynote session is an excellent way to learn about what’s new and exciting from a BI perspective in SQL Server 2012, including breakthrough technology like Power View.  Be ready for a few surprises!

After the keynote you can choose from twelve different breakout sessions organized into three tracks, and you can connect with the presenters at the Microsoft booth in the Expo Hall.

Developer Track (Mandalay Bay E, 10:15 AM – 04:15 PM)

These sessions are designed for Visual Studio and .NET developers who want to learn about the latest tools and capabilities for building the next generation of database applications for both on-premise environments and the cloud.  Attendees from Visual Studio Connections, ASP.NET Connections, Silverlight Connections, HTML5 Connections and Windows Azure Connections are also encouraged to attend!

• SMS01: Database Development with SQL Server Data Tools
  Presenter: Gert Drapers
  SQL Server Data Tools provides a brand-new developer experience for database developers by bringing familiar Microsoft Visual Studio development paradigms to bear; debug, refactor and maintain your database declaratively. This session introduces you to the new tools and how you can leverage them to build and maintain you SQL Server and SQL Azure database, standalone and inside a team environment.
  
  Connect with Gert in the Expo Hall:
• Tuesday 11/1/11 from 12:30 PM – 3:15 PM.
  
• SMS02: What’s New for Application Developers in SQL Server 2012 & SQL Azure
  Presenter: Tobias Ternstrom
  Come and learn about what is new and cool for application developers in SQL Server 2012 and SQL Azure. There are several interesting additions to T-SQL, this session will focus on what they are, why they were added to the product and how you can benefit from using them. This session will also cover the new Local Database Runtime deployment option for SQL Server Express, powerful new capabilities for managing content as an integrated part of your database application, and improved support for spatial data.
  
  Connect with Tobias in the Expo Hall:
• Tuesday 11/1/11 from 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
  
• SMS03: Leave the 90’s Behind: New ways to Develop, Deploy, Upgrade and Migrate your Database
  Presenter: Shireesh Thota
  Tired of the same old routine of hand-coding scripts to develop, deploy, upgrade, and migrate your databases? Come see the next-generation of management tools and services that work together through the Data-Tier Application Framework (DAC Fx) to help reduce the amount of time you spend provisioning your on-premise and SQL Azure databases.
  
  Connect with Shireesh in the Expo Hall:
• Wednesday 11/2/11 from 09:00 AM – 11:30 AM
  
• SMS04: StreamInsight - Adding a Real-Time Tool to Your Belt
  Presenter: Isaac Kunen
  There is a growing need for real-time analytics in a wide array of scenarios, including monitoring, fraud detection, logistics, clickstream analysis, and many others. While traditional tools like relational databases are extraordinarily effective at storing and querying data, they have their limitations: data have to hit disk before they are analyzed; streaming, continuously changing data are hard to deal with; and time-series queries are notoriously difficult to express in SQL. StreamInsight gives you a new tool, combining powerful temporal semantics with the ability to handle high volumes of real-time streaming data. This session will explore and demonstrate StreamInsight, and show how it can be integrated into CLR applications to provide real-time analytic processing.
  
  Connect with Isaac in the Expo Hall:
• Wednesday 11/2/11 from 09:00 AM – 11:30 AM
  

BI Track (Mandalay Bay D, 10:15 AM – 04:15 PM)

These sessions are designed for developers and IT Professionals alike who want to learn about the latest tools and capabilities for building the next generation of business intelligence solutions for both on-premise environments and the cloud.  This track will also cover all the latest details about integration between SQL Server 2012 BI and SharePoint.  Attendees from SharePoint Connections, Exchange Connections and Unified Communications Connections are also encouraged to attend!

• SMS05: Deep Dive into the new features of PowerPivot in SQL Server 2012
  Presenter: Julie Strauss
  A deep dive into the PowerPivot for Excel covering the new features that we are introducing with the release of SQL Server 2012. Capabilities that will be demonstrated include many of the new modeling features that will also be available for Professionals working with the new Tabular Project type in BI Development Studio, including the new measure grid, hierarchies, perspectives, KPIs and diagram view just to name a few.
  
  Connect with Julie in the Expo Hall:
• Tuesday 11/1/11 from 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
  
• SMS06: What's New in SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services
  Presenter: Roger Doherty
  We will cover all the new capabilities of SSRS including PowerView, the new ad-hoc self-service reporting technology, self-service alerting, setup and integration with SharePoint, and SQL Azure Reporting.
  
  Connect with Roger in the Expo Hall:
• Tuesday 11/1/11 from 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
• Wednesday 11/2/11 from 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
  
• SMS07: Building the Perfect Analysis Services Tabular Model for Power View
  Presenter: Julie Strauss
  In this session we’ll focus on the new Analysis Services Tabular project type that will available in the BI Development Studio (BIDS) with SQL Server 2012. We’ll cover features like security and partitioning as well as talk about how you can create the right models for users to create their own insights using Power View, the new Self-Service reporting technology as part of SQL Server 2012.
  
  Connect with Julie in the Expo Hall:
• Tuesday 11/1/11 from 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
  
• SMS08: Introducing SQL Server 2012 Data Quality Services
  Presenter: Gadi Peleg
  In this session we’ll introduce you to an exciting new set of tools and services to be introduced wit SQL Server 2012 called Data Quality Services. DQS helps organizations improve data quality using a knowledge base. After you build the knowledge base, you can continuously improve it, and then reuse it in multiple data-quality improvement processes. DQS makes complex data scrubbing tasks like cleansing, de-duplication, and validation using cloud-based reference data a snap.
  
  Connect with Gadi in the Expo Hall:
• Tuesday 11/1/11 from 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
  

DBA Track (Mandalay Bay C, 10:15 AM – 04:15 PM)

These sessions are designed for database administrators and IT Professionals who want to understand what’s coming in SQL Server 2012. Attendees from Windows Connections are also encouraged to attend!

• SMS09: SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Solution Overview
  Presenter: Santosh Balasubramanian
  In this session we will talk about the new high availability solution that is being introduced in SQL Server 2012. The session provides an overview of AlwaysOn and explains how you can build a high availability solution using the new features and capabilities. In this session you will learn about how to deploy an AlwaysOn solution, how to utilize your secondary hardware for better return of investment and how the new solution simplifies deployment, management of high availability in your environment. The session will also describe how to manage application connectivity of your primary OLTP applications and reporting applications in an AlwaysOn environment.
  
  Connect with Santosh in the Expo Hall:
• Tuesday 11/1/11 from 12:30 PM – 3:15 PM
• Thursday 11/3/11 from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
  
• SMS11: SQL Server 2012 Integration Services Overview
  Presenters: David Noor and Andy Conrad
  In this session we’ll cover all the cool new improvements coming in the next release of Integration Services including the enhanced Developer Experience, the Project & Parameter model, and the new Server based deployment features. We will also cover project “Barcelona” which is designed to help developers and DBA’s alike perform impact analysis of schema changes across an enterprise data topology.
  
  Connect with David or Andy in the Expo Hall:
• David: Tuesday 11/1/11 from 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
• Andy: Wednesday 11/2/11 from 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
• Andy: Thursday 11/3/11 from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
  
• SMS10: SQL Server 2012 Database Engine Improvements for the DBA
  Presenter: Lubor Kollar
  The next release of SQL Server is coming and it is chocked full of enough cool improvements to make even the most skeptical DBA giggle with excitement. This session will provide a survey of a few of the top improvements including support for new ColumnStore indexing technology, more online operations, support for 15k partitions, enhanced full-text search and breakthrough new statistical semantic search technology.
  
  Connect with Lubor in the Expo Hall:
• Tuesday 11/1/11 from 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
  
• SMS12: Upgrading to SQL Server 2012
  Presenter: Joe Yong
  This session will show you all the caveats, tricks and tips and guidance on how to perform successful database upgrades to SQL Server 2012. By the end of this session you’ll understand the key steps involved in the upgrade process. You will learn how to assess upgrade issues, and find resolutions to accomplish a successful upgrade.
  
  Connect with Joe in the Expo Hall:
• Tuesday 11/1/11 from 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM

mysemanticsearch.codeplex.com

MySemanticSearch allows a user to upload Word documents into a SQL Server 2012 table, then visualize the semantic content of the documents in it using tag clouds that are automatically built by semantic search. The user can then find similar documents by comparing their tag clouds.

As seen in Quentin Clark’s Day 2 Keynote at PASS Summit 2011, this simple but elegant content management application shows off the power of several key improvements in SQL Server 2012 including:

• Database blob storage (FILESTREAM)
• Database blob storage file sharing (FileTables)
• Full-text search
• Semantic search

Go ahead and give it a try!  Post your feedback and comments on CodePlex.