SQL Server 2008 “Katmai” in more depth

Article
07/26/2007

SQL Server 2008 “Katmai”

The next version of SQL Server codenamed “Katmai” was announced at the first Microsoft Business Intelligence conference in May 2007. SQL Server 2008 will provide a more secure, scalable, reliable and manageable platform for mission critical applications. Developer productivity will take a leap forward allowing storing and consuming of any data type on any device allowing users to make informed decisions with relevant insights. The next version of SQL Server will be launched in the same time frame as Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. Currently available as a Community Technology Preview.

SQL Server 2008 is a complete end-to-end solution that meets the next generation application challenges by delivering innovations in four key areas that support data platform vision:

Mission Critical Platform

SQL Server 2008 provides a more secure, scalable, manageable platform for the most demanding mission critical applications. SQL Server 2008 introduces an innovative policy-based management framework that enables policies to be defined for explicit and automated administration of server entities across one or multiple servers. In addition, SQL Server 2008 delivers predictable query performance with an optimized platform.

SQL Server 2008 introduces the Declarative Management Framework, which is a new policy-based management framework for the SQL Server Database Engine. Declarative Management delivers the following benefits:

· Ensures compliance with policies for system configuration

· Monitors and prevents changes to the system by authoring policies against the configuration

· Reduces total cost of ownership by simplifying administration tasks

· Detects compliance issues in SQL Server Management Studio

Dynamic Development

The ADO.NET Entity Framework enables developers to be more productive by working with logical data entities that align with business requirements instead of programming directly with tables and columns. The new Language Integrated Query (LINQ) extensions in the .NET Framework revolutionizes how developers query data by extending Visual C#® and Visual Basic® .NET to support an SQL-like query syntax natively. And support for occasionally connected systems lets developers build applications that enables users to take data with them on devices and later synchronize their data with central servers.

Language Integrated Query (LINQ) enables developers to issue queries against data by using a managed programming language such as C# or Visual Basic.NET, instead of SQL statements. LINQ enables seamless, strongly typed, set-oriented queries written in .NET Framework languages to run against ADO.NET (LINQ to SQL), ADO.NET DataSets (LINQ to DataSets), the ADO.NET Entity Framework (LINQ to Entities), and to the Entity Data Service Mapping Provider. SQL Server 2008 features a new LINQ to SQL Provider that enables developers to use LINQ directly on SQL Server 2008 tables and columns.

Beyond Relational

SQL Server 2008 enables developers to work with a rich set of data types from traditional to the new geospatial support allowing the next generation of database applications to feature location awareness support.

SQL Server 2008 includes a new vector-based spatial solution that conforms to industry spatial standards. This enables developers to build location-aware applications that capture geographical information from within the organization and allows this data to be integrated easily into applications.

SQL Server 2008 enables users to capture location data from across the organization and integrate location intelligence into existing applications creating location-aware applications.

Pervasive Business Insight

SQL Server 2008 extends the Business Intelligence platform to provide a more scalable infrastructure for reporting and analyzing data. New controls for graphing and charting will be included in the SQL Server 2008 platform allowing seamless integration with Microsoft Office.

SQL Server 2008 drives broader analysis with enhanced analytical capabilities and with more complex computations and aggregations. New cube design tools help users streamline the development of the analysis infrastructure, enabling them to build solutions for optimized performance.

Block computations provide a significant improvement in processing performance, enabling users to increase the depth of their hierarchies and complexity of the computations.

New MOLAP-enabled writeback capabilities in SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services remove the need to query ROLAP partitions.

Report Builder enhancements easily build ad-hoc and author reports with any structure through Report Designer.