Community Technology Preview of Microsoft SQL 2008 R2 is available for download

The latest Community Technology Preview (CTP) for SQL Server 2008 R2 available to the general public today. The new capabilities in the latest CTP include support for Windows Server 2008 R2 – including Hyper-V with Live Migration – as well as enhanced data compression with support for Unicode UCS-2. Also included are new visualization features and a Report Part Gallery to Report Builder 3.0.



SQL Server 2008 R2 includes enhancements designed to help administrators centrally monitor and manage multiple database applications, instances or servers. In addition, it has enabled high-scale complex event-stream processing through SQL Server StreamInsight, and expanded business intelligence capabilities with SQL Server PowerPivot for Excel.



At the PASS Summit last week in Seattle, Microsoft announced two new premium editions – SQL Server 2008 R2 Datacenter and SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse – these will be available once SQL Server 2008 R2 is released. SQL Server 2008 R2 is on track for general availability in the first half of 2010.



The Community Technology Preview of Microsoft SQL 2008 R2 is available for download here:

SQL Server 2008 SP1 Step by Step installation process

SQL Server 2008 SP1 was released on 4 Apr 09 and it is available for download here . I have downloaded SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x86-ENU.exe
since I have 32 bit version of SQL Server Evaluation Edition. Download the required edition as per the SQL Server 64/32 bit or OS what you have.

If you have SQL Server RTM Edition 32 bit you will have built Number as Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (RTM) - 10.0.1600.22 (Intel X86).

After installation of SP1 the build number (as on 22 May 2009) will be
Server 2008 (RTM) - 10.00.2531.00 (Intel X86).

Installation process are as follows

Step 1 : Download SP1

Step 2 : Install the SP1. Double click on the downloaded file

Screen 1


Screen 2



Screen 3




Screen 4




Screen 5


Screen 6


Screen 7


Screen 8


Screen 9



Summary :

There is nothing complex in this installation. After the installation you need to restart the computer to affect the installation

Tech Ed India 2009

Tech Ed India 2009 at Hyderabad brings to you the best of the IT Pro technologies in-depth coverage! Check here

SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 - CTP Released

SQL Server 2008 SP 1 CTP

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Report Builder 2.0 Released

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Report Builder 2.0 provides an intuitive report authoring environment for business and power users. It supports the full capabilities of SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services. The download provides a stand-alone installer for Report Builder 2.0

Download from Here

Cumulative update package 1 for SQL Server 2008 Released

Cumulative Update 1 contains hotfixes for the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 issues that have been fixed since the release of SQL Server 2008.

Import /Export Wizard in SQL Server Express 2008

Finally Microsoft has decided to include Import/Export wizard in SQL Server 2008 Express edition due to the consistant demand of this tool

Step by Step Installation of SQL Server 2008

SQL Server 2008 is the new member in Microsoft Database Server family and the installation process as usual is simple and straight forward. This version has many features that can be configured during the initial installation. The screens are little different from earlier versions. Without any doubt, the installation process in 2008 is more centralized and has more clarity. I am demonstrating a simple stand alone installation of SQL Server 2008 in this article.

You may also refer SQL Server 2008 Books Online here

I am not intended copy paste the system requirements and all other basics here because those information is already available in Microsoft Sites. It better to refer those because it is subject to change.
Planning SQL Server 2008 Installation
System Requirement

Pre-Requisite

• Referred the above mentioned sites and ensured that your system meet all the requirements
• You have planned your Instance name if it is a named Instance
• You have planned all the Data Directory. Ie. Where to keep System Databases, TempDB, and User Databases.(if not you can go by Default but it is not generally recommended).
• You have planned Startup Account for all the services. (if not you can go by Default but it is not generally recommended.)
• You have a list of features that you wants to install. Like if you are not going to use Filestream no need to configure that during installation

My System Configuration

• Operating System : Windows XP
• Existing SQL Server Instance
o Default Instance : SQL Server 2005 SP 2
o Named Instance 1: SQL Server 2000 SP 4
o Named Instance 2 : SQL Server 2005 Express SP2
• .Net Framework : 1.0

Step 1 : Insert the DVD

The system will automatically detect the system configuration and it install the .NetFramework and Windows Installer 4.5 if required.

My installation Screen is as follows :-








Step 2 : System has installed .NetFramework 3.5 and rebooted the system. Next step is to install SQL Server 2008.

In "SQL Server Installation Center" , navigate to "Installation" -- >> click "New Installation or Add Features to an Existing Installation."

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In the Instance Configuration Screen you need to select the instance type (default /named) and other instance related setting. The one new thing in SQL Server 2008 is InstanceID.
Instance Configuration

Instance ID - By default, the instance name is used as the Instance ID. This is used to identify installation directories and registry keys for your instance of SQL Server. This is the case for default instances and named instances. For a default instance, the instance name and instance ID would be MSSQLSERVER. To use a non-default instance ID, specify it in the Instance ID field.

























Note :
SQL Server Management Studio Exe name in SQL Server 2008 SSMS.exe where as in SQL Server 2005 it was sqlwb. Ie. To open Management Studio in 2008 -- Start -->> Run -->> SSMS

Summary

I deliberately installed SQL Server 2000 and 2005 in the same system before installing 2008 to ensure that all version can co-exists. The installation process of SQL Server 2008 is comprehensive and simplified than earlier versions. And it is understandable that, as the features grow the installation process also gets lengthy.

SQL Server 2008 Sample Databases Download

Download SQL Server 2008 Sample OLTP , OLAP Databases from Here

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Released

Finally Microsoft SQL Server 2008 RTM version is released today. It was suppose to release with Windows 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 but somehow did not. There are seven editions in SQL Server 2008.

In a press release, Microsoft cited several large enterprise customers who are testing SQL Server 2008, including Xerox, Siemens, Clear Channel Communications and Fidelity Investments.