Dear Customers,

 

The Microsoft SQL Server Sustained Engineering team is pleased to announce the availability of SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 CTP. Both the Service Pack and Feature Pack updates are available for download on the Microsoft Download Center.  Service Pack 1 for SQL Server 2008 R2 includes product improvements based on requests from the SQL Server community, and hotfix solutions provided in SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM Cumulative Update 1 to 6.

Key improvements in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 are:

  • Dynamic Management Views For Increased Supportability
    sys.dm_exec_query_stats DMV is extended with additional columns to improve supportabilities over troubleshooting long-running queries. New DMVs and XEvents on select performance counters are introduced to monitor OS configurations and resource conditions related to the SQL Server instance.

  • ForceSeek For Improved Querying Performance
    Syntax for FORCESEEK index hint has been modified to take optional parameters allowing it to control the access method on the index even further. Using old style syntax for FORCESEEK remains unmodified and works as before. In addition to that, a new query hint, FORCESCAN has been added. It complements the FORCESEEK hint allowing specifying ‘scan’ as the access method to the index.  No changes to applications are necessary if you do not plan to use this new functionality.

    For additional details please review the readme documentation.

  • Data-tier Application Component Framework (DAC Fx) For Improved Database Upgrade
    The new Data-tier Application (DAC) Framework v1.1 and DAC upgrade wizard enable the new in-place upgrade service for database schema management.  The new in-place upgrade service will upgrade the schema for an existing database in SQL Azure and the versions of SQL Server supported by DAC.  A DAC is an entity that contains all of the database objects and instance objects used by an application. A DAC provides a single unit for authoring, deploying, and managing the data-tier objects. For more information, see Designing and Implementing Data-tier Applications.

  • Disk SpaceControl For PowerPivot
    This update introduces two new configuration settings that let you determine how long cached data stays in the system. In the new Disk Cache section on the Power Pivot configuration page, you can specify how long an inactive database remains in memory before it is unloaded. You can also limit how long a cached file is kept on disk before it is deleted.

To download the SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 release please select from the links below:

Thanks to all the customers for their continuous support and feedback.

 

Abhishek Sinha
Program Manager
SQL Server Sustained Engineering

 

 Related Downloads & Documents: