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29 May 2007
Reducing Database Size by Using Vardecimal Storage Format
In addition to the improvements to the management tools in Service Pack 2 that I've outlined on this blog, the engine team has introduced the VarDecimal storage format. They have just published a whitepaper on how to reduce your database size. Check it Read More...
28 March 2007
SQL Connections 2007 (Orlando, FL) -- Follow-up
After one heck of a trip to Orlando, FL for SQL Connections, I'm back in Redmond. Here is a quick re-cap of my sessions and links to session content... Read More...
20 March 2007
SQL Server Manageability Webcast - SP2 Improvements - Resources
Thank you to those who attended today's webcast. As promised, here are links to the resources associated with the demos. Downloads: SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/sp2.mspx SQL Server 2005 Feature Pack (February 2007): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=50b97994-8453-4998-8226-fa42ec403d17&displaylang=en Read More...
12 March 2007
SQL Server Manageability Webcast - SP2 Improvements
I'll be giving a webcast in one week on the manageability improvements introduced in SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2. Feel free to post questions/comments to this blog that you'd like me to address during the webcast. ... Read More...
07 March 2007
SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard Reports -- Now Available!
Have you ever noticed one of your SQL Server instances running unusually slowly? Have you had difficulty quickly identifying what areas could be affecting its performance? One of our customer support Escalation Engineers, Keith Elmore, specializes in understanding these types of problems. He has worked with customers all over the world on diagnosing their toughest and most critical performance bottlenecks. Keith has put together a set of Reporting Services reports ... Read More...
24 February 2007
Maintenance Plan Changes in SQL Server 2005 SP2
Users of SQL Server 2005 maintenance plans should be aware of a change in SP2 that affects existing cleanup tasks until updated using SQL Server SP2 tools. ... Read More...
12 January 2007
SP2/BPA Frequently Asked Questions
I have been getting a lot of questions and hearing a lot of speculation about SP2 and BPA. Let me address some of the most common questions. SP2 When will SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 be available? I see there are a lot of great features in the December CTP of SP2. I can’t upgrade my DB engine, yet. Can I upgrade only the tools on my client workstation? Will this still work with SQL Server 2005 RTM and SP1? When will SQL Server 2005 Best Practices Analyzer be available? BPA What are some of the new features in SQL Server 2005 Best Practices Analyzer? Will we be able to create our own rules? Who is the target audience for SQL Server 2005 Best Practices Analyzer? We used SQL Server 2000 Best Practices Analyzer 1.0 to check our T-SQL code. It is very useful in our development process. Why are you getting rid of it? Read More...
19 December 2006
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 - December CTP
Before I go on vacation, I'd like to send a quick thank you to the community for giving us their thoughts on the November CTP of SP2. There were many thousands of downloads and a lot of people have started posting their suggestions and bug reports on Microsoft Connect. I'd like to call out a few MVPs for their reviews/feedback on the features in my area... Read More...
20 November 2006
SQL Server 2005 - Service Pack 2 - Web Chat
Whenever something you use every day changes, it's not always easy to put down what you're doing, find out what changes and determine if it's right for you/your team. For some environments, it will take a great amount of effort to investigate and adopt Read More...
20 November 2006
Custom Reports in Management Studio
One of the improvement areas we've introduced in Service Pack 2 is the ability to run your own reports inside Management Studio. See below for a draft of the Books Online topics. This is subject to change at any time. Paul A. Mestemaker II Program Manager Microsoft SQL Server Manageability Read More...
07 November 2006
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 - November CTP
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 - November CTP is available for download. For more information please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/ctp.mspx . Over the next few weeks, we will be posting blogs on some of the improvements the SQL Server Manageability Read More...
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