SQL Server 2012

News

Release candidate 0 is now available for download (HT: Mark Riffey). 

Also via Mark, here's the whitepaper on the changes in 2012. Features discussed include:

  • Availability Groups provides an integrated set of options including automatic and manual failover of a group of databases, support for up to four secondaries, fast application failover and automatic page repair
  • Failover cluster instances
  • Active secondary instances
  • Multi-subnet failover
  • Reduced patching downtime when run on Windows Server Core which is a low-maintenance bare-bones server install. 
  • High availability for StreamInsight. 
  • Performance improvements, including an in-memory column store, better full text search, up to 15000 partitions.
  • Auditing is improved, authentication has been enhanced with user databases. 
  • Project Crescent "makes self-service reporting a reality by providing a highly interactive, web-based data exploration, visualization, and presentation experience to users of all levels—from business executives to information workers."
  • PowerPivot enhancements
  • Semantic search
  • Managed self-service business intelligence
  • Better SharePoint integration
  • Improved data quality management tools
  • Better integration across on-premise and cloud environments (Azure)
  • SQL Server Express Local Database Runtime (LocalDB) - this appears to be an embeddable SQL server.