In this post, we will explore just some of the new features under each theme to give a feel for the capabilities of the upcoming release. Other features and a pre-release version of the software are available on the Microsoft web site.
Two common Data Warehouse designs are identified as a “Star Schema” and a “Snowflake Schema”. When we discuss the differences and individual preferences, usually the gloves come off, and DBA’s duke it out. It becomes a religious argument with plenty of passion and zeal. Let’s take a look at why…
As an instructor, I use virtualization as an educational tool. Virtual machines are perfect for training in that a student can experiment knowing that any mistakes can be quickly discarded for another try — the perfect safe environment far away from production systems. Now many production servers are becoming virtual machines providing flexibility, failover, and efficient utilization. Microsoft’s Hyper-V hypervisor claims a “live migration” feature allowing a production VM to switch to new hardware without stopping the service. That’s new in Windows Server 2008 R2. VMWare is still market leader, but watch out for Microsoft!
In a previous blog entry I discussed the concept of the Slowly Changing Dimension, or SCD. A good example is how to handle the analysis of Sales by Customer Region when a customer moves from one Region to another. The way to solve this situation is with a Type 2 SCD design. Let’s take a look…
An important subject left out in many Business Intelligence training courses is the Slowly Changing Dimension, or SCD. When I teach BI classes, I make a point of covering the topic, and it probably gets students more excited about BI than any other topic. And believe me, that’s easier said than done. “Excited” and “Business […]
I’m testing out a new Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Tablet. I wanted the iPad’s ease of use, but I also wanted a powerful laptop that runs my business software too. I don’t think Microsoft SQL Server tools run on an iPad – yet. There’s always the WinAdmin iPad Edition for running Windows RDP but that’s clearly cheating – way too simple. No, I want a convertible.
When building a Data Warehouse, we have to go through a “Data Discovery” phase where the requirements of the Business Intelligence solution are mapped to the actual operational systems so that we can extract transform and load (ETL) the data into the Data Warehouse. This is a significant effort, especially if you have multiple application […]
Most of my test servers are still 32-bit machines. It’s not until recently that I have started to use 64-bit machines for testing. The big reason for the 64-bit platform is better performance for large databases given that you can allocate up to 2TB of memory on these monster machines. Database servers love extra physical […]
I have been testing out some interesting items that were mentioned in sessions at the PASS Summit in Seattle last month. One of these was the concept of Instant File Initialization (IFI) for large database files. Even though this feature has been around since Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2005, I decided to include […]
In the spirit of the season, I started thinking about those features that Microsoft charges top-dollar for with SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition that really should be included in the other editions. Well, now I know Bill Gates does not read my blog because only two of the items have been moved off the list. […]
