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SQL Server 2008 Major Updates

Posted by Al Tenhundfeld on Apr 20, 2009

Sections: Enterprise Architecture,; Operations & Infrastructure,; Architecture & Design,; Development
Topics: SQL Server 2008 ,; SQL Server ,; .NET ,; Relational Databases ,; Microsoft ,; Database Design ,; Microsoft Office ,; Programming ,; Data Warehousing ,; Companies ,; Database ,; Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 ,; SQL Server Express

Microsoft has released numerous updates for SQL Server 2008: Service Pack 1, Express Edition SP1, April Feature Pack, 2008 Upgrade Advisor, Reporting Services Report Builder 2.0, Reporting Services SharePoint Add-In, Data Mining Add-In for MS Office.

SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 includes the following updates (release notes):

Roll-up of Cumulative Update 1 to 3
Quick Fix Engineering (QFE) updates
Slipstream – You are now able to integrate the base installation with service packs (or Hotfixes) and install in a single step.
Service Pack Uninstall – You are now able to uninstall only the Service Pack (without removing the whole instance)
Report Builder 2.0 Click Once capability

SQL Server 2008 Express Edition SP1 is a similar update for the free edition of SQL Server.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack, April 2009 is a "collection of stand-alone install packages that provide additional value for SQL Server 2008." Visit the download page for full details; the feature pack contains many useful utilities, including:

Microsoft ADOMD.NET
Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0
2008 Management Objects
PowerShell Extensions for SQL Server
2008 Replication Management Objects
Sync Framework
Remote Blob Store

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Advisor, April 2009 analyzes instances of SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005 to help prepare servers for upgrades to SQL Server 2008.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Report Builder 2.0, April 2009 offers a report authoring environment similar to MS Office 2007. There is a lot in this tool; if a system currently has users creating reports in Access or Excel, the new Report Builder is definitely worth reviewing. This new 2.0 version is focused on simplying the process of creating and editing reports.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies, April 2009 facilitates leveraging SQL Server 2008 report processing and management capabilities within Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. The Add-In includes a report view web part that provides report viewing capability, export to other rendering formats, page navigation, search, print, and zoom. The Add-In also includes support for creating SRS subscriptions and standard WSS managements of SRS report server content types.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Data Mining Add-ins for Microsoft Office 2007, April 2009 exposes more of SQL Server 2008 predictive analytics to Office Excel 2007 and Office Visio 2007.