Search results matching tags 'SQL Server 2012' and 'SQL Server 11'

SQL Server 2012 : The "Launch Date" is not what you think it is

AaronBertrand — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:58:00 GMT

I see a lot of people getting really excited. There is a "virtual launch event" for SQL Server 2012 being held on March 7, 2012. You can read more about the event at http://sqlserverlaunch.com/.

Let me throw out a dose of reality: if you are not on a TAP or otherwise going live with a private build or release candidate, you will not be installing and deploying SQL Server 2012 on March 7th. I promise. This date will not mark a release, go-live, or general availability. These launch events are marketing-centric sessions to get you excited about the product. Will you be able to download Express editions from the Microsoft web site, and other SKUs from MSDN or your volume licensing portal, shortly after that? Sure. The next day? Almost certainly not. I actually don't remember the lag between the launch event (we'll call it a soft launch) and the RTM availability for previous releases, so I'm not going to throw out any conjecture there. But from all previous launch events by Microsoft, across various product lines, the CD/DVD/download has never been available at the same time as the event. Let's not forget that this virtual launch event is not the only "launch event" in March - later in the month, both SQL Connections and SQL Bits are also serving as launch events. Launch and release are similar words, but not identical.

Just wanted to keep it real, and prevent people from getting too excited or planning deployments around this launch event. It is just a marketing event, folks. Worth attending, no doubt, but you won't get magic golden tickets with a download code on that day.

PS If I end up being wrong, I'll just delete this post. :-)

SQL Server 2012 : A couple of notes about installing RC0

AaronBertrand — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:44:00 GMT

If you're going to install Distributed Replay Controller

I've posted about this on twitter a few times, but I thought I should put it down somewhere permanent as well. When you install RC0, and have selected the Distributed Replay Controller, you should be very careful about choosing the "Add Current User" button on the following dialog (I felt compelled to embellish with the skull and crossbones):

In the case where you're installing in a simple workstation or VM that is *not* in a domain, if you click this button (it may also happen for the Add... button), you may experience a little delay in setup, then a non-responding dialog, and then setup will crash with the following error:

For searchability:

SQL Server Setup has encountered the following error:
There was a failure to validate setting CTLRUSERS in validaton function ValidateUsers.
Error code 0x85640004.

This is because the dialog is hard-wired to use Active Directory, since DRU requires domain users (for more info see this MSDN page). And if you are really interested in the DRU feature set, you should check out a blog-series-in-the-making by Jonathan Kehayias (@SQLPoolBoy).

When you click OK, you will not pass GO, you will not collect $200, you will simply get to start setup over. Setup tries to continue, but eventually you will get the "SQL Server 2012 RC0 Setup has stopped working..." dialog, and you will be returned to the Installation Center.

I've filed a bug about this issue on Connect (#705158). So with any luck, they'll figure out this issue quickly and maybe, by the time you install the release candidate, the updated setup files will be waiting for you (since Setup now has the ability to update itself at runtime). My advice in the meantime is to install the DRU components, but do not configure user accounts using setup. Instead, configure them after the fact as explained in Modify the Controller and Client Services Accounts on MSDN.

If you're using SharePoint 2010

You will need to install SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 first. However you will need to re-create any PowerView reports that were generated using CTP3.

If you're upgrading from CTP3

Depending on the components you've selected, you may be asked at some point during setup to produce the Visual Studio 2010 DVD. The problem is that if you switch your mounted DVD from the RC0 ISO to the Visual Studio ISO, when setup resumes it will complain about various things and ultimately the engine and other important components will fail to install.

So, you'll want to mount both the Visual Studio 2010 ISO / DVD and the RC0 ISO / DVD as separate drive letters in order to prevent setup from getting confused. This may be challenging on a VM, which can typically only be exposed to a single DVD drive from the host, unless you install ISO mounting software inside the VM. I use SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive.

If you're using a burned DVD or mounted ISO

This is a very minor annoyance, but after setup if you un-mount the ISO or remove the DVD, and forget to close the Installation Center first, you won't be able to close the dialog without using Task Manager. If you try to close it you get a dialog that keeps popping up no matter which of its options you choose:

The tasks you want to kill in Task Manager are dw20.exe and LandingPage.exe. It may take several attempts to kill all of the dialogs that have been spawned. It should come as no great shock that I've complained about this one on Connect as well (#706586).

In general

Setup has a few new prerequisites in RC0 that weren't there in CTP3. You should make sure that you're completely current on Windows Updates, including Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1. And if you have any Visual Studio 2010 components on the box already, please install Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 *before* installing RC0.

SQL Server 2012 : Changes to system objects in RC0

AaronBertrand — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:07:00 GMT

As with every new major milestone, one of the first things I do is check out what has changed under the covers. Since RC0 was released yesterday, I've been poking around at some of the DMV and other system changes. Here is what I have noticed:

New objects in RC0 that weren't in CTP3

Quick summary:

We see a bunch of new aggregates for use with geography and geometry. I've stayed away from that area of programming so I'm not going to dig into them.
There is a new extended procedure called sp_showmemo_xml. The name could send me all over the place guessing whether it has something to do with Access, straight XML handling, or something else. This one doesn't seem to be documented in Books Online so, for now, I'm going to leave it alone.
The undocumented stored procedure sp_MSgetversion has returned. I observed previously that this procedure had been dropped, and brushed it aside - being undocumented and unsupported, it shouldn't be all that prevalent. Who knew that Microsoft's own replication code relied on it?
There are some new AlwaysOn DMVs and a validation stored procedure.
There is a new DMV and catalog view around Resource Governor, reflecting one of the changes I outlined last month.
By far the most interesting to me are the extended stored procedures around parallel nested transactions. Thus far these are undocumented and I would not be shocked if they remain so for the time being. I would hazard a guess as to what these are for but I don't want to sound like a fortune teller so, again, I'll leave them alone - for now.

New columns in existing DMVs

Some relatively self-explanatory new columns for the AlwaysOn and Resource Governor DMVs:

Columns that have changed definition

Several DMV columns have been expanded in size, except in the case of one, which was made smaller. These are all NVARCHAR columns:

Modules that have been modified

It's impossible to tell which modules have been modified since the previous CTP, since all but a few system and internal objects get a new create_date when a new build is produced. But at least for objects represented in sys.sql_modules, we can obtain a list of objects where the size of the definition has changed, meaning there may be some meaningful changes we want to investigate further. I definitely spot a few that I am going to check out more thoroughly:

Hope this information is useful. Let me know if you spot any under-the-cover changes I haven't noticed.