This is something that is totally overlooked, in my experience, with SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2012. On the contrary to what happens with SQL Server 2008, the Standard version of SQL Server 2008R2 & SQL Server 2012 supports backup compression: SQL Server 2008 R2 BOL ...

One very useful usage of Extended Events is the ability to trap SQL Server error without the need to have a server trace running (which, btw, is deprecated), with the additional feature of being able to query the data as soon as it comes in. This means that we a solution to monitor and trap errors as soon as they happen can be easily created, in ...

If you’re using MDS and DQS with the Excel Integration you may get an error when trying to use the “Match Data” feature that uses DQS in order to help to identify duplicate data in your data set. The error is quite obscure and you have to enable WCF error reporting in order to have the error details and you’ll discover that they are related to ...

SQL Server 2012 is available for download! http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/default.aspx The Evaluation version is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29066 and along with the SQL Server 2012 RTM there’s also the Feature Pack available: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29065 The ...

Today I had to schedule a package stored in the shiny new SSIS Catalog store that can be enabled with SQL Server 2012. (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh479588(v=SQL.110).aspx) Once your packages are stored here, they will be executed using the new stored procedures created for this purpose. This is the script that will get executed if ...

One of the major criticism to DAX is the lack of a decent editor and more in general of a dedicated IDE, like the one we have for T-SQL or MDX. Well, this is no more true. On Codeplex a very interesting an promising Visual Studio 2010 extension has been released by the beginning of November 2011: http://daxeditor.codeplex.com/ Intellisense, ...