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 ...

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 ...

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 CTP3Quick summary: We see a bunch of new aggregates for use with ...

This week, after seeing a lot of the DMV enhancements made in SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1, I thought I would take a look at some dynamic management view/function requests. Page split personality Michael Zilberstein blogged on Monday about how Extended Events and the transaction log differ in the way they report page split information, and that it ...

At SQL Bits I presented my ''What's New in Denali?'' deck in two different sessions - once on Friday to about 120 people, and once on Saturday to about 80 people. You can download the deck and samples below.  

I will be delivering my Deep Dives 2 draft on time.  

This afternoon (well, evening to them) I presented my ''What's New in Denali'' deck remotely for the Kent, England SQL Server & .NET User Group. The link for the event is here and you can download the deck and samples below.  

Today I was in Chicago for SQL Saturday #67 to present my ''What's New in SQL Server Denali'' deck. You can download the deck and samples below. I mentioned during the talk that THROW is another command added to the list that require the previous statement to be terminated with a semi-colon. Here is the blog post I referenced that talked more ...

Recently I was asked by John Sterrett (blog | twitter) to present to his SQL Server user group (WVPASS) in Wheeling, West Virginia. Well, today is the day, and I will be presenting, ''What's new in SQL Server Denali'' at tonight's meeting, sponsored by SQL Sentry. The slide deck is attached below; the samples are available here. If you attended ...

At the end of my Denali presentation at SQL Saturday #65 in Vancouver, a member of the audience asked, ''What makes a columnstore index different from a regular nonclustered index?'' At the end of a busy day, I was at a loss for an answer, and I'll explain why. First, I'll briefly explain the basic, core, high-level functionality of a columnstore ...