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 ...

I see this question a lot: ''I have a SQL Server 2008 R2 database.  Can I attach it to a SQL Server 2008 SP2 instance?'' Part of this stems from the confusion over exactly what 2008 R2 is in the first place.  It is not a service pack to SQL Server 2008; it is its own, full-fledged version.  A lot of people don't fully realize this ...