SQL 2012 brings us a bunch of new analytic functions, together with enhancements to the OVER clause. People who have known me over the years will remember that I’m a big fan of the OVER clause and the types of things that it brings us when applied to aggregate functions, as well as the ranking functions that it enables. The OVER clause was ...

April is here, and this weekend, SQL v11.0 (previous known as Denali, now known as SQL Server 2012) reaches general availability. And so I thought I’d share some news about what’s coming next. I didn’t hear this at the MVP Summit earlier this year (where there was lots of NDA information given, but I didn’t go), so I think I’m free to share ...

Hopefully my connection is slightly better during today’s keynote than it was during yesterday’s, when “Live Blogging” didn’t really cut it. The PASS staff saw the problem and have resolved it (thanks guys!). Quentin Clark has jumped on stage to talk some more about SQL Server 2012, and he started with the expression “Data, Information and ...

I’m at the PASS Summit, and announcements are coming out nice and fast. One of the big ones that has just been made is that SQL Server will work much more closely with Apache Hadoop. Amazing stuff, that I think helps people realise that Microsoft is very much about providing platforms, and isn’t trying to stop you from using your other platforms ...

The easiest way to convince someone to use SSMS 2008 over SSMS 2005 was to right-click on a results grid. They’d see “Copy with Headers” in the context menu and be sold immediately. I’d happily show them that they could configure this option in SSMS 2005, but to have it immediately available in SSMS 2008 was enough to convince many people to ...

Until recently, I’d only done stuff with Denali on a dedicated box. But this weekend, I took the plunge and installed SSMS on a machine that has older versions of SQL Server installed on it. You can download Denali from this link. I’ve only installed the tools – I haven’t installed the Database Engine, Analysis Services, and so on. It’s more that ...

Interestingly, my favourite new feature of SQL Server 2008 R2 isn’t any of the obvious things.  You may have read my recent posts about how much I like some of the new Reporting Services features, such as the map control. Or you may have seen my presentation at SQLBits V on StreamInsight, which I think has great potential to change the way ...

(Reposted from my msmvps.com blog) SARGable is an adjective in SQL that means that an item can be found using an index (assuming one exists). Understanding SARGability can really impact your ability to have well-performing queries. Incidentally – SARGable is short for Search ARGument Able. If you have an index on phone numbers using LastName, ...