System Databases

SQL Server includes the following system databases:

• master - captures all the information about an SQL instance
• msdb - used by SQL Server agent(schedule alerts & jobs)
• model - Database Template for creating new DB
• Resource - read only database, contains system objects which are logically accessed via all the db via sys schema
• tempdb - storage for temporary objects

Microsoft SQL Server Code Names

Microsoft has given codenames to all their products, Here is the list of the code name of which are assigned to each version of SQL Server Products.

In 1988, Microsoft released its first version of SQL Server. It was developed jointly by Microsoft and Sybase for the OS/2 platform.

1993 – SQL Server 4.21 for Windows NT
1995 – SQL Server 6.0, codenamed SQL95
1996 – SQL Server 6.5, codenamed Hydra
1999 – SQL Server 7.0, codenamed Sphinx
1999 – SQL Server 7.0 OLAP, codenamed Plato
2000 – SQL Server 2000 32-bit, codenamed Shiloh (version 8.0)
2003 – SQL Server 2000 64-bit, codenamed Liberty
2005 – SQL Server 2005, codenamed Yukon (version 9.0)
2008 – SQL Server 2008, codenamed Katmai (version 10.0)
2010 – SQL Server 2008 R2, Codenamed Kilimanjaro (aka KJ)
2012– SQL Server 2012, Codenamed Denali (version 11.0)
2012 - SQL Server Data Tools, Codenamed Juneau (Next CTP Of Denali)
2012 - SQL Server Data Tools, Codenamed Crescent(Included in Denali Version)
2014 - SQL Server In-Memory OLTP, Codenames Hekaton

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Technologies

Microsoft SQL Server is built with collection of tools/utilities for maintain/manage the data and Data analysis. Some of the tools are listed here:

• Database Engine  - RDBMS System
• Data Quality Services(DQS) - Perform data cleansing by using cloud-based reference data services
• Analysis Services - Provides OLAP & Data Mining Functionality
• Integration Services - Perform data integration and data transformations solutions
• Master Data Services   - Solution for MDM
• Replication  -  Data distribution/Copy Technology from one DB to another
• Reporting Services  - Rich reporting tool

We will look at it in details in next posts.

SQL Server 2008 New Features

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 introduces several important new Transact SQL programmability features and enhances some existing ones

 

Following is the list of key new features

1.Initializing variables

2.Compound assignment operators

3.Enhanced CONVERT function

4.New date and time data types

5.New date and time functions

6.The MERGE statement

7.Grouping sets

8.Table valued parameters

9.Large user-defined types

10.Table value constructor support

11.DDL trigger enhancements

12.Sparse columns

13.Filtered indexes

We will provide the information in detail in next section.