SQL Server 2008:
What To Expect
1-800-COURSES
www.globalknowledge.com
Expert Reference Series of White Papers
Introduction
Are you ready for Microsoft SQL Server 2008? The truth is, many of us are still coming to grips with the great
new features of SQL Server 2005 so, when I ask this question to other database professionals, the response is
usually a polite answer, something of the order: “We may wait for the first service pack….” SQL Server 2005,
being a five-year release, included many architecture changes across the board and famously had so many
new features that, in order to fit them all on one PowerPoint slide, Microsoft had to use a 10-point font! Well,
in the words of David Campbell,
General Manager of SQL Server at Microsoft, the SQL Server 2008 release
,
nicknamed “Katmai,” is a “14-point font” release! The saving grace is that with this release, the new features
build on the existing architecture of SQL Server 2005, so Katmai is largely an evolutionary release as opposed
to a revolutionary one, allowing us to apply our existing skills while learning the new features. In this white
paper, we’ll explore some of these impressive new features so you can start planning your future upgrade
strategy
.
Figure 1. SSQL Server 2008 New Features
Brian D. Egler, Global Knowledge Course Director, MCITP-DBA, MCSE,
MCT 2008,
SQL Server 2008:What To Expect
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raining LLC. All rights reserved.
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G
lobal Knowledge is the worldwide leader in IT and business training, delivering hands-on education via train-
ing facilities, private facilities, and the Internet, enabling our customers to choose when, where, and how they
want to receive training programs and learning services. To this end, we delivered SQL Server 2005 “early

istrators (DB
As) can define configuration policies against multiple servers, databases, tables, and indexes
enabling enforcement and consistency of database objects across multiple servers, if necessary, using configu-
ration servers and server groups. Policies can be enabled to either “prevent” or “log” object properties that
are
“out-of-compliance
.
”
A simple example may be to enforce naming conventions of stored procedures within
a database. You can choose whether to prevent out-of-compliance objects (in which case the CREATE PROCE-
DURE statement will fail) or just to log the non-compliance that can be reviewed in a report.
Another example may be to prevent SQL Mail from being configured on a group of SQL Servers. Again, you can
enable the policy to prevent or log the out-of-compliance objects
.
All policies can be easily defined using SQL
Server Management Studio. Individual policies can be grouped into categories and applied to targets (e.g.,
servers, databases, tables, indexes) or target hierarchies (e.g., all tables in a particular schema or all databases
on a server). This enterprise feature will greatly simplify multi-server administration and standards management.
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raining LLC. All rights reserved.
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Figure 2. Declarative Management Framework Policy History Transparent Data Encryption
Transparent Date Encryption
In SQL Server 2005,
data encryption was introduced natively into the Database Engine. This allowed us for the
first time to encrypt individual sensitive columns in SQL Server without the use of third-party products. This
would protect sensitive columns of data should physical security be compromised such as an actual disk drive
or backup tape falling into the wrong hands. However, the implementation required application code changes
using functions such as EncryptByKey and DecryptByKey to encrypt and decrypt columns explicitly. Now in SQL
Server 2008,

data type stores ellipsoidal or “round-earth” data, such
as GPS latitude and longitude coordinates. Using these
data types, applications can determine directions and
timings of travel between multiple points or determine
if a location or
“point”
is within a particular area or
“polygon.” These data types can also be used even if maps are not explicitly required in an application, as is
the case with distance/time analysis or text based directions. Integration with Microsoft’s Virtual Earth applica-
tion is also supported within this release.
Filestream Data
In previous releases there was always the debate as to whether to store unstructured binary large object
(BLOB) data, such as images, documents, audio, and video, inside the database or outside on the file system.
The problem with storing BLOB data outside of the database was that your data would be exposed in terms of
the lack of transaction processing and synchronized recovery
.
T
he adv
antage would be based on limiting the
size of the actual database
.
Now
,
in Katmai, you have a viable choice with the introduction of the Filestream
storage option so you no longer have to make compromises. This option allows the storage of SQL Server
BLOB data externally on the NTFS file system with synchronized, durable transaction processing and full recov-
ery options. The varbinary(max) data type is used in conjunction with the Filestream storage attribute on a col-
umn and although normal varbinary(max) columns are limited to 2GB of storage, no such limitation is
enforced on F
ilestream data columns