What’s New in SQL Server 2008

Activity Monitor

• Right - Click on the server and open the activity monitor.

 

TSQL Shortcuts and new data types 

• Insert Into can now be done in one statement: 
• Insert Into TableName Values (ABC,23),(DFG,44). 
• DateTime2 allows dates prior to 1900. 
• The DATE data type. 
• Can turn on the CLR (Common Language Runtime) to allow the developer to program inside SQL Server.  This was also
• available in SQL 2005.  Can change policy using this feature. 
• New merge feature.  Is nice to merge two data sources and the tables do not need to have the same schema.
• Table Value variables can be passed as a parameter to a stored procedure.  Nice to use these variables because they are stored in local memory.  Got to be careful with the size of the data.
• Resource Governor – ability to limit amount of resources that SQL Server uses.  By default it is not turned on.  Has to be enables.  Three easy steps to setup.  Must be careful cause you can cause data deadlocks.
• Geography data type – apps like Google Earth or Virtual Earth.
• Data Compression on Tables.  Could cause performance issues.  Got to find the right balance between storage and performance.
• Filestream attribute.  Do you store data in the database or the file system.  Will be able to store on the disc, but can access from the database.