Gavin Paynehttp://blog.gavinpayneuk.com
twitter: @GavinPayneUK
SQL Server Update – May 2010
• SQL Server 2008 R2 will be available in May
• SQL Azure is now available and gaining credibility
• SQL Server is now scaling massively
Presentation Summary
• Current Business Trends
Globalisation – 24/7 and distributed workloadsCompliance – Information handling under scrutinyBusiness Intelligence – Covered on a further slideAgility – Change, acquisition and mergers now
common
• Current Technology Trends
Virtualisation – The biggest request of Microsoft right now
Cloud – Bleeding edge adoption building concept confidence
Hardware – Nehalem technology, 8-core CPU, SSD
Recent Industry Observations from MSFT
Highlights
• Client-side Features
PowerPivot – Self-service BI through Excel
• Server-side Features
Enhanced Hyper-V support – virtualisation enablerDatacenter edition – delivering massive scalabilityEnhanced compression – operational I/O reducerSysprep support – simplifying implementation
SQL Server 2008 R2 – What’s New?
• In the economic downturn BI was a growth market
• Marketplaces and their data were changing by the hour
• End-users wanted to analyse and report in real time
• Data warehouses refreshed too infrequently
• And were owned, defined and controlled by IT
• Solution – self-service BI tools which IT can still manage
Why Client-side BI Now?
Two notable changes in R2:
• Licensing
Enterprise and Datacenter editions align with Windows- VM usage rights changed
• Backup Compression
Now available in Standard Edition- Game changer for DBAs
and 3rd party backup compression providers
SQL Server 2008 R2 – What’s Changed?
Reminder of what now comes in the SQL Server box:
SQL Server 2008 R2 – Product Breadth
Integration Services
.net CLR platform Analysis Services
Reporting Services Full-text Indexing Management Services
SQL Server Broker Database Engine StreamInsight
Master Data Services
XML storage Power Shell
Self-service BI Data Mining Spatial Storage
• Appliance format massive scale data warehouse
• Sold with specific hardware as a complete solution
• Scales to hundreds of TBs
• Deploys multiple centrally controlled database nodes
• SQL Server Fast Track methodology for smaller DWs
SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse
• Cloud-based SQL Server
• Relational database to compliment Windows Azure
• Designed to mirror SQL Server 2008’s core functionality
• At a price point which cannot be ignored for very long
SQL Azure
• Launched in February 2010
• Already a small but notable and increasing user base
• Currently aimed at “department sized” applications
• 1GB and 10GB offerings today
• Designed for HA but no database backup facility yet
SQL Azure
• Microsoft aim for Service Updates every 8 weeks
• Due soon are:
Reporting services and BI functionsSpatial data types50GB database option
• Unlike other vendors, Microsoft already have the functionality written, they just need to re-deploy it to the cloud
SQL Azure
• Microsoft’s long term aim is to “make cloud irrelevant”
• Where your code and data are hosted is based on today’s business requirements, could change at midday
• However, in the medium term cloud and on-premise versions of SQL Server may have parallel functionality roadmaps
SQL Azure
• SQL Server is now the most demanding application to use Windows Server – everything else scales out
• SQL Server can and is now powering the world’s most demanding business application infrastructures
• Microsoft’s SQLCAT team focus on delivering these platforms - http://sqlcat.com/
• Their web site is loaded with best practice
SQL Server Scalability
• Windows Enterprise and Datacenter editions can deliver massive computing power to SQL Server
• 128 CPU cores, 2TB memory, 200+ TB OLTP databases
• Intel’s latest Nehalem CPUs are powering a revolution in X64 server capability
• Itanium support has been dropped – no longer required
SQL Server Scalability In Depth
• Hyper-threading is back and recommended
• NUMA boundaries will become part of daily life
• NIC activity is now a workload of its own
• Disk alignment maybe simple but is a huge quick win
• Centralised SQL Server management will be essential as databases outnumber DBAs
SQL Server Scalability Tips From The Field
• SSDs have now arrived, expensive but mainstream
• Not all SSDs are the same, some using SATA
• FusionIO appearing as a popular brand
• Very low latency, very high I/O rates
• Not a cure for badly designed schemas or SANs, but will no doubt be used as one
Solid State Devices
• SQL Server 2008 R2 has been released
• Some good changes for those motivated to use them
• SQL Azure has made a good entrance and will become a no-brainer for some future deployments
• Virtualisation and consolidation are today’s biggest activities within IT – SQL Server can be very efficient
• SQL Server can also be very powerful
Conclusion