Cristian's Blog

Been there, asked and I got answers.
Some of my questions during the CTP 6 Public Chat were the following:

Bill Ramos[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I noticed that CTP6 allows using custom traces for the Generic SQL Trace Collector Type (correct me if I am wrong), how do you use the collected info? Building a report on [MDW].[snapshots].[trace_data] table?
A: You are correct. Here is a sample query you can use.

USE MDW
GO
SELECT
SII.instance_name, TD.snapshot_id, STI.snapshot_time, TD.trace_info_id,
TD.SPID, TD.EventSequence, TD.StartTime, TD.Success,
TC.name AS [Category Name], TE.name AS [Event Name], TSC.subclass_name,
TSC.subclass_value, TD.TextData, TD.ApplicationName,
TD.LoginName, TD.DatabaseName, TD.ObjectName, TD.ObjectType
FROM
sys.trace_subclass_values AS TSC RIGHT OUTER JOIN
sys.trace_events AS TE INNER JOIN
sys.trace_categories AS TC ON TE.category_id = TC.category_id RIGHT OUTER JOIN
core.source_info_internal AS SII INNER JOIN
core.snapshots_internal AS SI INNER JOIN
snapshots.trace_data AS TD
ON SI.snapshot_id = TD.snapshot_id
ON SII.source_id = SI.source_id INNER JOIN
core.snapshot_timetable_internal AS STI
ON SI.snapshot_time_id = STI.snapshot_time_id
ON TE.trace_event_id = TD.EventClass
ON TSC.trace_event_id = TD.EventClass AND TSC.subclass_value = TD.EventSubClass
WHERE (TD.trace_info_id = 1)
ORDER BY TD.snapshot_id DESC

Edward Melomed (Expert):
Q: Execution plan for Analysis Services will be exposed in this release?
A: Currently we have no plans to expose this functionality in SQL Server 2008.

Bill Ramos[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Debug feature that will be included in SSMS refers to T-SQL only (or does it include .NET code also)?
A: This is for TSQL only. There are no language projects in SSMS. You will need to use VS debugger for a full scenario

Amy Lewis (Expert):
Q: When can we see the installation enhancements ? To be honest I didn't notice them in the CTP6. And of course what enhacements will be included ?
A: Cristian - I'm not sure what you mean by installation enhancements - do you mean improvements to our installer? We did not have any improvements for the installer in FEB CTP. We had a Major push in NOV CTP and we'll have another in the Refresh CTP.
 
Michael Rys [MS] (Expert):
Q: Dave Campbel said about Data Services: "We are not using an off-the-shelf SQL Server to power this, we've taken we've taken the technology and shifted it around to make it more suitable for large-scale datacenter". Is SQL Server not suitable?
A: SQL Server is suitable for the normal large-scale enterprice data center. But a cloud data center has different requirements regarding scale out and availabilty to reduce cost (and functionality). That's why we have the Data Services. I see some of this technology migrate into SQL Server eventually, since we use the same code basis...

Michael Rys [MS] (Expert):
Q: Then Data Services is based on what? The main limit of SQL Server is the Windows limit of 64 procs. Are you running SQL Server on Unix? And I am not being sarcastic.
A: No Data services are running on Windows Server. And is based on the SQL Server code base but extended architecturally to work in a cloud data center.

Bill Ramos[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: The Object Search feature is present in CTP6?
A: No. It will be available in the CTP Refresh.

Richard [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there any intention to extend PowerShell integration to Analysis Services?
A: Not for SQL Server 2008 at this time, but in the future we hope to do so. Please file a connect entry requesting this at http://connect.microsoft.com/

Kevin Farlee [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there any intention to allow encrypted backups without requiring TDE ?
A: This feature will not be in Katmai, but it is on the list for a future release.
 

And a question that does not belong to me but revealx some interesting information:

Kristy RM (Expert):
Q: is there any date on when the CTP refresh is coming out?
A: The Final Release before RTM is scheduled to release 6/6.
Michael Rys [MS] (Expert): Target is earlier in the third quarter...
Kristy RM (Expert)[20:32]: SQL 2008 is scheduled to release 7/31

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog post therefore you may skip it.

Introduction

To use George Michael words: "It was the third of September / That day I'll always remember, yes I will / 'cause that was the day that my daddy died"

For me it wasn't third of September but thirteen August and not my father the one that died but my mother. As my mother always said to me that I am a funny guy (or more exactly in Romanian "caraghios") I would do my best to keep this post far from tears.

The story

The year 2007 was for me a very ugly year. Butt ugly! Following the SQL Server 2008 evolution, one of my aunts relocated (read died) soon after CTP1. Then my grandmother relocated between CTP3 and CTP4. Finally between CTP4 and CTP5 my mother decided to join the "Heaven" LinkedIn group. After CTP5, SQL Server 2008 was pretty stable and my family events stopped.

As my grandfather has a book (written by me) dedicated the next logical step for me was to dedicate a book to my mother and voilà:

Now probably I have to dedicate a book to my brother, grandmother, two aunts and so on. But I will take a break for the moment [:)]

Instead of a conclusion

I will close this post by embedding my mother's favorite song:

 

"My outrageous claim [is this]: In 15-20 years from now: Information will stay only in XML (no more tuples, no more objects). Imperative languages as we know them today (Java, C, C++, C#) will be gone. We will program with some extension of XQuery, or in any case a declarative dataflow/workflow language specially designed for XML processing, SOA, and for enabling universal information flow. The sooner we go there the better!"

These are the words of Daniela Florescu, Architect at Oracle Corporation, words that intrigued me enough to try to talk to her (imagine a SQL Server freak talking with an Oracle architect). Funny thing is that my first email sent to Daniela had as subject "LINQ question". Of course I meant "XQuery question" but I was tired and I've just finished watching a LINQ webcast when I wrote that email.

Long story short, Daniela didn't mind too much my error :)

If you don't know her, she is the "cause" of XQuery's birth and she unquestionably has her place in the XML history.

I had the pleasure to spend a few hours with Daniela and I can tell you that she is a very kind, warm and intelligent person. Daniela agreed to meet our user group and also to give us a short interview. You can see the result bellow.

Windows Media Video archive: Download

 

I am kidding. No one knows everything about SQL Server. Anyway, Microsoft SQL Server Data Services means if you don't care about marketing - SQL Server in the cloud.

Resources:

• SQL Server Data Services  (Microsoft Official Site)
• SQL Server Data Services Overview (Document)
• SQL Server Data Services FAQ
• Microsoft Announces SQLServer Data Services ( SSDS). Structured Storage in the Cloud
• The Long Term Store cast (SSDS Team blog)
• Ray Ozzie MIX08 Keynote Follow Up (the first 2000 US guys and gals can sign-up for SSDS now)
• Register for Free Beta (not yet awaylable for us, non-US guys and of course non-USE gals).
• Introducing SQL Server Data Services with Nigel Ellis (MIX08 Recorded Session)
• MIX08 Keynote: Ray Ozzie, Dean Hachamovitch, and Scott Guthrie