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(Welcome to The Next Byte, a series on Microsoft SharePoint and SQL Server written by Don Conrad, a.k.a. “Don SQL”, the Fpweb.net SharePoint database wizard and expert in all things SQL-related. In this post Don examines new features in SQL Server 2012. Missed an installment of The Next Byte? Check out the complete Microsoft SharePoint and SQL Server series.)

and now… THE NEXT BYTE

SQL Server 2012 Topics to Discuss:

1. Which new features will have the biggest impact for SharePoint?
2. Why is the filetable so important?
3. What are the pricing considerations?

Microsoft recently released the newest version of its premier enterprise database management system, SQL Server 2012. This update contains many new and significant features from the current release, 2008 R2. Many of the features are notable improvements over 2008 R2 and there are so many that we couldn’t possibly do justice to them in one article.

In fact, we won’t even try. Instead we’ll focus some of the feature updates that will have the most impact on Microsoft SharePoint, since, after all, SharePoint hosting is what we do here at Fpweb.net.

SQL Server 2012 key features (in no particular order):

1. AlwaysOn
2. Contained databases
3. The FileTable feature (*not a datatype)
4. Core-based licensing

(Don Conrad, a.k.a. “Don SQL”, is Fpweb.net’s resident database wizard and expert in all things Microsoft SQL related. In this post he examines the next version of SQL Server. Missed an installment of The Next Byte? Check out Don’s complete Microsoft SharePoint and SQL Server series.) 

The Next Byte – Special Edition

Microsoft is busy promoting its next version of SQL Server, the database that powers the SharePoint platform. The RTM (“Release to Manufacturing”) edition of SQL Server 2012 is already available for download, and Microsoft will publicly unveil this new database technology before the end of March. As a result, SQL Server database administrators – and DBAs-in-training – are occupied studying up on the differences between SQL Server 2008 and this new version. For this “Special Edition” post, I’ve taken a break in my on-going talks about SQL Server to cover the highlights of new features in SQL Server 2012.

Perhaps the most pressing questions for SQL Server DBAs are:

1) What are the major enhancements?
2) What editions are available?
3) Did the pricing change?

Many of the feature updates in this version are truly significant and really enhance the usefulness of SQL Server. They are less about storing more, faster. Instead, they are more about how can I use my data quicker and better. They also directly address the massive increase in information that has been ongoing for 10+ years and is now threatening to be unmanageably large. How can we store, and access in a meaningful manner, the incredible quantities of data we already have stored and continue storing the increasing magnitude of data that we will have accumulated in the next few years?

…THE NEXT BYTE

The Next Byte is our series of posts about the relationship between SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft SharePoint, written by database administrator Don Conrad. Missed the last post? Please read “Microsoft SQL Server: The Database Behind SharePoint”.

Up for discussion:

• A high-level description of SQL Server
• What are the major components of SQL Server?
• What are the core functions of SQL Server?
• What do I have after installing SQL Server?

SQL Server is a database server product. It’s arguably one of the three most popular ones on the market (the other two being ORACLE, manufactured by the ORACLE corporation, and DB2 by IBM). All three provide very similar functions albeit on three different hardware platforms. SQL Server runs on Microsoft Windows servers, ORACLE primarily on Unix/Linux platforms and DB2 generally on IBM mainframes.

While all three perform mostly similar activities, Bill G. and I can probably agree that SQL Server is the premier product. After all, administering SQL Server has helped me pay most of my bills these past years!

… THE NEXT BYTE

A high-level overview of what databases are, and how SQL Server fits the mold.

What is a database?
Why do we need one?
How does SQL Server fit the mold?

In my last blog, I outlined the series of discussions I want to have about SharePoint and SQL Server. I said I would start at the beginning, which is ‘what is a database?’ (To complicate life,”Database” often refers both to the management program and to the data itself. Hopefully my usage will indicate which we’re referring to.)

The best generic definition of a database I’ve found is in Wikipedia. I’ll copy it here as it is succinct and spares me the trouble of trying to say in many of my own words what is already stated in fewer words:

At the end of December, Jose Antonio Morales (Chief Innovation Officer at NYCP) posed an interesting question to our industry in an EndUserSharePoint.com blog post titled, “Is the SharePoint Community an incubator of entrepreneurship?”. The survey he collected seems to indicate that, yes, the SharePoint community is teeming with pioneers and product launches. Of those responding to the survey, a whopping 42% classified themselves as business owners or managers. The second largest survey group- 20% of participants- designated they are actively using SharePoint as a platform to drive innovation.

Simultaneously, Microsoft is actively promoting entrepreneurship. Through its BizSpark initiative, Microsoft hopes to develop and foster a thriving ecosystem of small companies developing software applications for platforms like Office, SharePoint, SQL Server and Azure. And due to the rapid adoption and growth of SharePoint, a number of companies have popped up focusing specifically on the SharePoint platform.

But who are these SharePoint innovators? What kind of new products are they launching? Which new SharePoint tools have been introduced by entrepreneurs? In this post, we’ll take a closer look at a few of these newly minted SharePoint startups.

(Meet Don Conrad, affectionately known as Don SQL in the office. This introduction into the SQL arena paves the way for further SQL content from Don.)

Hello, I’m Don Conrad. I’m the Database/Systems Architect for Fpweb.net, a dedicated SharePoint hosting company. Hosting SharePoint sites for customers around the globe is our only business. As a leader in our industry, we host thousands of sites– everything from small Foundation environments to some SharePoint Server Enterprise multi-server farms that demand literally terabytes of disk space.

Hosting for SharePoint, a Microsoft product, also requires SQL Server, another Microsoft product. The underlying architecture for SharePoint fundamentally relies upon- and resides within- SQL Server databases. Curious, that.

I take care of those database servers and have about 20 years of experience doing so. My main job is to help plan, configure, install and administer SQL Server database servers and databases for our various SharePoint hosting customers.

SharePoint is unpredictable.  Sometimes it’s so unpredictable that it’s predictable.  That is how I’m able to lay out a few of my predictions for today at SPC11.

PREDICTION 1:

Someone will get a free t-shirt.  I don’t know where, and I don’t know how.  But this will happen.  And they shall be happy.

PREDICTION 2:

Someone will realize they got the wrong size shirt.

Besides the fact I don't look good in black turtlenecks…

Steve Jobs has stepped down as the CEO of Apple.

In his letter to Apple employees, he wrote, "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."

Then apparently he offered me up as a possible replacement…

He said he found my resume in some Monster.com or Career Builder.com archive and asked me to step in as an interim CEO for their company.

They said I had a day to think about it, but I told them I didn't need it. The answer, I'm afraid, is no.

So, why don't I want to be a crucial part of a company that sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s in one weekend, an iPad every 2.3 seconds and billions of apps from the iTunes App Store?

I've made tougher decisions on the spot. My barber (read Great Clips worker) once asked me if I wanted it "rounded in the back" or "squared up." After twenty minutes of staring at myself in the mirror, I replied, "Just make it a rounded square, I guess."

I'm fully aware of how powerful and innovative Apple is. I will not need emails or comments about these things. I won't take them seriously because I know you're brainwashed and I'm sorry.

And other ways the Cloud will save the world…

I told you the Private Cloud is the future.  The Bossman explained how a hybrid cloud model is a prudent start to moving your business to the Cloud.  And now Microsoft research is supposing that the Cloud can save the world!

Let me take a breath and soften that opening a bit.  By ‘save the world’ I, of course, mean that it will offer a clever alternative for indoor heating.

Yes, the future gets even more interesting with an offer of cheap heating solutions on the table.

It’s an interesting concept.  But a bit complex.  Personally, I like things to be explained to me in simple terms – most people do.  I usually Bing concerns with “explain this to me like I’m a five year old” (I’m trying to make Bing happen, Microsoft!  …It’s really hard!)  And once I understand the concept on a modest level, I can see the big picture more clearly.

Optimizing your website and your life

Actual excerpt from my Job Interview:

THEM:  So you know what SEO is right?
ME:        (heavy breathing)
THEM:  Because it’s pretty central to this job.
ME:        (no breathing at all)
THEM:  It’s Search Engine Optimizatio…
ME:        Searchengineoptimization! Yep, I was gonna say…  Very important!

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When I entered Fpweb.net, a few things got placed on my to-do list:  Fill out some tax forms, learn how to use the coffee machine, program my laptop, set up a Twitter account ( holla! ) etc.  After establishing that I can read and write, the next step was to gently usher me into the magical world of Search Engine Optimization.