14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is offering early adopters the chance to test drive the first upgrade to SQL Server 2008 R2.
At the end of the past week the company released the first Community Technology Preview of SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
The SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 CTP bits are currently live on the Microsoft Download Center and available to all customers that are already leveraging SQL Server 2008 R2.
As it’s usually the case with Service Pack releases for Microsoft products, the upgrade brings to the table a combination of bug fixes, optimizations, security patches as well as new features.
“SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 CTP contains cumulative updates 1-6 for SQL Server 2008 R2, and fixes to issues that have been reported through our customer feedback platforms. These include supportability enhancements and issues that have been reported through Windows Error Reporting,” a member of the SQL Server team stated.
Microsoft is offering a number of downloads designed to upgrade all SQL Server 2008 R2 editions. SP1 CTP is offered for the following SKUs: Parallel Computing Edition, Datacenter Edition, Enterprise Edition and Developer Edition, Standard Edition, Web Edition, and Workgroup Edition.
Of course, customers relying on the free SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition can also download this early development milestone of SP1 and test it.
Microsoft enumerated “the following key enhancements in this CTP:
• Dynamic Management Views for increased supportability
• ForceSeek for improved querying performance
• Data-tier Application Component Framework (DAC Fx) for improved database upgrades, on premises and for SQL Azure
• Disk space control for PowerPivot.”
With the SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 CTP, the software giant is providing customers running its data platform with a taste of upcoming enhancements.
At the same time, the Redmond company is looking to harvest input from testers on the evolution of SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 CTP.
“Customers running SQL Server 2008 R2 can download and test the SP1 CTP and send feedback to Microsoft for continuous product improvement. We look forward to your feedback,” the SQL Server team representative added.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Community Technology Preview is available for download here.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Community Technology Preview - Express Edition is available for download here.