Available for download free of charge from Microsoft

Oct 3, 2011 11:11 GMT  ·  By

The third Community Technology Preview of SQL Server codenamed Denali was offered to early adopters in July 2011, and as usual, Microsoft provided a collection of additional resources, including guidance on how to make the best out of testing the release.

Testers can head over to the Download Center and grab “Product Documentation for Microsoft SQL Server Code-Named “Denali” CTP3 for firewall and proxy restricted environments” free of charge.

As the label of this resource indicates, the documentation is designed to help out customers in two key scenarios, when their systems are behind a firewall or in proxy restricted environments.

The Redmond company notes that testers need to first download and deploy SQL Server 2012 Denali CTP3, making sure to install the help viewer along with any adjacent components.

Only then should they turn to the documentation that the software giant is offering as a free download.

“For systems that are behind a firewall or proxy and have no access to the Internet download the self-extracting EXE package on this page that contains the product documentation.

“For systems that have an Internet connection launch Help Library Manager to configure the Help Viewer to use local help and download the CTP3 help collections,” Microsoft revealed.

The download page for this particular collection of documentation also comes with extensive instructions on just how to extract the guidance and to use the Help Library Manager.

“The Microsoft SQL Server Code-Named “Denali” CTP3 setup installs only the Help Viewer and related components for managing Help settings. Setup does not directly install any documentation. All of the SQL Server documentation is available online,” Microsoft said.

There are also a few SQL Server 2012 Denali CTP3 releases that testers can download free of charge from Microsoft and take out for a spin.

SQL Server Codenamed “Denali” CTP3 Demo VHD is available for download here.

SQL Server 2012 Codenamed Denali CTP3 is available for download here.