Microsoft is scheduled to release SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 today, February 19, 2007. With the second Service Pack for SQL Server 2005, Microsoft will introduce support for Windows Vista. But in addition to Vista compatibility, SQL Server 2005 is also designed to integrate with Windows Longhorn Server test builds. Microsoft has not officially confirmed the actual date of SQL Server 2005 SP2's availability, but the service pack has been labeled ready to ship as of Friday February 16.

The first service pack for SQL Server 2005 was delivered in April 2006. At the time, Microsoft did not offer Vista compatibility. "All editions of SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2) can be run on Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 (RC1) or the Beta 2 release of Windows Server "Longhorn." This configuration is not supported in production environments. We recommend that you run SQL Server 2005 SP2, when it becomes available, on Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn" only in test environments. You must first install the full release version of SQL Server 2005 before you can apply SP2," informed the Redmond Company.

Microsoft has made available a list with the components of SQL Server 2005 that will be enhanced or introduced in SP2. The Redmond Company revealed that SP2 will feature local and session cubes functionality improvements as well as general performance and scalability enhancements.

However, the actual list of improvements that Microsoft will deliver with the SQL Server SP2 is much more complex and focuses on the Analysis Services, the Database Engine, the Integration Services, the Reporting Services and the Shared Tools.