SQL Server 2012 RC0 available

Release Candidate 0 (RC0) of SQL Server 2012 is available for download! That means you can start to experience a feature complete version of the next great SQL release. :-) We’re still looking at the first half of calendar year 2012 for the RTM release of SQL Server 2012.

FURTHER. FORWARD. FASTER.

Downloads:

Greater availability. Deliver the required 9s and data protection with AlwaysOn, delivering added functionality over CTP3 that allows customers to experience multiple, readable secondaries for distributed scale of reporting and backup workloads and support for FileTable and FILESTREAM which brings first-class HA to complex data types.

Blazing-fast performance. More effectively govern performance in multi-tenancy environments like private cloud. Resource Governor enhancements include support for 64 resource pools, greater CPU usage control, and resource pool affinity for partitioning of physical resources and predictable resource allocation.

Rapid data exploration. Empower end users with new insights through rapid data exploration and visualization. Discover new insights at the speed of thought with more feature/functionality in Power View, the highly interactive, familiar browser-based data exploration, visualization, and presentation experience for end users.

Credible, consistent data. In addition to CTP3 functionality delivered for Data Quality Services and Master Data Services, customers can better support heterogeneous data within Data Warehouses through new Change Data Capture (CDC) support for Oracle.

Optimized productivity. Optimize IT and developer productivity across server and cloud with the new SQL Server Data Tools, a unified development experience for database and business intelligence projects, and cloud-ready capabilities within SQL Server Management Studio for snapshot backups to the Windows Azure Platform. Additionally, SQL Server 2012 offers a new version of Express – LocalDB. SQL Express LocalDB is a lightweight version of Express with all its programmability features, yet runs in user mode with a fast, zero-configuration installation and short list of pre-requisites. For more information and to try it out, go here.

 Licensing:

 SQL Server 2012 Wallpaper/backgrounds:

 More about SQL Server 2012:

 If you don’t already use it, now might be a good time to run the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit. If you load the sample MAP database and go to File.Prepare New Reports and Proposals you can see what typical SQL inventory reports look like. The output includes version, service pack level, edition, whether it’s clustered, # of procs and cores, and system memory. You would need to have a SQL database to store your own inventory results.

 Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/dd537566.aspx

 Data Sheet:

MAP provides you with actionable information from the start. In a matter of hours, MAP helps provide you with answers to key questions like:

  • Which of my PCs can run Windows 7, Microsoft® Office 2010, and Office 365?
  • Are my web application portfolios and databases ready to migrate to the Windows Azure platform? What is the TCO-ROI?
  • What next steps should I take to plan a private cloud?
  • Which of my servers are capable of migrating to Windows Server 2008 R2, or can be virtualized using Hyper-V?
  • Where can I find Microsoft® SQL Server® 2000, MySQL, Oracle, and Sybase instances for migration to Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2?
  • Is our software usage in compliance with software license agreements?