Professional Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Administration

3.1. Why Upgrade to SQL Server 2008?

With the release of SQL Server 2008, Microsoft enhanced numerous features in the areas of scalability, reliability, availability, and security. Among the many benefits that these new features and capabilities provide are the following:

• Lower IT costs through improved scalability enhancements.

• High availability options that include data mirroring with compression and automatic page repair.

• Reduced SQL Server management with the Policy-Based Management.

• Better online database operation support.

• Improved manageability for larger databases.

• Stronger security with auditing and encryption.

• Accelerated deployment of line-of-business applications.

• Advanced business intelligence solutions for faster decision making.

As you'll see throughout this book, significant enhancements have been introduced throughout the product. During the development cycle, there were four pillars of focus for the product: dynamic development, beyond relational, pervasive insight, and enterprise data platform. For the database administrator, the enterprise data platform pillar had the following goals:

• Availability and security advancements: Enhanced high-availability options include database mirroring, server clustering, peer-to-peer replication, fine-grained online repairs, dynamic management views, backup and restore, data auditing, pluggable CPU, and many other improvements in the areas of online operations. These features ensure that SQL Server 2008 is available for your enterprise. ...