SQL Server support 2008: a first look

Microsoft has made some big promises for server support 2008 , a major update of its enterprise database product. No precise date has yet been announced for the launch, but the new features have caught the interest of database developers, users and IT managers alike.

Users will notice a completely overhauled reporting engine and greatly improved performance. This should allow more users to run OLAP queries, or enable existing OLAP users to run more complex queries than are currently possible.

Among the highlights for developers is full support for a new could enable a new breed of low-cost applications for web commerce.

The new datatype allows applications to store and sort data describing locations. For example, a travel agent's database might store information about hotels, airports and restaurants; users could then search it for all the five-star hotels and restaurants within 10 miles of a particular airport.

Another groundbreaking addition is SQL 2008’s data type. These records can contain arbitrary data — such as text, sound or video — and can be searched using normal database commands. The difference is that FileStream records are stored on the local NTFS filesystem, which means they can contain much more data than a normal SQL record, and performance can be better too.

Despite being stored as files in the normal NTFS file system, FileStream data is thoroughly integrated with the database, which will keep it backed up, and will make sure that any transactions using it are consistent.

For IT managers, the biggest gains come in the shape of better performance and security. A new feature lets SQL Server . The application need not be aware of it, so existing applications can use this feature without any changes to existing code.

Support has also been added for certificate-based encryption and authentication, which works with a range of certificate authorities, including Microsoft Certificate Services.

Microsoft claims SQL Server 2008 will run 14 per cent faster than SQL Server 2005 on a quad-socket server, and Microsoft has also made some more specific For instance, automatic data compression for backups will reduce the amount of storage needed for backups by around 50 percent, Microsoft promises.

Database mirrors have been improved in order to store null values more efficiently, and the logs that synchronise database mirrors can now be compressed. This should reduce the amount of bandwidth needed to maintain duplicates of a database. Finally, a new resource governor enables administrators to assign CPU power to particular applications.

The most eagerly awaited feature, ironically, is not actually part of SQL Server 2008, but arrives at the same time: the , which lets Visual Basic and C## software applications include and verify SQL queries.

Previously about the only way to find out what was stored in a SQL database was to put SQL queries directly into an application coded as a text string, which would be sent by the application to the SQL database for processing. The trouble is that the software development tools don’t understand SQL queries, so the queries could not be automatically verified for correctness or efficiency.

LINQ is a set of extensions to the .NET Framework that enables the software development tools to understand the SQL queries, so they can manage them alongside the rest of the project. LINQ can also be used with Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and 2005.

Developers and IT managers are understandably eager to get to grips with the reality of this promised functionality. When the product finally arrives, they will be checking to see whether it lives up to the claims, and so will we.

source : http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/software/enterpriseapplications/0,1000001813,39422964,00.htm

Atempo Adds Mac, Linux Support to Live Backup

Do you rely on your road warriors to backup their laptops? Is that working out for you or are you just blaming the victim when they're machines are lost, stolen or just break down after being sent through the airport X-ray machine one time too many? Once you accept the fact that users, especially Sr. executives won't take any action at all to backup their data on a regular basis you'll start looking for an automated solution. Atempo's Live Backup has been that automated solution for Windows for years. With Version 3.2 Atempo is expanding client support to the fast growing Mac and Linux platforms.

Once you set up Live Backup on a Windows server support in your data center and install the clients to your users it runs continuously in the background on their machines saving their work at the block level. If they're connected to your network the changes are sent to the Live Backup server in real time. If they're at 35,000 feet enjoying the flight in the corporate Gulfstream it journals the changes to a dedicated partition on their hard drive and uploads it when they connect.

When the waste product strikes the air movement device, and we all know it will, users can restore files themselves through the Live Backup client UI and IT staff can doa bare metal restore to a new machine when the Exec VP drops his laptop into the Zambezi.

Atempo says a Live Backup server support can up to 10,000 users, assuming of course it has enough disk space.

Along with Mac and Linux, specifically the SUSE and Red Hat distros, support 3.2 adds multi-tiered administration that can enable departmental IT staff to manage their user groups and get reports. Atempo is also looking to use this feature to sign up solution providers for online backup.

source : http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/05/atempo_adds_mac.html

Ten Cooling Solutions to Support High-Density Server Deployment

Overview:

High-density servers offer a significant performance per watt benefit. However, depending on the deployment, they can present a significant cooling challenge. Vendors are now designing servers support that can demand over 40 kW of cooling per rack. With most data centers designed to cool an average of no more than 2 kW per rack, innovative strategies must be used for proper cooling of high-density equipment.

This paper provides ten approaches for increasing cooling efficiency, cooling capacity, and power density in existing data centers.

source : whitepapers.zdnet.com/abstract.aspx?docid=284205&promo=100601

StoneFly Expands iSCSI Support for Server Virtualization Through VMware Technology Alliance Partner and Hardware Certification Programs

SAN DIEGO, CA -- 05/12/08 -- StoneFly™, Inc., a leading supplier of integrated IP storage area network (SAN) systems and a wholly owned subsidiary of Dynamic Network Factory, Inc. (DNF), today announced its entry into VMware, Inc.'s Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) and Hardware Certification Programs.

In addition, StoneFly announced that the StoneFly StoneFusion™6.X operating system now offers enhanced server support for virtual environments, including the latest versions of VMware ESX. As StoneFly's Intelligent Network Storage Platform, StoneFusion comes standard with each StoneFly IP SAN and offers comprehensive storage services, including built-in support for the VMware iSCSI initiator for speedy integration of networked storage with virtual servers.

While StoneFly has been applying the principles of virtualization since its founding in 2000, participation in the VMware programs strengthens its commitment to a growing base of customers interested in deploying virtual machines. "By formalizing our ties with VMware, we will not only be able to leverage their outstanding software to develop comprehensive disaster recovery solutions, but we can also help our customers achieve even greater advances with their virtualization initiatives," said Bahman Jalali, director of product management for StoneFly.

StoneFly IP SANs facilitate server virtualization, helping busy IT departments consolidate resources to improve efficiency and simplify the management of datacenters or IT infrastructure. At Randolph College, in Lynchburg, VA, a StoneFly IP SAN is deployed in conjunction with VMware Server to bolster business continuity and consolidate servers while also reducing energy consumption.

Within one month of installing the IP SAN along with VMware Server, Randolph had already virtualized four servers, and there are plans to transfer 12 additional server images to the SAN by year's end. Virtualization has delivered significant value, including the ability to manage printers by a virtualized print server image on the SAN, meaning that the old physical print servers can be turned off. Not only does power usage go down with fewer servers to contend with, but now Randolph doesn't need to invest in as much additional server suport hardware when it can use images on the SAN to meet a large portion of its daily IT needs.

StoneFly's Hybrid Storage Concentrator™ (HSC), Modular Storage Concentrator (MSC) and Integrated Storage Concentrator (ISC) offerings are among the key StoneFly product families that can be utilized with VMware software. Via StoneFusion, each HSC, MSC or ISC IP SAN supports StoneFly Snapshot™, StoneFly Reflection™ for synchronous and asynchronous mirroring, and block-level virtualization. StoneFusion also features centralized storage management, storage consolidation, access control, volume management and provisioning to present SAN storage to hosts as local disks.

source : earthtimes.org/articles/show/stonefly-expands-iscsi-support-for,388568.shtml

AMD fleshes out server strategy

AMD has announced that it plans to release a line of 12-core server support processors within two years.

The company unveiled its server and workstation roadmap at a media event on 7 May in San Francisco, which also included plans for a line of 45nm chips by the end of the year.

The 45nm Shanghai chips will use immersion lithography techniques to produce a line of quad-core processors which the company claims will be up to 20 per cent more power efficient than its current 65nm Barcelona chips.

Shanghai will be completely socket compatible with Barcelona, allowing manufacturers to drop the new chips into existing platform designs.

AMD plans to expand its 45nm line-up to a six-core model dubbed Istanbul by the second half of 2009. Both chips will feature 6MB of level-3 cache and use Nvidia nForce chipsets.

Randy Allen, corporate vice president and server and workstation general manager at AMD, said that the next major upgrade will come in 2010 when the company hopes to launch a line of server chips running on its new Maranello platform.

The two 45nm chips, codenamed Sao Paulo and Magny-Cours, will sport six and 12 processing cores respectively.

The Sao Paulo chips will use 6MB of level-3 cache on a single die, while Magny-Cours will join two six-core dies together to create a 12-core chip.

Both chips will sport AMD chipsets and will support hyper-transport 3.0 connections as well as DDR-3 memory.

Allen told reporters that he expects the six-core chips to become a mainstay for many users. Whereas companies have been more than ready for dual and quad-core chips, Allen sees six cores as a barrier of sorts.

"The vast majority of the market is scaleable to at least six-core [chips]," he said. "We believe that there are going to be more workloads that stop at six cores."

Allen still predicts an eager market for the 12-core Magny-Cours chip. "Some of our largest markets are people running installations, and they are asking when they are going to get to 24 cores," he said. "Their workloads are embarrassingly parallel."

One possible solution for these highly parallel workloads has been the use of graphics chips for general processing, a concept known as GPGPU.

Allen explained that, while the company has looked into "leveraging" graphics processors, it is not something AMD is currently looking to address with its server support processors.

"If you look at the initiative of accelerated computing, the concept is so simple and everyone is enamoured with it," he told reporters.

"But for different problems there are different solutions, and for some problems there are better solutions than an x86 processor."

source:http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2216127/amd-fleshes-server-strategy