Download: SQL Server 2012 Express Edition SP1 available now for download

SQL Server 2012 Express Edition with  SP1 is available now for download and you can get it here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh230763.aspx?wt.mc_id=MEC_95_1_6

 

How to open SQL Server Management Studio from a command prompt ?

You can open SQL Server Management Studio from a command prompt by just typing SSMS and hit ENTER
you can also type SSMS in run window and hit ENTER.
This will open SQL Server Management Studio in a default mode.

Generate sequence number in SQL Server (ROWNUM like functionality in SQL Server)

How can we generate sequential numeric number for each row - Like ROWNUM in Oracle ? In SQL Server this is possible through Ranking functions. Here is how to do that.
Query:

SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY object_id) SRNo, *  FROM sys.tables ;

In the above query we are using ROW_NUMBER () – a Ranking function in SQL Server which generates the sequence no.

OVER clause – This is mandatory as it defines the dataset (rows) on which sequence no will be generated.

After executing the above query , you will the results as below.

In my other upcoming articles , I will cover RANKING functions in detail.

Happy Learning !!!

Excellent BI Architecture and Design guide from Microsoft

Here is an excellent and well formulated BI Architecture and Design guide from Microsoft (Patterns and Practices group) . Well, this is bit old (targeted for SQL Server 2005 ) but the concepts are explained well in detail and it is worth reading in my opinion.

Download guide from CodePlex:  http://biarchanddesignguide.codeplex.com/

The guide covers the following topics

• BI Framework
• Data Extraction
• Data Staging
• Data Transformations and Data Quality
• Data Loading
• Dimensional Modeling
• Data Partitions
• Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
• Data Mining

Hope you all will enjoy reading the guide.

Important things to note when upgrading to SSIS 2012–from SSIS Team Blog

Source : SSIS Blog

When you upgrade to SQL Server 2012 Integration Services (SSIS) on a machine that has SSIS 2005 or 2008 installed, SSIS 2012 is installed side-by-side with the earlier version. Unlike upgrades to previous versions, the upgrade process does NOT remove the SSIS 2005 or 2008 files, service, and tools.

More here :

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mattm/archive/2012/09/21/important-note-about-upgrading-to-ssis-2012.aspx

Download : Building BI Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server PDW AU3

This is another great session on Channel 9 on Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse : PDW- AU3 version

SQL Server is releasing AU3 version of Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) with a new software architecture featuring a cost-based optimizer, stored procedure support, SQL Server security model, as well as the Microsoft TDS protocol that allows native integration with existing Microsoft tools. The new architecture delivers order of magnitude (10x or more) performance improvement compared to the existing AU2 product, and greatly improves connectivity and programmability functionality. This session focuses on the benefits to BI solutions using SQL Server PDW, showing how to integrate PDW AU3 into key BI solutions: Microsoft BI Platform as well as key third-party products. #TEDBI321 

 

you can watch the session at : http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2012/DBI321

Download : SQL Server 2012 Developer Training Kit

Here is the latest SQL Server 2012 Developer Training Kit. The training Kit covers the following topics:
Download everything at once : here
You can get more details on this page : 

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/6982.sql-server-2012-developer-training-kit-bom-en-us.aspx


    Day 1: Introduction and Database Engine Topics

        Module 1: Introduction to SQL Server 2012
        Module 2: Introduction to SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn
        Module 3: Exploring and Managing SQL Server 2012 Database Engine Improvements
        Module 4: SQL Server 2012 Database Server Programmability

    Day 2: Visual Studio, .NET and Business Intelligence Topics

        Module 5: SQL Server 2012 Application Development
        Module 6: SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Information Management
        Module 7: SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence

    Hands-On Labs

        Topic: SQL Server 2012 Database Engine
        Topic: Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0
        Topic: SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Information Management
        Topic: SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence
        Topic: Windows Azure and SQL Azure

All content has been tested to work with the following technology releases:

• SQL Server 2012 RTM
• Visual Studio 2010 SP1
• Office 2010 SP1
• SharePoint 2010 SP1 

 Happy Learning