Microsoft SQL Server 2008 was released to manufacturing on August 6, 2008. Microsoft released a press statement providing details about the new release. Although you can't buy your copy yet on a disk, MSDN and TechNet subscribers can downoad an evaluation copy right now from the SQL Server web site.

Prices have been published and are not being increased since the last version of SQL Server (2005). The prices are listed below with the different versions available.

I have listed the notable features below and there are quite a few. There are major improvements as well as minor fixes listed. There is a nice article about what's new in SQL Server 2008 on TechNet. The improvements and new features are within three main categories, trusted, productive, and intelligent.

Notable New Features

• New Date and Time data types
  • DATE
  • TIME
  • DATETIMEOFFSET
  • DATETIME2
• Grouping sets
  • An extension to the GROUP BY clause that lets you specify what to compute as an aggregate.
• MERGE SQL Statement
  • Transaction SQL statement that can be used to synchronize two tables based on their differences.
• Integrated Full Text Search
  • Full Text Searches allow you to compare values in a field based on words or phrases. This is similar to the LIKE comparisons, only comparing words or phrases instead of characters.
• Data Compression
  • Allows for more efficient storage and less storage. It also improves performance on I/O functions, such as data warehousing.
• Transparent Data Encryption
  • This feature will encrypt the database files automatically allowing for better security. This reduces the risk of data being discovered, even if the database files are obtained by an unauthorized user.

Technologies

• Analysis Services
• Data Mining
• High Availability—Always On
• Integration Services
• Manageability
• Performance and Scalability
• Programmability
• Reporting Services
• Security
• Spatial Data

Available Editions

• SQL Server 2008 Enterprise ($24,999)
• SQL Server 2008 Standard ($5,999)
• SQL Server 2008 Workgroup ($3,899)
• SQL Server 2008 Web ($15/proc/month)
• SQL Server 2008 Developer ($50)
• SQL Server 2008 Express (N/A)
• SQL Server Compact 3.5 (N/A)

For more detailed information, you can check out the white papers, or if you are looking to try it out, you can download an evaluation copy.

Additional Resources

• SQL Server 2008 Website
• SQL Server 2008 TechCenter
• SQL Server 2008 Developer Center

Databases are used in so many ways on so many websites. They are used for small tasks and large distributed networks scaled to handle millions of transactions per day. Sometimes we need a little help, a little push in the right direction in order to create a properly designed and normalized database. Thankfully, there are sites like DatabaseAnswers.org that provide help from "getting-started tutorials" to "database models."

There are over 500 free database models at this website. They are all viewable in data model form and can be saved as an image or printed. You are also able to request an access database for any of the data models available by simply emailing and asking for one. The data models span many different categories from customers to bookstores to catalogs, and the list just goes on. I have listed the top 20 data models below.

Top 20 Data Models

1. Libraries and Books
2. Inventory Control for Retail Stores
3. Hotel Reservations
4. Video Rentals
5. School Management
6. Clients and Fees
7. CD Collections
8. Customers and Invoices
9. Payroll
10. Apartment Rentals
11. Customers and Services
12. ERP
13. Car Sales
14. Customers and Addresses
15. Driving Schools
16. Health and Fitness Clubs
17. Hospital Admissions
18. Inventory of Files in Boxes
19. Sports Clubs
20. Airline Reservations

The creator of all of these database models runs multiple database companies; one is in the UK; the other is in the US. He has also created data models that are included in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express. He offers his reason for providing these saying, "I design these Data Models for free to give something back to the Database community that has provided me with a good (and interesting) living for the past 15 years" (DatabaseAnswers.org). Be sure to check these out and show some love for all the hard work that went into creating these and offering them for FREE!

phpMyAdmin 2.11.8.1 was released yesterday. The main reason for the updated release is to patch bugs and security issues. There were some XSS problems reported by Aung Khant from the YGN Ethical Hacker Group. The two main fixes are both XSS related, one having to do with frames and the other has to do with a lack of HTML escaping. You can read more about these by visiting the site which contains the news release about these bug/security fixes from phpMyAdmin. These vulnerabilities were considered very serious and have now been patched with this new release. Be sure to upgrade your copy to 2.11.8.1. You can download the new release from SourceForge.

Speed and efficiency are key factors when running a website. All code needs to be optimized, whether it is PHP, ASP, Python, or SQL. Internet users are notorious for having a low attention span, and a fast page load will help to keep their attention focused on what is on the page, rather that what is slowly being displayed on the page. This sparked some thought for me while I was at work the other day.

I work primarily out of an Oracle database and often have a list of values that a field needs to be checked against. In my opinion, it is nicer to look at the values in a list because it is cleaner and easier to follow. I wondered if the cleaner look of the "IN" statement was worth any performance difference between the "IN" and the "OR". Both statements provide the same output when used correctly so I was curious if one was faster than the other. I then tested the difference, and the "IN" statement came up short.

This test was conducted using MySQL (Version 4.1.22) because all of my websites run on MySQL and, dare I say, most other websites do as well.

I used a test database I had readily available (WordPress) to test 2 SQL statements, 1 using "IN" and 1 using "OR." Here are my results:

Results

The "IN" Statement

SELECT *
FROM wp_posts
WHERE post_author IN ( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 )

• Records selected: 60
• Execution Time: 0.0066 sec.
• Average Time Per Row: 0.00011
  

The "OR" Statement

SELECT *
FROM wp_posts
WHERE post_author = 1 OR post_author = 2 OR post_author = 3 OR post_author = 4 OR post_author = 5 OR post_author = 6 OR post_author = 7 OR post_author = 8 OR post_author = 9

• Records selected: 60
• Execution Time: 0.0064 sec.
• Average Time Per Row: 0.000107

Projections

Based on the average execution time per row, I have created a graph to show a scaling of the difference between execution times as the selected row count becomes larger. The results are as follows:

Discussion

I have tested this on a small scale with a simple test database, but these results could be substantial on a larger scale. With major websites like Yahoo! storing 2 petabytes of data and Ebay processing 10 billion records per day, you can see how quickly .0002 seconds can become a problem. Major websites will definitely have a better and faster setup running than I do. They will also have incredibly optimized queries, but we (the smaller scale) should work hard and do our best to make our SQL easily scalable. A query that works on a table with 1,000 records may not work on a table with 1,000,000 records.

How do you optimize your SQL and database setup? Give your tips and tricks in the comments.