Search results matching tag 'SQL Server 2008'

May 2013 Cumulative Update for SQL Server 2008 SP3

AaronBertrand — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:14:00 GMT

Microsoft has released SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 Cumulative Update #11

Build # 10.00.5840
KB Article: KB #2834048
6 fixes
Relevant for builds 10.00.5500 -> 10.00.5839
NOT for SQL Server 2008 R2 (10.50.xxxx)

Cumulative Update #9 for SQL Server 2008 SP3 is available

AaronBertrand — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:55:00 GMT

Today Microsoft has released a new cumulative update for SQL Server 2008 SP3.

KB article: KB #2799883
There are three fixes listed at the time of writing
The build number is 10.00.5829.00
Relevant for @@VERSION between 10.00.5500 and 10.00.5828

As usual, I'll post my standard disclaimer here: these updates are NOT for SQL Server 2008 R2 (where @@VERSION will report 10.50.xxxx).

PowerPivot Compatibility across versions

sqlbi — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:44:00 GMT

There are several versions of PowerPivot available and starting with Excel 2013 there are also several versions of Excel. It is useful to look at the compatibility between the different versions of Excel and PowerPivot available now.

As a general rule when you have a PowerPivot workbook saved with a specific version of PowerPivot:

You can upgrade a workbook to a newer version of PowerPivot
You can upgrade a workbook to a newer version of Excel
You cannot open a workbook using a previous version of PowerPivot
You cannot open a workbook using a previous version of Excel, if it contains PowerPivot data

First caveat: you can open an Excel 2010 workbook containing a PowerPivot data model in Excel 2013, but once you save it in Excel 2013, you can no longer open it in Excel 2010. This is because a different file format for PowerPivot data used by Excel 2013 that cannot be understood by Excel 2010.

Second caveat: A file saved in Excel 2010 with PowerPivot 2012 (RTM or SP1) cannot be opened by an Excel 2010 running PowerPivot 2008 R2.

Each workbook has a compatibility level for PowerPivot data that corresponds to the PowerPivot version used to save the data. Here is the list of currently available compatibility levels:

1050 (2008 R2)
1100 (2012 RTM/SP1)
1103 (Excel 2013)

The following table tells you what happens when you try to open an Excel 2010 file in a certain compatibility level (columns) with a certain version of PowerPivot (rows):

	1050	1100
2008 R2	Read/Modify	Not Supported
2012 RTM	Read/Upgrade++	Read/Modify
2012 SP1	Read/Upgrade++	Read/Modify/Upgrade

++ It is important to call out that it is *not* supported editing 1050 PowerPivot models in the 2012 release – you *have to* upgrade the model to 110x before you can edit/refresh the model.

A detailed list of errors you can have opening different a workbook with a different compatibility level than the current version of PowerPivot you have is available in the article Version compatibility between PowerPivot Data Models in Excel 2010 and Excel 2013. As the article mention, PowerPivot for SharePoint can open PowerPivot workbooks of previous compatibility levels, but in order to upgrade the data on the server (scheduling a data refresh) you need to upgrade the workbook to the newer format.

You have to be careful using PowerPivot in mixed environment, especially when you want to share an Excel file containing PowerPivot data. Once you refresh PowerPivot data, you need to upgrade the compatibility level if you opened the workbook with a newer version of PowerPivot, and once you do that, your colleague with a previous version of PowerPivot can no longer open the same workbook. Saving the file on SharePoint makes it possible to navigate into data, but you need a correspondent or newer version of PowerPivot on SharePoint than that used to save the file.

For these reasons, when we provide the examples for our PowerPivot Workshop and our book for Excel 2010, the sample files are saved with the older version of PowerPivot (2008 R2). Now that we are working on the Excel 2013 version of the book and of the workshop (soon to be available!), we are finally going to release samples using a newer version of Excel and PowerPivot.

Cumulative Update #8 for SQL Server 2008 SP3 is available

AaronBertrand — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:51:00 GMT

Today Microsoft has released a new cumulative update for SQL Server 2008 SP3.

KB article: KB #2771833
There are 9 fixes listed at the time of writing
The build number is 10.00.5828.00
Relevant for @@VERSION between 10.00.5500 and 10.00.5827

It seems clear that Service Pack 2 servicing has been discontinued. So there is even less reason to hold onto those old builds, and every reason to upgrade to Service Pack 3.

As usual, I'll post my standard disclaimer here: these updates are NOT for SQL Server 2008 R2 (where @@VERSION will report 10.50.xxxx).

MS12-070 : Security Updates for all supported versions of SQL Server

AaronBertrand — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:57:00 GMT

This week there was a security release for all supported versions of SQL Server. Each version has 32-bit and 64-bit patches, and each version has GDR (General Distribution Release) and QFE (Quick-Fix Engineering) patches. GDR should be applied if you are at the base (RTM or SP) build for your version, while QFE should be applied if you have installed any cumulative updates after the RTM or SP build. (More details here.)

SQL Server 2005

RTM, SP1, SP2, SP3 - not supported
SP4 - GDR = 9.00.5069, QFE = 9.00.5324

SQL Server 2008

RTM, SP1 - not supported
SP2 - GDR = 10.00.4067, QFE = 10.00.4371
SP3 - GDR = 10.00.5512, QFE = 10.00.5826

SQL Server 2008 R2

RTM - not supported
SP1 - GDR = 10.50.2550, QFE = 10.50.2861
SP2 - not affected

SQL Server 2012

RTM: GDR = 11.00.2218, QFE = 11.00.2376
SP1 - not yet supported; should not be affected once SP1 is released.

Now, a couple of oddities you might have noticed:

The security bulletin mentions something about SQL Server instances with Reporting Services installed. Yet the KB articles for individual updates state that all instances of SQL Server are eligible for the update. And the update does, in fact, update sqlservr.exe and @@VERSION, even for systems where SSRS is not installed. So until there is some clarification on this point, I'm going to treat this as a patch for all instances.
Both the GDR and QFE KBs for multiple patches state that the preceding cumulative updates are included. I believe this is a copy & paste error and that the cumulative updates for a specific branch are only included with the QFE patch. I will update here if I get any confirmation on this.

Even if they come back and say, whoops, our bad, the KBs should mention it is SSRS only, and the GDRs do not affect sqlservr.exe and do not include the CU updates, I'm still going to apply the patch everywhere. Why? Well, for consistency, I'd rather have all of my instances at @@VERSION = x, than have the SSRS instances at x and the non-SSRS instances at < x.

MDX Studio download #mdx #ssas

sqlbi — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:52:00 GMT

Short version: the latest available version of MDX Studio can be downloaded from http://www.sqlbi.com/tools/mdx-studio/

Long version: Last week Stacia Misner twitted that the online version of MDX Studio was no longer available. It was hosted on http://mdx.mosha.com. It was a sad news, and it is also not good that nobody is maintaining the desktop version of MDX Studio. The latest release is the 0.4.14 and as I am writing it is still available on a SkyDrive link provided by Mosha Pasumansky, who wrote MDX Studio. Mosha does not work in Microsoft now and the entire BI community hopes that somebody will continue its work on this product. Unfortunately, it cannot be published on CodePlex because of some IP restrictions.

Only bad news? Well, I hope no. The first good news is that MDX Studio also works with Analysis Services 2012 in Multidimensional mode. The second news is that, after having checked that we can do that, we created a web page on SQLBI web site to download the latest available release of MDX Studio. I hope it will be necessary to update it in the future, by now it is just a way to simplify the finding and download of this precious tool, and to grant that it will not disappear in case the current SkyDrive using to host the download would be discontinued, like it happened to the MDX Studio online version.

Now a question to the BI Community: I know that there was some content available regarding tutorial on MDX Studio. I’d like to gather it and to put all in a single place. If you have such content, please contact me directly writing to marco (dot) russo (at) sqlbi [dot] com. Thanks!

Cumulative Update #7 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 is available

AaronBertrand — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:54:00 GMT

Today Microsoft has released a new cumulative update for SQL Server 2008.

Cumulative Update #7 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3

Knowledge Base Article: KB #2738350
At the time of writing, there are 9 fixes listed
The build number is 10.00.5794
Relevant for @@VERSION between 10.00.5500 and 10.00.5793

No word yet on an update for Service Pack 2.

As usual, I'll post my standard disclaimer here: these updates are NOT for SQL Server 2008 R2 (where @@VERSION will report 10.50.xxxx).

SSIS Design Patterns, the Book

andyleonard — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 16:37:43 GMT

For the past two years, I have had the honor and privilege or authoring SSIS Design Patterns alongside Jessica Moss, Michelle Ufford, Tim Mitchell, and Matt Masson. Publication of the book – like many projects of this scope – has been delayed. The current publication date is 27 Aug 2012 and I have high confidence in this date.

I take responsibility for publication delays and apologize to those who pre-ordered the book. The reasons for the delays are not important. I have built a career as a software developer and architect based on the following maxim:

Deliver quality late, no one remembers.
Deliver junk on time, no one forgets.

The shared goal of everyone working on this project has been to deliver quality. Proofing the manuscripts, I believe we have achieved that goal.

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July 2012 : Cumulative Updates for SQL Server 2008 are available

AaronBertrand — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:48:00 GMT

Today Microsoft has released two new cumulative updates for SQL Server 2008.

Cumulative Update #11 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2

Knowledge Base Article: KB #2715951
At the time of writing, there are two fixes listed
The build number is 10.00.4333
Relevant for @@VERSION between 10.00.4000 and 10.00.4332

Cumulative Update #6 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3

Knowledge Base Article: KB #2715953
At the time of writing, there are 14 fixes listed
The build number is 10.00.5788
Relevant for @@VERSION between 10.00.5500 and 10.00.5787

As usual, I'll post my standard disclaimer here: these updates are NOT for SQL Server 2008 R2 (where @@VERSION will report 10.50.xxxx).

Cumulative Updates available for SQL Server 2008 SP2 & SP3

AaronBertrand — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:35:00 GMT

Today Microsoft has released two new cumulative updates for SQL Server 2008.

Cumulative Update #10 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2

Knowledge Base Article: KB #2696625
At the time of writing, there is one fix listed
The build number is 10.00.4332

Cumulative Update #5 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3

Knowledge Base Article: KB #2696626
At the time of writing, there are four fixes listed
The build number is 10.00.5785

As usual, I'll post my standard disclaimer here: these updates are NOT for SQL Server 2008 R2 (where @@VERSION will report 10.50.xxxx).