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SQL Server 2005 To Gain Mirroring This Month
Microsoft gave customers a status check on a range of SQL Server-oriented plans on Thursday, including the intention to ship the long-awaited database mirroring technology for SQL Server 2005 this month.
Those updates will be included in SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 1, which will not only include database mirroring, but will also add the scaled-down management tools dubbed SQL Server 2005 Management Studio Express, said Senior Vice President of the Server Applications Paul Flessner in a letter to customers.
Additionally, in executing on its long-term vision for SQL Server, the company anticipates delivering one release approximately every 24-36 months.
Flessner also announced a new product -- SQL Server Everywhere Edition. It aims to provide “a lightweight, compact, but rich subset of the capabilities found in other SQL Server editions.” The new package will be able to synchronize with other SQL Server editions. It will also use the same programming model that other editions have.
The first community technology preview or CTP of SQL Server Everywhere Edition is planned for this summer, with final release before the end of the year.
Flessner has good reason to want to lay out plans for SQL Server’s future. The storage and retrieval of massive amounts of data are rapidly becoming major issues as the price of storage plummets simultaneously with the emergence of new data sources and increasing demands for auditing.
“One could reasonably expect that the cost of a terabyte [of storage] will be reduced from about $1,000 today to $100 in 2007 . . . [and] historical trends imply that in 20 years or less we will be able to store literally everything digitally, and the petabyte will be a standard measure of personal storage,” Flessner said.
Other factors are also contributing to this impending glut of data, such as the growing use of RFID technology to track all manner of items. That and other sensor-related data – what Flessner refers to as “pre-transactional” data -- will drive an explosion of the need for fast, available, reliable storage by factors of 10 or 100.
“As an industry we are facing an unprecedented explosion of data that we will need to manage, with the ability to organize, summarize, and prioritize all of this information becoming a key priority for IT,” Flessner continued.
About the Author
Stuart J. Johnston has covered technology, especially Microsoft, since February 1988 for InfoWorld, Computerworld, Information Week, and PC World, as well as for Enterprise Developer, XML & Web Services, and .NET magazines.