James works at Microsoft as a big data and data warehousing solution architect where he has been for most of the last ten years. Before that he was an independent consultant working as a Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence architect and developer. He is a prior SQL Server MVP with over 35 years of IT experience. Check out his book Deciphering Data Architectures: Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh.
In the next few weeks there will be an update to the SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) called “Appliance Update 3” or “AU3”. More than just a cumulative update, an Appliance Update is a complete refresh on the entire solution including software, hardware, … Continue reading →
As a follow-up to my blog Microsoft SQL Server Reference Architecture and Appliances, Dell recently announced the future availability of Dell Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance based on SQL Server 2012. Right now only HP has a Business Data Warehouse appliance (BDW). Basically these … Continue reading →
When the Fast Track Data Warehouse 3.0 Reference Guide was published, it was based off of SQL Server 2008 R2. With the release of SQL Server 2012, as expected that reference guide has been updated. While an official release has … Continue reading →
After SQL Server 2012 was released this past week, I saw a few mentions from Microsoft about a new feature in SQL Server 2012 called “xVelocity”. I have been using SQL Server 2012 for months now, playing with all the new … Continue reading →
As a follow-up to my posts SQL Server “Denali”: New Certifications and SQL Server 2012: New Certifications, there are now final details coming out about the SQL Server 2012 certifications. The major news: UPDATE: Anyone can take the beta exams for free. Just … Continue reading →
In SQL Server 2012, there is a new data model, called tabular, that is part of the new feature called the Business Intelligence Semantic Model (BISM). BISM also includes the multidimensional model (formally called the UDM). The Tabular model is based on … Continue reading →
Thanks to everyone who attended my presentation “Scaling SQL Server to HUNDREDS of Terabytes” at HASSUG. Here is the PowerPoint presentation: Scaling SQL Server to HUNDREDS of Terabytes As a followup to a question from the presentation about clustering the appliances, I … Continue reading →
NOTE: The subject of this blog was developed into a presentation that can be found at: Building an Effective Data Warehouse Architecture What is the best methodology to use when creating a data warehouse? Well, first off, let’s discuss some of … Continue reading →
Power View is installed when you run the SQL Server 2012 install and on the Feature Selection page choose “Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint Products”. This is a newer version of the add-in that is installed with SharePoint 2010, with … Continue reading →
In SQL Server 2008, if you wanted to run Reporting Services in SharePoint integrated mode, these where the steps you took (see How to: Install and Configure SharePoint Integration on a Stand-alone Server): Install SQL Server 2008 and on the on the Feature … Continue reading →
Exciting news! Microsoft announced today that SQL Server 2012 has released to manufacturing (RTM). Customers and partners can download an evaluation (or here) of the product today and can expect general availability to begin on April 1 (see Microsoft SQL Server … Continue reading →
SQL Server 2012 contains six new features for SSRS: Excel Renderer for Microsoft Excel 2003, 2007 & 2010 – Excel renderer will support the Excel 2007 XLSX format. To enable this feature, Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint must be … Continue reading →
Database Recovery Advisor is a new feature in SQL Server 2012 that introduces significant user experience enhancements to the ways DBAs can now restore databases using SQL Server Management Studio: An enhancement for point in time recovery using a new visual timeline feature, … Continue reading →
Extended Events is a general event-handling system for performance monitoring that was introduced in SQL Server 2008. It has a highly scalable and highly configurable architecture that allows users to collect as much or as little information as is necessary to troubleshoot or identify a … Continue reading →
Given two types of underlying data sources (a data warehouse and a OLAP cube built from the data warehouse) there are many different possible presentation layers (client tools) that serve different user communities with varying usage profiles. There is a … Continue reading →
SQL Server 2012 introduces several significant enhancements to spatial types, such as support for new subtypes of circular arcs, new and updated methods and aggregates for all subtypes, improved precision, and updates to the geography type. More info: New Spatial … Continue reading →
FileTable is a new feature in SQL Server 2012 that is built on top of SQL Server FILESTREAM technology, which allows BLOB data to be stored as individual files separate from a database’s data files. Interactions with the FileStream files … Continue reading →
I’m hoping to do a presentation at SQLRally in Dallas on May 10-11, but I need your help! There is a Community Vote for the remaining 20 sessions, so I would greatly appreciate it if you would go to http://www.sqlpass.org/sqlrally/2012/dallas/CommunityChoice.aspx and vote … Continue reading →
Version 2 of PowerPivot (download) is being made available with SQL Server 2012. There are many new features, and my top 5 are: Diagram View – Instead of looking at the defined relationships in a list format, v2 allows you to view the … Continue reading →
Microsoft StreamInsight, first introduced in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, is a way to effectively analyze large amounts of event data streaming in from multiple sources. You can derive insights from critical information in near real-time. StreamInsight is a platform … Continue reading →