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SQL Server 2000 Preview 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

The upgrade from SQL Server 7.0 to SQL Server 2000 is a relatively small step.   The best way to describe SQL Server 2000 is as a point release with large scale feature enhancements.  Very few new features have been introduced.  SQL Server 2000 takes the existing features of SQL Server 7.0 and extends the functionality available.  That isn't to downplay what the SQL Server team has accomplished with this release which is exceptional.  So that we are on the same page, I consider things like DTS, English Query, and full text indexing as features.  The two notable features added in this release are XML support and data mining capability.  XML isn't even on my roadmap and I have no plans to use it other than to get familiar with the capability.  XML will have its place, but I don't see it as the sweeping change, fix all of your problems solution that it has been hyped to be.  The items that I am very excited about are the following:
  • Indexing capabilities
  • Extended properties
  • Log marking
  • Replication
  • Clustering
  • High end performance

The overview below is from a document Neil Pike has graciously provided and allowed to be posted.  This was a document co-authored by Neil and Trevor Dwyer.  Both Neil and Trevor are SQL Server MVPs and have been involved with the beta from the beginning.

Overview

  • Further improves and utilizes the architecture that was introduced with SQL 7.0.
  • Testing. Has been tested even more by MS/beta testers than SQL 7. 40 internal MS systems running SQL 2000 beta as opposed to 24 that ran the 7.0 beta. 15 external Early Adopters rather than 12. Beta-1 went to 1000 testers. Beta-2 will be publicly available to just about anyone.
  • SQL 2000 has given MS the world records (on any platform) for TPCC, SAP Retail and PeopleSoft benchmarks. Also records on the Intel platform for just about every other benchmark.

Upgrade/Setup

  • Requires NT4.0 SP5 with IE5 or Windows 2000. MMC 1.2. MDAC 2.5 for beta’s – will ship with MDAC 2.6. Windows 95 support dropped – works with Win98 (needs common controls library update and Winsock2) or Millennium.
  • Upgradeable from SQL 6.5 and above only
  • The upgrade is proportional to the schema complexity rather than the database size. Catalog indexes on Unicode strings need to be rebuilt. There are no per-page or per-extent upgrades. Therefore should install/upgrade in a few minutes.
  • Setup will upgrade evaluation copies - no more un-install/re-install
  • Gets Win2K compliant logo. So doesn’t amend path, no files in winnt directories, allows long path names, defaults to loading in "program files\…"
  • Does not support Terminal Server on NT4 – does on W2K
  • Runs on Embedded NT as well
  • Integrated into W2K Active Directory schema – no schema modifications necessary. Can use this to find/browse SQL Servers.
  • Image installation possible – didn’t work properly with SQL 7
  • Connectivity only install possible with .ISS files (silent setup)
  • Internal version number is now 8.0
  • For debugging install errors look in sqlstp.log
  • SQL Server 4.x or 6.0 can’t be on the machine. If setup detects them then it will stop.

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SQL Server 2000 Preview 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Michael R. Hotek

All content on this site, except where noted, represents an original work of Michael R. Hotek and is protected by applicable copyright laws. The SQL Server FAQ is the sole work of Neil Pike. No page, portion of a page, or download may be used for commercial purposes in whole or in part without the express, written permission of the applicable author.