SQL Server Query Analyzer now includes Object Browser, which allows you to navigate through and get information (such as parameters and dependencies) about database objects, including user and system tables, views, stored procedures, extended stored procedures, and functions. Other enhancements include server tracing and client statistics that show information about the server-side and client-side impact of a given query. For more information, see SQL Server Query Analyzer Interface Reference.

Replication Enhancements

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 introduces these replication improvements and new features:

Queued Updates

Snapshot and transactional replication subscribers can use queued updating to modify published data without requiring a continuous connection to the Publisher. When queued updating is enabled and a Subscriber performs INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements on published data, the changes are stored in a queue at the Subscriber and applied asynchronously at the Publisher when network connectivity is restored. For more information, see Queued Updating.

Transformable Subscriptions

Transformable subscriptions integrate the power and flexibility of Data Transformation Services (DTS) with transactional replication. This allows you to customize and send published data based on the requirements of individual Subscribers, including data type mappings, column manipulations, string manipulations, and use of functions. For more information, see Transforming Replicated Data.

Schema Changes Allowed in Replication Topologies

SQL Server 2000 introduces support for limited SCHEMA CHANGES to an existing replication topology. This allows you to add columns to, and drop columns from, an existing set of publications and subscriptions without having to drop and re-create the publications and subscriptions. Additionally, to provide improved support for deploying applications, you can now include the schema for views, procedures, and user-defined functions as articles in any publication. For more information, see Creating a Publication and Subscribing to a Publication.

Merge Replication Enhancements

SQL Server 2000 introduces several new merge replication features for the deployment and synchronization of databases for sites that make autonomous changes to replicated data. This beta release introduces new merge replication conflict resolvers, an option to resolve conflicts interactively, automated management of identity ranges at the Subscriber, vertical filtering of merge publications, user-defined functions in dynamic filters and the ability to use alternate publishers when synchronizing data.

Data Transformation Services Enhancements

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 introduces these Data Transformation Services (DTS)improvements and new features:

Support for Keys and Constraints

DTS now supports keys and constraints. You can use the import and export wizards to move primary keys, foreign keys, and constraints, in addition to transformed data, from the source table to the destination table. For more information, see Data Transformation Services Import and Export Wizards.

New Custom Tasks

The SQL Server 2000 DTS Designer and the DTS object model introduce new custom tasks that allow you to create packages that perform tasks or set variables based on properties of the run-time environment. These include importing data from and send data and completed packages to Internet and FTP sites, running packages asynchronously, building packages that send messages to each other, building packages that execute other packages, and joining multiple package executions as part of a transaction. For more information, see Building a DTS Custom Task.

Saving DTS Packages to Visual Basic Files

Saving a DTS package to a Microsoft® Visual Basic™ file allows a package created by the DTS Import Wizard, the DTS Export Wizard, or DTS Designer to be incorporated into Visual Basic programs or to be used as prototypes by Visual Basic developers who need to reference the components of the DTS object model. For more information, see Saving a DTS Package.

Miscellaneous DTS Enhancements

Other DTS enhancements include the ability to select and execute an individual step in a workflow, which enables you to test the success or failure of a step in isolation from the rest of the package; and the ability to use views as a source for copying and transforming data.

SQL Server 2000 Features Introduced in Beta 2.

These enhancements and new features were added to Microsoft SQL Server 2000 after Beta 1:

Documentation Enhancements

The Beta 1 Guide material has been merged into the Books Online for SQL Server 2000, and the Beta Guide has been dropped. The F1 help for the SQL Server 2000 utilities has been integrated with the Books Online for SQL Server 2000. When a user selects F1 help, the full set of SQL Server online documentation is now made available to them. The Books Online for SQL Server 2000 now include subsets that you can use to exclude from your searches those parts of the Books Online that do not apply to your work.

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