Policy-Based Management
Policy-Based Management enables the efficient management of multiple SQL Server instances from a single location. Easily create policies that control security, database options, object naming conventions, and other settings at a highly granular level. Policies can evaluate servers for compliance with a set of predefined conditions and prevent undesirable changes being made to servers.
Data compression
Data compression reduces the amount of storage space needed to store tables and indexes, which enables more efficient storage of data. Data Compression does not require changes be made to applications in order to be enabled.
Transparent Data Encryption
Transparent Data Encryption enables data to be stored securely by encrypting the database files. If the disks that contain database files become compromised, data in those files is protected because that data can only be de-encrypted by an authorized agent. SQL Server performs the encryption and de-encryption directly, so the process is entirely transparent to connecting applications. Applications can continue to read and write data to and from the database as they normally would. Backup copies of encrypted database files are also automatically encrypted.
Add Hot CPUs and Hot memory
Hot-add CPUs, a feature available with the 64-bit edition SQL Server Enterprise, allows CPUs to be dynamically added to servers as needed, without the need to shut down the server or limit client connections. Hot-add memory enables memory to be added in the same way.
Change Data Capture
Use Change Data Capture (CDC) to track changes to the data in your tables. CDC uses a SQL Server Agent job to capture insert, update and delete activity. This information is stored in a relational table, from where it can be accessed by data consumers such as SQL Server 2008 Integration Services. Use CDC in conjunction with Integration Services to incrementally populate data warehouses, enabling you to produce more frequent reports that contain up-to-date information. It also allows sync-enabled mobile and desktop applications to perform efficient data synchronization between client and server, without requiring changes to the database.
LINQ
Language Integrated Query (LINQ) is a .NET Framework version 3.5 feature that provides developers with a common syntax to query any data source from client applications. Using LINQ to SQL or LINQ to Entities, developers can select, insert, update, and delete data that is stored in SQL Server 2008 databases using any .NET programming language such as C# and VB.NET.
FILESTREAM data
FILESTREAM enables binary large object (BLOB) data to be stored in the Microsoft Windows NTFS file system instead of in a database file. Data that is stored using FILESTREAM behaves like any other data type and can be manipulated using T-SQL select, insert, update and delete statements. Unlike traditional BLOB storage, FILESTREAM data is logically shackled to the database while being stored efficiently outside the database in the NTFS file system. FILESTREAM data participates in all SQL Server transactions and backup operations, along with the rest of the database.
DATE / TIME Data Types
SQL Server 2008 introduces several new date and time based data types. DATETIME2 references the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) instead of the system time for greater accuracy and can store date and time data to a precision of 100 nanoseconds. The new DATE and TIME data types enable you to store date and time data separately. The new DATETIMEOFFSET data type introduces time zone support by storing date, time and offset such as ‘plus 5 hours’.
Spatial data with GEOGRAPHY and GEOMETRY data types
New GEOGRAPHY and GEOMETRY data types allow spatial data to be stored directly in a SQL Server 2008 database. Use these spatial data types to work with location-based data that describes physical locations, such as longitude and latitude.
GEOGRAPHY enables you to represent three-dimensional geodetic data such as GPS applications use. GEOMETRY enables you to represent two-dimensional planar data such as points on maps. Spatial data types help you to answer questions like ‘How many of our stores are located within 20 miles of Seattle?’
