SQL Server 2008 R2 is out

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server 2008 R2 is out

  • Two other important changes

    15-25% increase in price

    EE is now limited to 4 VM's (2008 was unlimited)

    Compression in SE is a good feature.

  • hardware is a lot more powerful and cheaper today than it was a few years ago so you can consolidate a lot more databases on one machine. MS is going to sell a lot less server licenses of R2 than previous versions.

    few years ago our first x64 servers cost $30,000 to $40,000 each for dual quad core, 32GB of RAM and a few other features. this week i was emailed a quote for a Proliant G6 with dual hexacore, 72GB of RAM, 5 year 4hr response time support, advanced ilo and other extra monitoring features for $15000 a server. HP says that you can get a 20 to 1 consolidation ratio of Proliant G4 and earlier hardware going to Proliant G6. even at 10 to 1 it's a huge $$$ savings

  • true - but if you have near term plans for consolidation you may need to get DC edition along with Windows server DC

    also as an fyi anyone who has a software assurance subscription on their current SQL 2008 is grandfathered into the current licensing, even under 2008R2 - verbal from a 'tech demo' I attended this week. "Check with your sales rep"

  • Does any one know if R2 allows for partial/suffix word searching in FTS? I had heard that was the plan a while back but am not able to find anything in the documentation about it being part of the release. Thanks.

  • Is there any white papers released for Data Center is a new edition. Please let us know.

    I would like to see them as we had a new project coming in 4 - 6 months.

    SQL DBA.

  • john.schenck (4/22/2010)


    true - but if you have near term plans for consolidation you may need to get DC edition along with Windows server DC

    also as an fyi anyone who has a software assurance subscription on their current SQL 2008 is grandfathered into the current licensing, even under 2008R2 - verbal from a 'tech demo' I attended this week. "Check with your sales rep"

    i looked at what DC supports and that's mostly for fortune 100 companies and larger. to get more than 8 CPUs in a HP server you have to go Integrity which is very expensive by itself.

    for the first 6 years of this decade we ran our main sql servers on a pair of Compaq DL 760's 8U servers. today you can get a 1U DL 360 that will smoke it. we use 2U's just because the price is the same but the expandability is a lot better. DL 380 G6's will take up to 16 2.5" hard drives. depending on the environment it's probably cheaper to buy a little more servers and use Standard or Enterprise than buy fewer Integrity servers and use the DC edition

    for the VM's at least in our case we can just consolidate 5-10 servers worth of databases on 1 machine with current hardware and it will be faster. in most cases for us we don't need to virtuialize to keep the current server names, etc

  • Some info on the launch site: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/tour/en/default.aspx

    I don't know if there are data center specific stuff out there. It's more feature driven.

  • We luckily have the current 2008 Enterprise (larger CPU limit) installed. Will Microsoft continue to support this edition, and if so, will they adjust up the pricing for this edition?

    Gaby________________________________________________________________"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." - Albert Einstein

  • Do you mean can you upgrade to R2 with Enterprise and use more than 8 CPUs? No.

    If you have a 16 or 32 CPU box on SQL 2008, it's supported. However in R2, you would have to upgrade to Data Center.

  • Steve Jones - Editor (4/22/2010)


    Do you mean can you upgrade to R2 with Enterprise and use more than 8 CPUs? No.

    If you have a 16 or 32 CPU box on SQL 2008, it's supported. However in R2, you would have to upgrade to Data Center.

    Will they let us install any new boxes with the previous 2008 Enterprise? Sorry, I should have been clearer and added that caveat.

    Gaby________________________________________________________________"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." - Albert Einstein

  • If you buy it, you have downgrade rights. Do you mean can you buy SQL 2008 Enterprise in July and install it on old 16 way boxes? Likely not from MS. They'll phase 2008 out of channel quickly.

    If you buy 2008 R2 enterprise, can you downgrade and install SQL 2008 Ent on 16 ways? That's interesting. Don't know, but I'll ask.

  • Steve Jones - Editor (4/22/2010)


    Do you mean can you upgrade to R2 with Enterprise and use more than 8 CPUs? No.

    If you have a 16 or 32 CPU box on SQL 2008, it's supported. However in R2, you would have to upgrade to Data Center.

    I'm not sure I like that. I guess you could split your databases between two instances and assign certain instances to certain procs. Otherwise it seems it could get a bit more pricey.

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
    _______________________________________________
    I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
    SQL RNNR
    Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
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  • CirquedeSQLeil (4/22/2010)


    Steve Jones - Editor (4/22/2010)


    Do you mean can you upgrade to R2 with Enterprise and use more than 8 CPUs? No.

    If you have a 16 or 32 CPU box on SQL 2008, it's supported. However in R2, you would have to upgrade to Data Center.

    I'm not sure I like that. I guess you could split your databases between two instances and assign certain instances to certain procs. Otherwise it seems it could get a bit more pricey.

    Arrghhh...what Microsoft giveth, it taketh away.

    [edit]

    Hmmm...just got a followup email from our Microsoft TAM. He'll be double checking with one of his experts, but he sees no reason we can't keep using regular SQL 2008 Enterprise, but obviously end of support issues will come into play as well. This will be interesting...more to come.

    Gaby________________________________________________________________"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." - Albert Einstein

  • You need to check with your reps, seems very difficult to find someone who can answer licensing questions definitively BUT locally our rep said that if you have SQL2008 EE with software assurance you can upgrade to SQL2008R2 under the current 2008 licensing. - Software assurance 'grandfathers' you into the current licensing.

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