TechEd 2005
Feed for postings about TechEd 2005.
Waehrend TechEd 2005 in Amsterdam hatte ich das Vergnuegen, mich mit Martin Szugat zu unterhalten. Das Interview ist jetzt veroeffentlicht. Ausserdem hat die neueste Ausgabe des dotnet Magazins SQL Server 2005 inklusive XML Support zum Schwerpunkt (http://www.aboutxml.de/xml-corner.zip [10MB ZIP Datei]). Viel Spass!
At TechEd 2005 Europe, I had the pleasure to chat with Martin Szugat. The interview is in German and is now published. Also, the latest dotnet magazine issue contains lots of info about SQL Server 2005 including its XML support (http://www.aboutxml.de/xml-corner.zip [10MB ZIP file]). Enjoy!
As Paul Flessner publicly announced at his TechEd 2005 keynote, the world-wide RTM launch date has been set to the week of Nov 7th 2005 and the June community tech preview (CTP) of SQL Server 2005 has been released. Again, we have added improvements in stability, performance and scalability. And like for the previous CTPs, I have a list of some important changes in the XML area. Note that the release comes with a more general breaking changes list that you should take a look at as well.
Here is the list of changes that may affect existing usages of XML:
- As previously discussed, the XML data type methods cannot be used directly in CHECK constraints anymore but need to be wrapped in a UDF
- Whitespace parsing rules for attribute values have been fixed
- Whitespace preservation measures in serialization: The last whitespace character in a preserved whitespace only text node will now always be entitized. This guarantees that replication and BCP out/in preserves the whitespace information. An option to not entitize it will be added in a future CTP.
- Some more XQuery alignments were done:
Several string functions are now aligned to the July 2004 and later XQuery function and operator working drafts regarding their behaviour when the empty sequence () is passed:
- fn:substring() returns the zero-length string ('') instead of () when any of the parameters is empty sequence.
- fn:string-length() returns 0 instead of () when empty sequence is being passed.
- fn:contains() treats () input as '' (the zero-length string).
- replace value of with an empty sequence as the new value now raises a runtime error unless the empty value is given explicitly as (). This guarantees that empty sequences that are generated due to our mapping of XQuery runtime errors to the empty sequence will not accidentally overwrite values.
- Additional XSD restrictions:
We disallow xs:ID/xs:IDREF/xs:IDREFS types on elements. The semantics was not completely implemented in earlier CTP and Beta versions, so we decided to disable them in this release instead of giving incorrect behaviour.
In addition, we still have some additional work to get done regarding the above mentioned whitespace preservation options and some encoding issues in the upcoming CTPs. As always, please use the new CTP, and provide us feedback. We have done lots to improve performance and appreciate feedback on where you want us to continue to improve (even for after RTM :-)).
Here are my quick notes from Paul Flessner's keynote:
- The Daily Show's Sammantha Bee's technical benefits translator translates the three key benefits of SQL Server 2005 as follows:
Availability and reliability -> Downtime is for suckers
Security -> Hi Hackers … bite me!
Scalability and Performance -> SQL Server 2005 is like spandex pants (it fits any size)
- Paul announced performance figures:
TPC-C: 37% better perf at 17% lower cost than SQL Server 2000 numbers on HP 64-P Itanium hardware using scale up (hitting 1082203 T/S; 7% better than Oracle at 37% less cost)
TPC-H 1TB: 162% better at 54% less cost (on same platform again faster and cheaper than Oracle numbers)
He also noted that these numbers are somewhat beyond most real-world requirements.
- Failover demo'ed with battle robot chopping the network switch of the 32-bit SQL Server 2005 installation and showing how the 64-bit installation absorbed the additional, failed-over load.
- Reporting Services will be available in all editions (even Express).
- The world-wide launch date is now officially set to the week of Nov 7th! The June CTP is out now!
- While SQL Server is 3rd in revenue share (Gartner: 20% 2004), but has the highest unit share numbers (IDC: 41% in 2003, and 34% in enterprise market).
- Cost Chopper Contest: www.sqlserverchopper.com Migrate from Oracle and win a custom chopper.
- Paul announced a free downloadable migration assistant tool to migrate from Oracle to SQL Server…
I am happy that we now have the launch date fixed. I agree with Paul that especially the TPC-C numbers are getting ridiculously outside any real-world use case. The industry should better focus on solving real performance issues.
After an uneventful flight (for once no fires or hurricanes) where I had the pleasure to sit next to one of our directors for Corporate PR, I arrived in Orlando for TechEd 2005 late Saturday night. The drive from the airport to the Hotel was pretty bad: the rain poured so hard, you could hardly see 20 meters ahead of the car.
On Sunday, I got to present my TechEd presentation at the Academic TechEd Pre-conference before heading back and going to the book signing booth and the TechEd presenter and staff orientation. I got two people that made very positive comments about the XQuery from the Expert book, but nobody was interested yet in buying a book. The staff orientation was the obvious "engange and help your customers" and "don't ask 'Can I help you?', ask an apropriate open ended question instead"...
After an excellent Sushi dinner at Moonfish with Jason, Brian, Alex, Fausto and Tim, it was time to get enough sleep for the conference.
Here are some tidbits that may be of interest:
- Euan started a TechEd 2005 video diary at http://mssql.members.winisp.net/ containing short videos by the SQL Server Dev Team.
- http://techedbloggers.net/ provides an aggregation of many TechEd 2005 related weblogs.
- My talk DAT384 will be at 9am EDT on Friday. Since this will be "right" after the attendance party, I hope that all that are planning to attend it, will not party too hard :-). The talk will be followed by a Q&A session in the Cabana, where I will give away a copy of each the Xquery from the Expert and the Xquery Language book for the best questions. So be there!
- We also have vouchers for a free RTM SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition for the people stopping by the Cabanas or Exhibition Pavilion (the number of vouchers is limited).
- Currently I am sitting in the overflow room listening/watching Steve Ballmer's keynote. Interesting times - seeing Steve demo-ing MOM and Windows running on a Sun box. I am sure, Kent will post a list of highlights (since I was sitting next to him during the keynote and he was busy taking notes).
- Tomorrow, Paul Flessner, our VP, will make some interesting announcements that I expect will be blogged about for those that could not make it to TechEd (I can' tell yet :-)).
Those that are at TechEd and want to chat with me in person, can find me at the SQL Server Cabana, where I will be mostly hanging out. If you don't see me, ask the cabana host for me.
Here is an update on two more events where I will be speaking and where I hope to meet some of you:
TechEd 2005 Europe, Amsterdam (The Netherlands), July 5-8, 2005
I will be giving the presentation on Together at Last: Combining XML and Relational Data in SQL Server 2005, probably give a chalkchart talk on some of the T-SQL extensions (assuming the organizers find some space on the schedule) and also give Pablo Castro's 2 ADO.Net TechEd presentations (so time for me to ramp up on all the good stuff the data works team did for ADO.Net v2!). Note that since these will be repeats from the TechEd 2005 US presentations, they will hopefully be slightly improved based on the feedback we will have received.
SQLPASS 2005, Grapevine (Dallas), Texas, September 27-30, 2005
To answer Don's implicit question: I will be attending and presenting. In fact, they invited me to give a Spotlight presentation (what an honor). The presentation will be
S208: Managing unstructured and semistructured data in SQL Server 2005 on 9/28/2005 from 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
The presentation is an update on my last year's presentation on this topic, so if you have any specific requests, please let me know.
They also have me on the list for the backup presentation (alternate presentation) 1834 - Inside XQuery. And I may also get to deliver a Microsoft presentation (to be determined).
Over the next couple of months, I will be speaking/presenting at a couple of occasions.
MSDN SQL Server 2005 WebCasts
MSDN is running a new series of SQL Server 2005 and VS 2005 webcasts. Here are the ones that are interesting from an XML and SQL Server point of view and are being presented by either myself or Shankar. They require registration that can be done by following the links below.
Tuesday, April 5, 2005 3:00 P.M.–4:00 P.M. Pacific Time
MSDN Webcast: Managing XML Data on the Database with SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 (Level 300)
I will be presenting information about the XML datatype (not much on XQuery or optimizations though since that will be covered separately), XML Schema Collection, FOR XML PATH mode, how to use XML inside CLR user-defined stored procs (how to use XSLT), and give an update on SQLXML 4.0.
Friday, April 15, 2005 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time
Developing Smart Client Applications Using SQL Server 2005 Native XML Support (Level 200)
Shankar Pal will discuss some of the design considerations for developing applications using XML data type such as the database table design using property promotion, design of XML schemas, writing queries, client-side access using ADO.NET, and XSL transformation using SQL/CLR.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 10:00 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time
Making the Most of XQuery with SQL Server 2005 (Level 300)
I provide an introduction to XQuery and the data modification language as implemented in SQL Server 2005, and show you how to get the most from XQuery. I will provide an introduction to how to optimize XQuery (in preparation to the last presentation) and how to write some common XQuery expressions to get good performance.
Thursday, April 28, 2005 10:00 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time
Optimizing and Troubleshooting XML Applications at the Server (Level 300)
Shankar will provide a look at techniques for optimizing applications using the XML data type by first examining the XML index mechanism and then showing how to design and use XML schemas in query optimization, property promotion, and writing efficient path expressions. He will show how to troubleshoot XML applications by analyzing semantic correctness of queries, monitoring performance, and using tools such as Showplan.
SIGMOD 2005
I will present a tutorial with presenters from IBM and Oracle and Donald Kossmann as the neutral M.C. on XML and Relational databases which should give an interesting insight into how the “big three” are incorporating XML into their system both at a functional and architectural level. I will put up links to the presentations and papers as soon as they go online.
TechEd USA 2005
Friday, June 10 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
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I will also present at TechEd in Orlando on bringing XML and relational data together (DAT384 Together at Last: Combining XML and Relational Data in SQL Server 2005) both at the academic pre-conference and the general conferernce. Focus will be on how we architecturally combine XML and Relational data and show combining relational and XML data in various ways. If you have any wishes, feel free to let me know... There are also two related Hands-on labs.