That’s right! An all new version 8.0 of Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise is now GA and updated trials are live on the website. Some cool stuff therein:
• Support for SQL Server 2011 (Denali) – Spotlight can now be used to monitor SQL Server 2011 databases (Denali CTP1 and CTP2 releases).
• Project Lucy integration – Use Project Lucy to analyze the performance of your database and compare your experience with everyone else who uses the service.
• VMware memory diagnostics – Analyze virtual memory using charts similar to that used to analyze virtual CPU.
Version 6.5 is hot off the presses HERE. Some very cool new features include:
Adaptive Compression to continually optimize backup compression for best performance
Backup Templates to easily manage and deploy backup jobs to multiple instances
More powerful remote deployment facility to simplify server deployment and configuration
Fast Compression to deduplicate data at the server and further reduce backup times and data volume
LiteSpeed keeps getting faster and faster!
Toad for SQL Server
Version 5.5 is GA with lots of new features and benefits include:
Greater consistency with Toad for Oracle
- New session browser
- Added filtering to schema compare and synch
- Same installer as Toad for Oracle
- Bundle installers
- Enterprise option in the license key to display “unlimited” seats
Database Administration Enhancements
- Index defragmentation
- Manage database storage
- Discover SQL Server Instances
- Virtual Indexes for User Defined Alternatives (SQL Optimizer)
Database Development Enhancements
- Improved critical Code Completion functionality and overall performance
New bundle executables are now available for download:
Supports EBS – Storage Maximizer works with SharePoint External BLOB Storage (EBS) to leave a GUID behind in the content database that references the location of the external content. The end users will see the same link and can still open the item as if it were stored in the SQL content database. Support for RBS will follow 3 months after the 1.0 release.
Rules Engine – Storage Maximizer allows a SharePoint administrator to set rules that automatically remove content to selected external repositories based on content criteria, including size, type, date and number of versions. Administrators can quickly deploy rules to reduce content database size without having to perform complicated rule calculations.
Flexible Storage – Offload content to various content repositories within a single install. Utilize various levels of storage that range from direct attached storage, network storage to cloud-based storage. Storage Maximizer works with the following cloud storage providers, Amazon S3 and Microsoft Azure.
Content Externalizing Scope – Set the scope for externalizing documents form a Site Collection to a document library.
Reporting Dashboard – View the amount of externalized content in an easy to read graphical chart and view details of how much content is externalized to the various repositories, the status of those repositories and the events happening with content externalization.
Integrated Management – Storage Maximizer integrates with Central Administration and looks indistinguishable from other SharePoint features. It installs no agents or services, but Storage Maximizer is a fully integrated solution that leverages existing APIs and Services.
Encryption and Compression – Secure your external data with Storage Maximizer encryption and compression to ensure only those going through SharePoint with the proper access can view and change the data.
Enabled Search – Storage Maximizer maintains SharePoint search capabilities to ensure you find the data you need.
Document Re-entry – Bring your externalized content back into SharePoint easily with Storage Maximizer. Never lose your external content, when you disable the link between SharePoint and the external content, Storage Maximizer will bring that content back into the SharePoint content database.
Toad Extension for Visual Studio 1.2 is now live. You can access it HERE.
Key new features in Toad Extension for Visual Studio v1.2:
Deployment Scripts: the pre- and post-deployment scripts of TFS are now supported.
XML Columns: supports tables with XML data type columns.
Nested Tables: supports tables with up to two levels of nested table type columns.
Synonyms: synonyms can now be imported into your DB project
Source Navigation: You can now use F12 navigation to find the definition of items in the code editor.
Stored Procedures: generate Oracle stored procedures that use insert, update, or delete statements.
Toad for Data Analysts 3.0 us now in free beta. You can access it HERE or at ToadWorld.com
Discover, query, and analyze data across any data source without being a SQL expert. Toad for Data Analysts (TDA) is a data discovery tool designed for data management professionals and analysts who need to access a wide variety of traditional, non-traditional, and emerging data sources to visually run queries, federate and analyze data, and create reports to support analytics and business intelligence. With Toad for Data Analysts 3.0, you can:
Easily discover data across disparate data sources including leading RDBMS platforms, all ODBC enabled sources, and Netezza, Teradata, Excel, Hadoop and NoSQL
Harness the power of SQL to visually create complex queries, visually analyze data, and create reports for self-service business intelligence and analytics without being a SQL expert
Work offline or on-the-go with Toad’s embedded database where you can integrate and cleanse data right from your desktop
Dramatically increase productivity by automating reporting and sharing of information and reports
It’s old news, but two other products in the Toad family have seen a recent refresh:
Benchmark Factory for Databases v6.5 You can access it HERE.
The highlight of this release is wizard-driven workload capture and replay for Oracle, enabling users to accurately anticipate and measure the performance impact of database changes such as patches and upgrades, OS migrations and more. Benchmark Factory is a very flexible, simple database scalability testing tool and, if you’re an Oracle user, also less expensive than Oracle Real Application Testing. If you’re like me and want shortcuts, watch THIS VIDEO to see what the tool can do without the need to download, install, and tinker with it. Quest Code Tester for Oracle v2.0 available HERE. I wish we had this for the other database platforms!
The highlight of this release is the new Test Explorer console that replaces the Test Dashboard. The Test Explorer offers a simplified workflow and greater usability in creating and managing the entire code testing process.
Did you know that Toad for SQL Server has some nice features for users of policy-based management (PBM)?
Importing Policies
For example, Toad can import policies into a PBM server, so that you don’t have to manually create them every time. You can import policies that you have exported from other servers, and you can also import the Microsoft Best Practice Policies. (Read about the concept HERE). The Microsoft policies are a great place to start learning what you can do with PBM, by simply importing them and inspecting their various configurations. They are installed by default and simply need to be imported from the following directory:
%installdir%\100\tools\policies\
Under the directory mentioned above there are several others broken out by technology like SSIS and SSAS. For the Microsoft Best Practice Policies, focus on the policies in the “%installdir%\100\tools\policies\Databaseengine\1033” folder.
As an example exercise, let’s import the Microsoft Best Practice Policy named “Database Auto Shrink”. Follow these steps:
Right click on the policies folder and select import.
In the Import dialog, click the ellipsis next to “File to Import” and navigate to the policies folder mentioned above.
The Toad for SQL Server review that was recently conducted for SQL Server Magazine was published online – and we got 5 out of 5 diamonds!
This is an improvement from the 4.5/5 stars Michael Campbell gave the product in a 2009 review. The review is very positive, with Michael citing the product’s highly customizable management and development solution, and writes that it “one-ups SSMS by including server, schema, and data comparison tools, a log reader, and a wide assortment of other options, capabilities, and utilities.”
I was just bragging about how Toad for SQL Server keeps getting better. In that post, I also pointed out a lot of great resources you can put to work immediately on improving your skills with this great tool. (Incidentally, there’s a freeware version without all of the features, but it’s still quite useful. And you can always use the beta product, if you want all of the features and many new features that are undergoing community testing.)
Ain't he handsome?
One of the reasons that Toad is so good is that it’s always been a community-driven product. Back when I used Oracle every day, TOAD was an acronym = Total Oracle Application Development. It didn’t take long for Toad to rise above the acronym transform into the eponymous term denoting “kick-butt database tool” just a few years before Toad began to go cross-platform. Now that Toad is solidly cross-platform with versions for DB2, MySQL, and Cloud to boot, it’s worth pointing out that Toad got to be what it is today entirely from community feedback. Back in the day, when I worked in Quest’s R&D team, the developers literally kept a checklist of cool suggestions from the community and worked against that to develop new features. My point isn’t to fully describe the inner workings of the Toad dev team, rather I wanted to highlight how incredibly important community feedback is to this tool and the developers behind it.
I would like to make you aware of a recently written paper by Bert Scalzo. The paper focuses on how DBAs can rely on the Toad and Benchmark Factory to perform database workload replays, ensuring that changes to the databases do not degrade the user experience.
I encourage you to read the paper and make workload replay a part of your database change management practices. As I’ve been saying for years, if you don’t have quantitative evidence of what normal is for your database, how can you know what is abnormal?
My employer, Quest Software, Inc. (QSFT26.15, +0.68, +2.65%) today added Apache Cassandra, an open-source NoSQL database, to its list of supported NoSQL platforms with the second beta release of Toad(R) for Cloud Databases. Toad now supports data access and management for Apache Cassandra, Amazon SimpleDB, Microsoft Azure Table Services, Apache HBase, and any Open Database Connectivity-enabled relational database.
Quest Software is proud to announce the launch of the Toad for Cloud Databases community site. You can also get the free Toad for Cloud product here. It’s in beta, but definitely worth a try.
If you’ve wondered what’s over the horizon, I encourage you to take a look at this interview with Billy Bosworth, the head of Quest’s database tools group. (Yes, he’s the guy who signs my checks). We are now experiencing more disruptive technologies in the world of data than we have seen in nearly two decades. Perhaps your database is better suited for the cloud or maybe you want to investigate using a data store as part of your application architecture that isn’t even relational. Imagine if you were empowered to take advantage of these new database technologies, when and where it makes sense.
Believe me, cloud databases and the NoSQL movement is not a passing fad. It will have an impact on the way you do business – maybe not today, but not as far in the future as you might think.
Check it out. And as always, I welcome your feedback.
Toad for SQL Server Wins Best of TechEd 2010 in the Database Development Category
Toad and I go way back. I first started with Toad as a user on the Oracle DBMS back in the early 1990′s. When I started at Quest Software back on January 2nd of 2002, one of the first products I tackled as a SQL Server product architect was Toad. How do we make this very popular Oracle product one that users in the SQL Server world will love too? And this challenge was made that much harder by the fact that Microsoft SQL Server ships with fantastic tools right there in the box. I haven’t worked directly on Toad for many years now, but the tool marches on with new features and capabilities that push the envelop with each new release.
L to R: Jason Hall, Qsft head of SC's; David Gugick, director of Architecture; and me
Want to try Toad for SQL Server for free?
The 5.0 version of Toad for SQL Server that we showed at TechEd is the latest beta, available at ToadWorld.com (build 387 at the time of this writing). It can coexist with Toad for SQL Server version 4.6, if you’re already using it. The beta is quite stable and has a bevy of new features, including:
SQL Azure support for most modules including data compare and schema compare, including comparing regular SQL Servers to SQL Azure and back, also with Firewall management (under Server Security properties panel).
Much improved code completion that’s faster and allows for column selection, multi-table selection, with tooltips for parameters. Don’t forget, all of these features work on SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008, and 2008 R2.
Updated Schema Compare with better exposed snapshots.
Group Execute enhancements that include database-level selection so you can execute across databases, an option to only show selected servers/databases, option to merge results (or not), improved merging, etc.
New Idle Connection Timeout – to close connections after a period of inactivity.
Result Set Pinning.
Improved Trace support with features like Import Trace File to Table and Open in Profiler capabilities.
New Debug Trace – traces all activity occurring inside of Toad, including storing all variable info in a replayable file.
Twitter Integration (under the View – Collaboration panel) with Yammer integration coming in a future beta release.
You can also see a lot more details about the tool here. And my long-standing offer still stands. If you want to try Toad for SQL Server or its brethren (such as Toad for Data Analysts, Toad Data Modeler, or Benchmark Factory), drop me an email and I’ll get a long-term license key straight over to you.
But wait, there’s more!
There are so many great resources for you to tap into. And best of all, they’re all free! Check these out:
In this white paper, renowned Oracle PL/SQL expert and fellow O’Reilly author Steven Feuerstein provides dev managers with guidance on how to help developers write the best software possible.
Live Product Demo:Toad® Data Modeler
Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Time: 11:00 a.m. PT / 2:00 p.m. ET
