Update is fully compatible with Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system; new licensing updates enhance opportunities for virtualization.
Key enhancements to SQL Server SP2 include the following:
Data Mining Add-ins for the 2007 Microsoft Office system enable data mining functionality from SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) to be used directly within Excel® 2007 and Visio® 2007.
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) compatibility with Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 provides integration with the Report Center in SharePoint, enabling the seamless consumption and management of SSRS reports within SharePoint.
SQL Server Analysis Services improvements for Excel 2007 and Excel Services relate to performance and functionality.
Data compression (varDecimal) is an important feature for data warehousing scenarios, requiring less disk storage of decimal data and increasing overall performance.
Manageability enhancements, based on customer feedback, provide management capabilities for database administrators such as improvements in database maintenance plans, enhanced management reports and a new copy database wizard.
Management reports added to SQL Server Express Edition enable customers to get insights into the performance of their Express Edition and SQL Server Compact Edition databases.
Interoperability improvements including Oracle support in the Report Builder feature enable customers to use its functionality on top of Oracle data sources. Customers also have access to SQL Server Reporting Services to build reports on top of Hyperion’s Essbase cubes.
Customers can download SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 immediately from http://www.microsoft.com/sql/sp2.mspx.
Source: Microsoft Releases SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2
Originally published on Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:00:00 GMT