Building A Better DatabaseBuilding A Better Database

Microsoft has developed analytical software to help database administrators configure their SQL Server databases, build better database applications, and enforce data-management policies. A beta release of the Best Practices Analyzer software, unveiled at this week's Professional Association for SQL Server user conference in Seattle, is available on Microsoft's Web site.

Best Practices Analyzer is the result of a tighter relationship between Microsoft's SQL Server support and development teams, says Gordon Mangione, SQL Server VP. The software includes best practices and recommendations from both Microsoft developers and leading SQL Server users about database usage and administration. The configuration recommendations include tips on database availability, backup and recovery, and performance management.

The nearly 2,000 conference attendees were treated to briefings about new features in the Yukon release of SQL Server that's now in beta at 10,000 customer sites and is expected to be generally available by the end of next year. Yukon will feature a complete redesign of its data-transformation services, the database's built-in data movement and transformation technology. A second Yukon beta is due next spring.

Attendees also saw demonstrations of the new reporting capabilities that will be available for SQL Server 2000 by January and, in a more extensive form, in Yukon. "The customer demand for this is just huge," Mangione says. "We've got 200 customers dying to go into production with it."