SQL Server’s first attempt at Data Compression actually looks pretty good. As I noted in my beta preview (see “Microsoft’s ‘Katmai’ is filled to the brim”), SQL Server 2008 provides ...

- If the table is a heap, the rebuild operation for `ONLINE` mode is single threaded. Use `OFFLINE` mode for a multi-threaded heap rebuild operation. For a more information about data compression, see ...

SQL Server developers will love this new bit of T-SQL syntax when writing stored procedures for modifying tables. Gone are the days of "IF-THEN" logic to decide whether a row needs to be inserted ...

SQL Server 2008, aka “Katmai,” gives SQL Server shops plenty of reasons to get excited. The best SQL Server release to date, it sports more nice new features than you can count, and the ...

However, one customer, ServiceU, estimated it would save between $25-$50K in its first year using SQL Server 2008 Data Compression. Now, that news will even make Ebeneezer Scrooge happy.

Both syntaxes are valid in SQL Server and appear to result in the same schema. The one downside to the latter syntax is that it does not appear to apply XML compression if the table already exists, ...