Download SQL SERVER 2012

SQL Server 2012 will provide Mission Critical Confidence with greater uptime, blazing-fast performance and enhanced security features for mission critical workloads; Breakthrough Insight with managed self-service data exploration and stunning interactive data visualizations capabilities; Cloud On Your Own Terms by enabling the creation and extension of solutions across on-premises and public cloud. SQL Server 2012 will be available in three main editions:

§  Enterprise

§  Business Intelligence

§  Standard

Discover the Power of SQL Server 2012

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/get-sql-server/try-it.aspx

SQL Server Data Tools

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/hh297027

SQL Server 2012 Express

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29062

Windows Azure SQL Database Trial Offer

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/SQLAzure/offers/default.aspx

SQL Server 2012 SP1 CTP3

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30375

Download Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 Preview

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/hh973397.aspx?wt.mc_id=TEC_121_1_33

Download Office 2013 Preview

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en?WT.mc_id=MSCOM_EN_US_DLC_FEATURE_131L1ENUS21367

MICROSOFT SQL SERVER 2012 SERVICE PACK 1

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30375

Top Features of SQL Server 2012

Always On Availability Groups -This feature takes database mirroring to a whole new level. With Always On, users will be able to fail over multiple databases in groups instead of individually.

Windows Server Core Support -If you don't know what Windows Server Core is, you may want to come up to speed before Windows 8 (MS is making a push back to the command line for server products). Core is the GUI-fewer versions of Windows that uses DOS and Power Shell for user interaction. It has a much lower footprint (50% less memory and disk space utilization), requires fewer patches, and is more secure than the full install. Starting with SQL 2012, it is supported for SQL Server.

SQL Azure Enhancements -These don't really go directly with the release of SQL 2012, but Microsoft is making some key enhancements to SQL Azure. Reporting Services for Azure will be available, along with backup to the Windows Azure data store, which is a huge enhancement. The maximum size of an Azure database is now up to 150G. Also Azure data sync allows a better hybrid model of cloud and on-premise solutions

Big Data Support -I saved the biggest for last, introduced at the PASS (Professional Association for SQL Server) conference last year, Microsoft announced a partnership with Hadoop provider Cloudera. One part of this involves MS releasing a ODBC driver for SQL Server that will run on a Linux platform. Additionally, Microsoft is building connectors for Hadoop, which is an extremely popular NoSQL platform. With this announcement, Microsoft has made a clear move into this very rapidly growing space.