Look for improvements in the way policies are set up in SQL Server 2008 when Microsoft releases the next community technology preview (CTP) of the database server.

 

Those participating in the CTP program of Microsoft's next generation database server will notice some significant improvements. Perhaps the most noteworthy improvement is the declarative management framework (DMF), a policy-based system for managing one or more instances of the new database.

 

The key DMF improvements center on the user interface. Some users have found that setting up policies requires too much navigation. The intent is to minimize the number of clicks required to set up a policy.

 

Among other improvement in the forthcoming SQL Server 2008 CTP is data mirroring, which provides server replication for disaster recovery; improvements to Transact-SQL (T-SQL), the proprietary extensions to SQL offered in databases from Microsoft and Sybase; and extended XML support.