Top 20 exciting features of SQL Server 2012

Refer Source:Top 20 exciting features of SQL Server 2012 – Part 1

Feature number 1 (Revolution):- Column store indexes

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Feature number 3 (Revolution):- Pagination

There are instances when you want to display large result sets to the end user. The best way to display large result set is to split them i.e.  apply pagination. So developers had their own hacky ways of achieving pagination using “top”, “row_number” etc. But from SQL Server 2012 onwards we can do pagination by using “OFFSET” and “FETCH’ commands.

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Feature number 4 (Revolution):- Contained database

This is a great feature for people who have to go through pain of SQL Server database migration again and again. One of the biggest pains in migrating databases is user accounts.  SQL Server user resides either in windows ADS or at SQL Server level as SQL Server users.  So when we migrate SQL Server database from one server to other server these users have to be recreated again.

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Feature number 5 (Evolution):- Error handling

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when it comes to propagating errors back to the client I was missing the “THROW” command.  We still need to  use “RAISEERROR” which does the job, but lacks lot of capabilities which “THROW” has. 

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Feature number 6 (Evolution):- User defined roles

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But now because you have fixed roles the DBA’s get more access so they can even fire insert, update and delete queries. In simple words we need flexible roles.

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Feature number 8 (Revolution):- Tabular Model (SSAS)

Feature number 9 (Revolution):- Power view

Feature number 10 (Revolution):- DQS Data quality services

Once you open DQS you will find three sections as shown below Knowledge base, Data quality projects and Administration.