Download Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Community Technology Preview 1 (CTP1)

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Parameters

• For the Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CTP1 release, the un-attended or command line set-up process is NOT enabled. Users must use the interactive user interface to guide them through the set-up process.
• Some components in this Community Technology Preview have certain Internet-enabled features, including the Customer Experience Improvement Program and Error and Usage Reporting component, enabled by default to help us identify and address issues that you may encounter while using SQL Server. For more information and instructions on how to disable these features, see the Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CTP1 Privacy Statement.

Key Features

• Project code-named “Hekaton”: “Hekaton” provides in-memory OLTP capabilities built into core SQL Server database to significantly improve the performance of your database application.  “Hekaton” is installed with the SQL Server 2014 Engine without requiring any additional actions and allows in-memory performance benefits without rewriting your database application. You can also increase performance of existing SQL Server applications without having to refresh your hardware.  “Hekaton” is easy to deploy and allows you to access the other rich features in SQL Server, while taking advantage of in-memory performance.
• xVelocity ColumnStore:  xVelocity ColumnStore provides in-memory capabilities for data warehousing workloads that result in dramatic improvement for query performance, load speed, and scan rate, while significantly reducing resource utilization (i.e., I/O, disk and memory footprint).  The new ColumnStore complements the existing xVelocity ColumnStore Index, providing higher compression, richer query support and updateability of the ColumnStore giving you the even faster load speed, query performance, concurrency, and even lower price per terabyte.
• Extending Memory to SSDs:  Seamlessly and transparently integrates solid-state storage into SQL Server by using SSDs as an extension to the database buffer pool, allowing more in-memory processing and reducing disk IO.
• Enhanced High Availability
  • New AlwaysOn features: availability Groups now support up to 8 secondary replicas that remain available for reads at all times, even in the presence of network failures. Failover Cluster Instances now support Windows Cluster Shared Volumes, improving the utilization of shared storage and increasing failover resiliency. Finally, various supportability enhancements make AlwaysOn easier to use.
  • Improved Online Database Operations: includes single partition online index rebuild and managing lock priority for table partition switch, greatly increasing enterprise application availability by reducing maintenance downtime impact.

Installation Instructions

Note: You must have administrative rights on the computer to install SQL Server 2014 CTP1.

There are two methods available to download and install Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CTP1:

1. SQL Server 2014 CTP1 DVD Image: You can use this ISO image to burn your own DVD.
   • Download the following .ISO file from the Evaluation Center
     • SQLServer2014CTP1-x64-ENU.iso
   • Using your DVD-burning software, select the options to burn a DVD from an .ISO image. When you are prompted for a file to use, select the image file that you downloaded. After burning the DVD, locate and double-click Setup.exe on the DVD to begin the installation.
2. SQL Server 2014 CTP1 CAB file:
   • Download the following files from the Evaluation Center to a temporary directory on your device:
     • SQLServer2014CTP1-x64-ENU_Core.box
     • SQLServer2014CTP1-x64-ENU_Install.exe
     • SQLServer2014CTP1-x64-ENU_Lang.box
   • Once the download(s) are complete, double click on the SQLServer2014CTP1-x64-ENU_Install.exe to begin the installation process.

For instructions on how to install SQL Server 2014 CTP1 on Azure, please go to the Windows Azure Infrastructure Services page.

Technical Resources

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