Comparison of SQL Server versions

Today we will just review about the difference between most commonly used versions of SQL Server's.


     

SNo.	SQL Server 2000	SQL Server 2005	SQL Server 2008
1.	Query Analyser and Enterprise manager are separate.	Both are combined as SSMS (SQL Server management Studio).	Both are combined as SSMS (SQL Server management Studio).
2.	No XML datatype is used.	XML datatype is introduced.	XML datatype is used.
3.	We can create maximum of 65,535 databases.	We can create 32767 databases.	We can create 32767 databases.
4.	Nil	Exception Handling	Exception Handling
5.	Nil	Varchar(Max) data type	Varchar(Max) data type
6.	Nil	DDL Triggers.	DDL Triggers.
7.	Nil	DataBase Mirroring.	DataBase Mirroring.
8.	Nil	RowNumber function for paging.	RowNumber function for paging.
9.	Nil	Table fragmentation.	Table fragmentation.
10.	Nil	Full Text Search.	Full Text Search.
11.	Nil	Bulk Copy Update.	Bulk Copy Update.
12.	Nil	Cant encrypt	Can encrypt the entire database introduced in 2008
13.	Can’t compress the tables and indexes.	Can Compress tables and indexes (Introduced in 2005 SP2).	Can compress tables and indexes.
14.	Datetime datatype is used for both date and time.	Datetime datatype is used for both date and time.	Date and time are seperately used for date and time datatype,geospatial and timestamp with internal timezone is used.
15.	No varchar(max) or varbinary(max) is available.	Varchar(max) and varbinary(max) is used.	Varchar(max) and varbinary(max) is used.
16.	No table datatype is included.	No table datatype is included.	Table datatype introduced.
17.	No SSIS is included.	SSIS is started using.	SSIS avails in this version
18.	CMS is not available.	CMS is not available.	Central Management Server (CMS) is Introduced.
19.	PBM is not available.	PBM is not available.	Policy based management (PBM) server is Introduced.

In further posts we will discuss basic things in SQL Server like about SQL Server Architecture, System/Users Databases, Creation of database and some of the database properties.
 

Versions of MSSQL Servers

In this post, We will have a look on the versions of SQL Servers released by Microsoft.

SQL Server Release History 

Version	Year	Release Name	Codename
1 (OS/2)	1989	SQL Server 1.0 (16 bit)	N/A
1.1 (OS/2)	1991	SQL Server 1.1 (16 bit)	N/A
4.21 (WinNT)	1993	SQL Server 4.21	SQLNT
6	1995	SQL Server 6.0	SQL95
6.5	1996	SQL Server 6.5	Hydra
7	1998	SQL Server 7.0	Sphinx
-	1999	SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Tools	Palato Mania
8	2000	SQL Server 2000	Shiloh
8	2003	SQL Server 2000 64-bit Edition	Liberty
9	2005	SQL Server 2005	Yukon
10	2008	SQL Server 2008	Katmai
10.25	2010	SQL Azure DB	CloudDatabase
10.5	2010	SQL Server 2008 R2	Kilimanjaro
11	2012	SQL Server 2012	Denali
12	2014	SQL Server 2014	SQL14
13	2015	SQL Server 2016 CTP2	?

 

SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2, 2012, 2014 are in use by most of the clients or companies but Microsoft stopped releasing Service Pack for SQL2000, SQL2005 Versions. As now Microsoft released SQL Server 2016 with highly featured.

Here are the details of latest SP's for each SQL Server Version:

	RTM (no SP)	SP1	SP2	SP3	SP4
SQL Server 2016	CTP3.3
SQL Server 2014	12.0.2000.8	12.0.4100.1 (CU4-12.00.4437)
SQL Server 2012	11.0.2100.60	11.0.3000.0	11.0.5058.0	11.0.6020.0 (CU1-11.00.6518)
SQL Server 2008 R2	10.50.1600.1	10.50.2500.0	10.50.4000.0	10.50.6000.34
SQL Server 2008	10.0.1600.22	10.0.2531.0	10.0.4000.0	10.0.5500.0	10.0.6000.29
SQL Server 2005	9.0.1399.06	9.0.2047	9.0.3042	9.0.4035	9.0.5000
SQL Server 2000	8.0.194	8.0.384	8.0.532	8.0.760	8.0.2039
SQL Server 7.0	7.0.623	7.0.699	7.0.842	7.0.961	7.0.1063

Note: Last Updated on 7th Feb, 2016.
Keep updating whenever any new Service Pack announced