SQL SERVER 2008 R2

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SQL Server 2008 R2 delivers several breakthrough capabilities that will enable your organization to scale database operations with confidence, improve IT and developer efficiency, and enable highly scalable and well managed Business Intelligence on a self-service basis for your users. The download links below will launch the Akamai download manager which is designed to provide you with more control over your download experience.


In Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, several components have new or improved features. Other components have not changed since SQL Server 2008. Those components offer features that were new or enhanced in that release.
New in this Release
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PowerPivot for SharePoint
PowerPivot for SharePoint adds shared services and infrastructure for loading, querying, and managing PowerPivot workbooks that you publish to a SharePoint 2010 server or farm. To create PowerPivot workbooks, you use PowerPivot for Excel.

PowerPivot for Excel
PowerPivot for Excel is an add-in to Excel 2010 that can be downloaded from the web and installed on client workstations. You use PowerPivot for Excel to assemble and create relationships in large amounts of data from different sources, and then use that data as the basis for PivotTables and other data visualization objects that support data analysis in Excel.

Multi-Server Administration and Data-Tier Application
The SQL Server Utility forms a central repository for performance data and management policies that tailor the operation of instances of the Database Engine that have been enrolled in the utility.

Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2008 R2:
The largest database supported by SQL Server Express has been increased from 4 GB to 10 GB.

Connecting to the Database Engine Using Extended Protection:
SQL Server now supports Extended Protection, using service binding and channel binding to help prevent an authentication relay attack. Also, see Extended Protection for Authentication with Reporting Services.