This provides brief comparison between SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2012

1. 1.Difference between SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2012
S.No SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2012
1 The Maximum number concurrent SQL server 2012 has unlimited
connections to SQL Server 2008 concurrent connections.
is 32767.
2 The SQL Server 2008 uses 27 bit The SQL Server 2012 uses 48 bit
bit precision for spatial precision for spatial calculations
calculations.
3 TRY_CONVERT() and TRY_CONVERT() and FORMAT()
FORMAT() functions are not functions are newly included in SQL
available in SQL Server 2008 Server 2012
4 ORDER BY Clause does not ORDER BY Clause now have
have OFFSET / FETCH options OFFSET / FETCH options to use
as in SQL Server 2012 paging to show required rows per page
in applications and allow the user to
scroll through each page of results
rather than download the entire set
In the sample query below, SQL Server
would return 10 records beginning
with record 11. The OFFSET
command provides a starting point for
the SELECT statement in terms of
paging, and the FETCH command
provides how many records to return at
a time.
SELECT BusinessEntityID,
FirstName, LastName
FROM Person.Person
ORDER BY BusinessEntityID
OFFSET 10 ROWS
FETCH NEXT 10 ROWS ONLY;
5 SQL Server 2008 is code named SQL Server 2012 is code named as
as Katmai. Denali
In SQL Server 2008, audit is an In SQL Server 2012,support for server
Enterprise-only feature. Only auditing is expanded to include all
available in Enterprise, editions of SQL Server.
Evaluation, and Developer
Edition.
7 Sequence is not available in SQL Sequence is included in SQL Server
Server 2008 2012.Sequence is a user defined object
that generates a sequence of a number.

2. Here is an example using Sequence.
/****** Create Sequence Object
******/
CREATE SEQUENCE MySequence
START WITH 1
INCREMENT BY 1;
/****** Create Temp Table ******/
DECLARE @Person TABLE
(
ID int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
FullName nvarchar(100) NOT
NULL
);
/****** Insert Some Data ******/
INSERT @Person (ID, FullName)
VALUES (NEXT VALUE FOR
MySequence, 'Umar Ali'),
(NEXT VALUE FOR MySequence,
'John Peter'),
(NEXT VALUE FOR MySequence,
'Mohamed Iqbal');
/****** Show the Data ******/
SELECT * FROM @Person;
The results would look like this:
ID FullName
1 Umar Ali
2 John Peter
3 Mohamed Iqbal
8 The Full Text Search in SQL The Full Text Search in SQL Server
Server 2008 does not allow us to 2012 has been enhanced by allowing
search and index data stored in us to search and index data stored in
extended properties or metadata. extended properties or metadata.
Consider a PDF document that has
"properties" filled in like Name, Type,
Folder path, Size, Date Created, etc. In
the newest release of SQL Server, this
data could be indexes and searched
along with the data in the document
itself. The data does have to be
exposed to work, but it's possible now.
9 Analysis Services in SQL Server Analysis Services will include a new
does not have BI Semantic Model BI Semantic Model (BISM). BISM is a

3. (BISM) concept. 3-layer model that includes:
Data Model
Business Logic
Data Access
BISM will enhance Microsoft's front
end analysis experiencing including
Excel, Reporting Services and
SharePoint Insights. Microsoft has said
that BISM is not a replacement for the
current BI Models but more of an
alternative model. In simple terms,
BISM is a relation model that includes
BI artifact such as KPIs and
hierarchies.
For more references on SQL Server 2012 Features, please have a look at the below links,
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3783.what-s-new-in-sql-server-2012-en-
us.aspx
http://beyondrelational.com/modules/4/whatisnew/361/what-is-new-in-sql-server-2012-denali.aspx?
tab=tags&tn=category
http://blogs.technet.com/b/dataplatforminsider/archive/2011/11/01/my-top-5-sql-server-2012-
features-by-aaron-bertrand-guest-blogger.aspx
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