Unprecedented data volumes are driving businesses to look at alternatives to the traditional relational database technology that has served us well for over thirty years. Collectively, these alternatives have become known as “NoSQL databases.” The fundamental problem is that relational databases cannot handle many modern workloads. There are three specific problem areas: scaling out to data sets like Digg’s (3 TB for green badges) or Facebook’s (50 TB for inbox search) or eBay’s (2 PB overall), per-server performance, and rigid schema design.

Windows 7 supports SQL Server in multiple versions and edition combinations. In this article, I explain which editions and versions of both Windows and SQL Server work with each other. I also explain the uses for each SQL Server edition, a few installation and configuration tips, and how to leverage new features in Windows 7 for SQL Server.

Recently, I have been working on Query Optimization project. While working on it, I found the following interesting observation. This entire concept may appear very simple, but if you are working in the area of query optimization and server tuning, you will find such useful hints.

Nobody knows for sure what the future of NoSQL will be like, which way the development is most likely to head and who the winners will be, but we can still try and make some predictions.