SQL Server 2005 SP3 is just a Beta at this stage, however it is available for download here, and it includes all the patches released to date:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D22317E1-BC64-4936-A14B-7A632B50A4CA&displaylang=en
Not a huge amount of fixes, but a few for Reporting Services that caught my eye:
- Optimised Sharepoint Integration, to make reports respond faster.
- Connector to Teradata
- Enhanced PDF rendering
On the subject of service packs, it has now been released that PerformancePoint Server SP2 "should" support SQL Server 2008, lets hope we get our hands on this soon.
ODBC connection string in PPS Monitoring can become a little awkward, therefore I thought it wise to write a quick blog post with various connection strings in for a quick reference.
Using ODBC connection strings, you can connect to many data sources including: SQL Server, Access, Oracle, Excel etc. Lets remember that PPS monitoring is best used when connection to multidimensional data sources, and the built in reports can use only Multidimensional sources. KPI's can however use these connection strings and therefore, it is often a requirement to connect to relational stores. Here are a few examples of connections strings
- SQL Server: Driver = {SQL Server}; Server=SERVERNAME; Database=ADVENTUREWORKS
- Access: Driver= {Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)}; dbq=c:\SourceLocation\SourceAccessDB.mdb; uid=USERNAME; pwd=PASSWORD;
- Oracle: Driver= {Microsoft ODBC for Oracle}; server=SERVER; uid=USERNAME; pwd=PASSWORD;
- Excel: Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)}; dbq=C:\SOURCELOCATION\WORKBOOK.xls; ReadOnly=True;