Difference Between SQL 2008 and 2012

1 Maximum number of concurrent connections:
The Maximum number of concurrent connections to SQL Server 2008 is 32767.
Maximum number of concurrent connections:
SQL server 2012 has unlimited concurrent connections.
2 Precision used for spatial calculations:
The SQL Server 2008 uses 27 bit bit precision for spatial calculations. Precision used for spatial calculations:
The SQL Server 2012 uses 48 bit precision for spatial calculations
3 TRY_CONVERT() and FORMAT() functions:
TRY_CONVERT() and FORMAT() functions are not available in SQL Server 2008 TRY_CONVERT() and FORMAT() functions:
TRY_CONVERT() and FORMAT() functions are newly included in SQL Server 2012
4
ORDER BY Clause with OFFSET / FETCH options:
ORDER BY Clause does not have OFFSET / FETCH options as in SQL Server 2012
ORDER BY Clause with OFFSET / FETCH options:
ORDER BY Clause now have OFFSET / FETCH options to use 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;

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Difference between SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2012 [^]

Difference between SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2012
S.No SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2012
1 The Maximum number concurrent
connections to SQL Server 2008
is 32767.
SQL server 2012 has unlimited
concurrent connections.
2 The SQL Server 2008 uses 27 bit
bit precision for spatial
calculations.
The SQL Server 2012 uses 48 bit
precision for spatial calculations
3 TRY_CONVERT() and
FORMAT() functions are not
available in SQL Server 2008
TRY_CONVERT() and FORMAT()
functions are newly included in SQL
Server 2012
4 ORDER BY Clause does not
have OFFSET / FETCH options
as in SQL Server 2012
ORDER BY Clause now have
OFFSET / FETCH options to use
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
as Katmai.
SQL Server 2012 is code named as
Denali
In SQL Server 2008, audit is an
Enterprise-only feature. Only
available in Enterprise,
Evaluation, and Developer
Edition.
In SQL Server 2012,support for server
auditing is expanded to include all
editions of SQL Server.
7 Sequence is not available in SQL
Server 2008
Sequence is included in SQL Server
2012.Sequence is a user defined object
that generates a sequence of a number.
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
Server 2008 does not allow us to
search and index data stored in
extended properties or metadata.
The Full Text Search in SQL Server
2012 has been enhanced by allowing
us to search and index data stored in
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
does not have BI Semantic Model
Analysis Services will include a new
BI Semantic Model (BISM). BISM is a

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