Nov 7, 2012 - Microsoft released SQL Server 2012 SP1
Nov 7th, 2012 - Microsoft released SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 service packs are cumulative updates and upgrade all editions and service levels of SQL Server 2012 to SP1. This service pack contains SQL Server 2012 Cumulative Update 1 (CU1) and Cumulative Update 2 (CU2).
For most SQL Server components, SP1 is just a collection of patches and bug fixes, but for Business Intelligence scenarios, SP1 is much more than just a service pack. SQL Server 2012 SP1 is specifically released to accompany the release of Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013.
In brief summary, here are the highlights for BI in Excel 2013 and SQL Server 2012 SP1:
- Self-service BI capabilities natively integrated into Excel 2013: The xVelocity in-memory analytics engine that underpins PowerPivot for Excel 2010 and SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services is now natively integrated into Excel 2013. Without using the PowerPivot add-in, users can start in Excel and import hundreds of millions of rows of data from multiple data sources, mash them up, and perform analysis using pivot tables, pivot charts and slicers in Excel. The PowerPivot add-in is also installed with Excel 2013 and can then be used to further enrich the Data Model powered by the xVelocity engine. PowerPivot also includes a new data categorization and recommendation capability and a new improved DataMarket import experience. Moreover, Excel users can now create stunning, interactive reports and visualizations using Power View, which is also installed with Excel 2013. Both PowerPivot and Power View now support 40 languages, including right-left languages, which truly helps to bring our BI capabilities to a broader audience.
- Flexible SharePoint integration Excel Services leverages Analysis Services and Reporting Services to provide data analysis and exploration interactivity in the browser, sharing, collaboration and data refresh of workbooks with xVelocity data and Power View reports. A redesigned PowerPivot for SharePoint architecture gives IT organizations more control over the deployment of BI capabilities in each farm. Also, SharePoint 2013 supports corporate deployments and significantly improves governance and compliance over the self-service BI assets. SQL Server 2012 SP1 is required for server side compatibility.
Beyond the integration with Office, Power View in Reporting Services offers cool new capabilities, ranging from new visualizations, such as Bing maps and pie charts, new formatting abilities, such as backgrounds and themes, and better support for images and URLs. Hierarchies and KPIs enrich the analytical capabilities
List of fixes related to Analysis Services or PowerPivot:
| Release | Bug number | KB Number | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| CU2 | 934436 | 2673997 | FIX: "The index data is damaged" error message when you run an MDX query against a dimension or partition in SSAS 2008, in SSAS 2008 R2 or in SSAS 2012 |
| CU2 | 919039 | 2675233 | FIX: Slow performance when you run an MDX query that uses some sub queries in SSAS 2008 R2 or in SSAS 2012 |
| CU2 | 919046 | 2682819 | FIX: SQL Server 2008 R2 may stop responding when you perform many Update Cube writeback transactions on multiple cubes that belong to different SSAS 2008 R2 or SSAS 2012 databases |
| CU2 | 893264 | 2693652 | FIX: Access violation when you run a DAX or MDX query against a tabular model database through a BI semantic model connection in SQL Server 2012 |
| CU2 | 907480 | 2699163 | FIX: "An unexpected error occurred" error in the PFMemoryHolder::RegisterMemoryHolder function when you run an MDX query in SQL Server 2012 |
| CU2 | 924987 | 2720678 | A hotfix is available that reverts the ID for AMO trace subclasses in SQL Server 2012 to earlier versions |
| CU2 | 950925 | 2721122 | FIX: "Could not open embedded Powerpivot data" error message when a non-administrator user starts SQL Server 2012 PowerPivot for Excel 2010 |
| CU2 | 894873 | 2720619 | FIX:Calculated column that uses the RELATED function c in DAX contains empty values in SQL Server 2012 PowerPivot for Excel 2010 or in Analysis Services Tabular models |
| CU2 | 950463 | 2720673 | FIX: The running of UpdateCells command fails after you run the UpdateCells command two or multiple times to update the value of one cell in a write-enabled cube in SQL Server 2012 |
| CU1 | 899274 | 2562753 | FIX: Slow performance when an MDX query uses unary operators on parent/child hierarchy members in SSAS 2008 R2 or in SSAS 2012 if you define a scope calculation on these members and if the query accesses multiple dates in a time dimension |
| CU1 | 887635 | 2574714 | FIX: Incorrect results when an MDX query runs against an SSAS 2008 or an SSAS 2012 database if you set the RealTimeOlap property to True |
| CU1 | 892370 | 2588047 | FIX: MDX query incorrectly returns a NULL value in SSAS 2008 R2 or in SSAS 2012 if a linked cube contains a many-to-many dimension and a distinct count measure group |
| CU1 | 892362 | 2590200 | FIX: "The results of the current statement cannot be stored on the server" error when UpdateCells commands concurrently perform many writeback operations in SSAS 2008 R2 or in SSAS 2012 |
| CU1 | 885533 | 2605756 | FIX: Internal error when you run a MDX query that uses the Descendants function after you upgrade from SSAS 2005 to SSAS 2008, to SSAS 2008 R2 or to SSAS 2012 |
| CU1 | 899270 | 2606211 | FIX: Error when a complex MDX query has the NONEMPTY clause in SSAS 2008 R2 or in SSAS 2012 if the WHERE clause has a named set |
| CU1 | 899281 | 2626637 | FIX: DRILLTHROUGH statement does not work if it is run against some attribute members whose values contain one or more double quotation marks in SSAS 2008 R2 or in SSAS 2012 |
| CU1 | 892372 | 2629168 | FIX: Internal error when you update a cellset that is returned after you run a query against a perspective in SSAS 2008 R2 or in SSAS 2012 |
| CU1 | 885539 | 2636425 | FIX: Incorrect result when you update multiple Excel 2010 worksheets that use PowerPivot for Excel 2010 at the same time in SQL Server 2008 R2 or in SQL Server 2012 |
| CU1 | 881813 | 2638932 | FIX: Error when you run the ProcessUpdate command against a cube that has partitions that use aggregation designs in SSAS 2008 or in SSAS 2008 R2 |
| CU1 | 896199 | 2652582 | FIX: "Invalid authorization specification" error message when you run the SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services Deployment Wizard by using the SQL Server Authentication mode |
| CU1 | 885548 | 2661225 | FIX: Unable to connect to a data source when you use SQL Server Analysis Services 10.0 OLE DB Provider if you enable the "Automatically detect settings" option in the Connections tab of Internet Explorer |
| CU1 | 875390 | 2683293 | FIX: "Deserialization failed: Requested value '<ServerEdition>' was not found" error message when you use AMO to connect to SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services |
| CU1 | 887665 | 2685308 | FIX: SSAS uses only 20 cores in SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence |
| CU1 | 893254 | 2693568 | FIX: Out-of-memory error when you run a DAX query against a Tabular model in SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services |