The R2 release of System Center Configuration Manager is released today. Lots of people is already blogging about this new add-on to ConfigMgr. I haven’t played with all features yet, but the Client Status Reporting or “Client Health”, is one of the features I can’t wait to show to my customers. They will love it…

Another great feature is the support for Unknown Clients without using the MDT add-on. I’ve never been a big fan of MDT, so I really enjoy this update.

Version 5 is not around the corner so I wonder what will happen next… An R3 version or Feature Packs? Only the future will tell…

The download isn’t up yet but keep an eye on the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Web site… Hopefully it will be there soon.

What's New in Configuration Manager 2007 R2
The following features are new to Configuration Manager 2007 R2:

· Application Virtualization Management. For more information about managing virtual applications created using the Microsoft Application Virtualization platform, see About Virtual Application Packages.

· Forefront Client Security Integration. For more information, see About Forefront Client Security Integration with Configuration Manager 2007 R2.

· SQL Reporting Services Reporting. Allows you to report on Configuration Manager activity using SQL Reporting Services.

· Client Status Reporting. Provides a set of tools and Configuration Manager 2007 reports to assess the status of client computers, sometimes referred to as "client health." Clients that show a change in activity patterns might need administrative intervention.

· Operating System Deployment Enhancements. The following enhancements are included in Configuration Manager 2007 R2:

· Unknown computer support—In Configuration Manager 2007 R2, you can deploy operating systems to computers using a PXE service point without first adding the computer to the Configuration Manager database. For more information, see About Unknown Computer Support for Operating System Deployment.

· Multicast deployment—Previously, all operating system deployments used unicast. Multicast can make more efficient use of network bandwidth when deploying large images to several computers at the same time. For more information, see About Multicast for Operating System Deployment.

· Running command lines in task sequences with credentials other than the local system account.

Microsoft Corp. today announced the release to manufacturing of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the new version of the company’s acclaimed data management and business intelligence platform. This version of SQL Server provides powerful new capabilities such as support for policy-based management, auditing, large-scale data warehousing, geospatial data, and advanced reporting and analysis services. SQL Server 2008 provides the trusted, productive and intelligent platform necessary for business-critical applications.

Continue at source.

SQL Server 2008 is now available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers and will be available for evaluation download on Aug. 7, 2008.

SQL Server 2008 Express and SQL Server Compact editions are available for free download today at http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver.