Microsoft's SQL Server 2005 might have taken five years to fully bake, but the first service pack was finished just five months after the big product launch.
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 1, which is available now, includes the database mirroring functionality. The previous Community Technology Preview had been released in March.
Database mirroring was originally expected to ship with SQL Server 2005 but was held back for additional testing. The technology transfers transaction log records from one server to another and can quickly fail over to the standby server.
For smaller-scale customers, the release also has features for SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, which includes Reporting Services, and SQL Server Studio Express.
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