A new version of the Partition Management Utility for SQL Server is now available on Codeplex at http://sqlpartitionmgmt.codeplex.com/.   This is a tool that helps you create necessary staging tables and indexes and associated check constraints, to support partition-switch operations against existing partitioned tables.   This solves the problem of keeping staging table scripts in synch when a permanent partitioned table evolves to contain new boundary values or column attributes.

The latest version adds some significant new capabilities:

  • Support for SQL Server 2012 Columnstore Indexes
  • Option to create TSQL scripts for staging stables, rather than executing DDL
  • Date constraints are now specified in a locale-independent format better supporting globalized deployments
  • Compatible with a broader range of partitioning column types

The utility is a command line tool but it also can be integrated into an SSIS process or used to generate SQL scripts that then become part of a regular "sliding window" partition management scenario.   The new version is backward-compatible with SQL Server 2005, 2008 and 2008 R2.