Microsoft SQL Server version 7.0 offers many new features and product improvements, and it contains significant internal architectural developments. These developments provide an architectural foundation for now and years to come. One key aspect of the new architecture is an on-disk format for all data. The new format supports improvements such as 8-kilobyte (KB) pages, bitmaps to keep track of tables (instead of doubly-linked lists), and index enhancements that result in a faster, more reliable, and more scalable product.
This chapter contains the information you need to prepare for the upgrade process, and includes these topics: