SQL Server 2008 R2 – StreamInsight Technology

Another issue that has arisen as a novelty is the new StreamInsight technology present in SQL Server 2008 R2 .

The technology is related to StreamInsight scenarios streaming event data or applications with complex event processing (CEP – Complex Event Processing) , very common on the market today.

StreamInsight Why is it important?

You may have seen this type of scenario in the financial market, with feeders from market quotes and historical data. Another common scenario is to news agencies, the treatment of headlines , text or information about which rules apply and filters with a large volume of messages on traffic.
Also, in vertical industries and manufacturing, testing, monitoring and acting on messages received from sensors, RFID collectors, filters, etc.. are also potential candidates for StreamInsight.

The diagram below illustrates some aspects of its architecture:

In the drawing above, notice that the CEP engine , Complex Event Processing Engine , is present in CEP Server. From input adapters for many types of event sources, the CPE Engine consolidates these events through logical query. From the controller or monitoring, mining, logging or action, new events are sent by the CEP engine for client systems through outlet adapters.

Look, do not confuse a CEP engine with an EAI engine – Enterprise Application Integration , or even an ESB – Enterprise Service Bus , much less with a layer of virtualization services.

A CEP involves the aggregation and correlation of events from diverse sources such as devices, web services, sensors, feeders, etc.. Once received these events, they can be analyzed, consolidated and monitored by the CEP engine with high performance and low latency, working the events in memory and persist information about SQL Server, when necessary.

So in CEP applications are not talking message transformation, mapping between types, adapters schemes, multiple protocols and message formats, pub / sub messaging, repository services, UDDI, message box, etc., common patterns and EAI ESB.

But it is worth saying that scenarios that were treated with EAI engines can now be simplified through the StreamInsight , using this new feature native’s own SQL Dedicated Server 2008 R2.