SQL Server 2012 Express with Advanced Services is an extended version of the free edition of the Microsoft database server. It contains full SQL Server 2012 Express functionality and is available under the same license terms. In addition, it integrates the SQL Server 2012 Management Studio Express management tool available as a separate add-on and, what is much more important, has been extended by the ability to execute full-text queries working on text data stored in tables (which enables quick and advanced searches) and to generate statements and reports based on SQL Server Reporting Services.

Some replication functionality is also available (including the role of the subscriber). SQL Server 2012 introduces some interesting facts. First of all, in the Enterprise version we can use AlwaysOn function - a new type of clustering, which does not require a common data warehouse.

Databases are stored on each server separately and synchronized on an ongoing basis. The whole mechanism is also much more flexible in configuration than the current high availability and replication systems. Another novelty is the ColumnStore indexes, which group and store data by column, and then combine them into one index - unlike traditional indexes, which group data by row.

In addition, we have a new report tool, Power View, and installation support for Windows Server Core (Windows Server version without a full graphical environment).