Legal Notice for Documentation

This document is provided “as-is”. Information and views expressed in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, may change without notice. You bear the risk of using it.

Some examples depicted herein are provided for illustration only and are fictitious. No real association or connection is intended or should be inferred.

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Documentation Policy for SQL Server Support and Upgrade

SQL Server 2012 software documentation includes Microsoft Books Online for SQL Server 2012, installation documentation, developer reference documentation, tutorials, readme files, known issues documents, sample code, sample databases, and Knowledge Base articles published by Microsoft- all contain content about SQL Server features and functionality. This support and upgrade policy applies to SQL Server 2012 documentation, including readme files for SQL Server 2012 releases and service packs; a readme file is considered an extension of Books Online for SQL Server 2012.

The primary purpose of a sample contained within this documentation is to illustrate a concept, or a reasonable use of a particular statement or clause. Most samples do not include all of the code that may normally be found in a full production system, as some of the usual data validation and error handling is removed to focus the sample on a particular concept or statement. Technical support is not available for these samples or for any included source code.

In some cases, a particular feature in SQL Server 2012 has not been sufficiently tested or developed and is not intended for your use. Such features are often there as placeholders. Therefore, certain features that are included in the software are not documented. Features that are not documented or that are included as a notation for Microsoft internal use are not intended for your use and are not supported by Microsoft Customer Support Services. Unless the SQL Server 2012 documentation states otherwise, third party content, including issues that result from using such third party content with SQL Server 2012, are not supported by Microsoft Customer Support Services and may also result in loss of data. Microsoft Customer Support Services also does not provide support for databases or applications that leverage or use undocumented entry points like undocumented APIs, including but not limited to: stored procedures, extended stored procedures, functions, views, tables, columns, properties, or metadata.

Server and database upgrades to future versions of SQL Server 2012 for applications and databases that leverage and use undocumented entry points also may not work and are not supported. Use of SQL Server features and functionality included in Microsoft SQL Server that are not documented in the SQL Server 2012 documentation for your use are not supported and such use may cause loss of data.