SQL Server Development
SQL Server is a relational database management system created by Microsoft. It's Microsoft's flagship database solution for the enterprise.
SQL Server is intended to compete against Oracle and IBM. The current version of SQL Server, SQL Server 2008, was released on August 6, 2008 and aims to make data management self-tuning, self organizing, and self maintaining. The goal of SQL Server 2008 is to provide near-zero downtime.
Why Use SQL Server?
SQL Server includes a long list of features usually reserved for high-end database products. For example, SQL Server 2008 offers:
- Replication (Data Transformation)
- Analysis Services
- Reporting Services
- Data Workflows
- Full Text Search
There is no denying that SQL Server offers a lot of bang for the buck, when compared to IBM or Oracle. We like using it because it tightly integrates with Windows (server and desktop), and it works very well with Visual Studio. With recent releases the performance gap vs. higher end products has been reduced considerably.
SQL Server, by its design, is intended to be used by many users simultaneously and can store many more records than a file-based database system. It is also used for more complicated solutions where stability is required.
SQL Server is a server database, not a file-based database. That means there must be a dedicated computer set up to host the database.
When not to use SQL Server
If the database is not going to contain many records and/or it is only going to be used by a few people then a file-based database system would be a better alternative. If a SQL Server database is going to be used by more than one person then it should not be installed on a standard PC where the user may just turn the machine off. It should be installed on its own hardware.
Additional
SQL Server is a database management system only. There are no tools to create user interfaces (forms) or reports like Microsoft Access. These have to be created separately using special programming software like VB.net or C# and these programs are then installed on the indivual's PC. It does come with its own console to manage all the databases and users for those databases.
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