SQL SERVER

Overview

SQL Server is a relation database management system (RDMS) produced by Microsoft, primarily queried using T-SQL (Transact-SQL). It serves as a central repository of information that can be easily searched or used to generate reports. As SQL server runs on its own dedicated server it is significantly quicker to query and provides strong protection against data becoming corrupted. It also allows for regular, reliable backups to be made ensuring your data is always safe.

Why do SAnDS recommend SQL Server?

There are a number of key reasons why SAnDS recommend SQL Server as opposed to say, Microsoft Access.

1. Data Integrity: SQL Server has built in protection against data corruption, Microsoft Access files can become easily corrupted if the system crashes or the power is turned off when the database is busy writing data. SAnDS design SQL databases using strict referential integrity rules; this means that data relationships between tables (the place where data is stored) remains consistent.


2. Performance: SQL Server is designed to be very fast to query and because SQL Server is running on it's own server no processing power from the client is needed. During the development and production stages of applications, SAnDS go though many iterations of performance tuning to make sure your database is running the best it can.


3. Maintenance and Scalability: Having your database in one central place means that it's much easier to perform any maintenance or enhancements. And because SQL Server scales so well, additional resources can be added when needed.


4. Cost: For many applications we recommend the free version of SQL Server (SQL Express). Built on the same database engine as the more expensive editions its a very good choice for small and medium scale applications. It's primary limitations are the database size is limited to 10GB (up from 4GB with the recent release of SQL Server 2008 R2) and it can't take advantage of additional server resources (such as more than one CPU and use more than 1 GB of memory in its internal data buffer).