Microsoft SQL Server[Encyclopedia]

 

Microsoft SQL Server

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Microsoft SQL Server

Maintainer:	Microsoft
Latest release:	2005 / November 7, 2005
OS:	Microsoft Windows
Use:	RDBMS
License:	Microsoft EULA
Website:	www.microsoft.com/sql/

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS) produced by Microsoft. Its primary query language is Transact-SQL, an implementation of the ANSI/ISO standard Structured Query Language (SQL) used by both Microsoft and Sybase. SQL Server is commonly used by businesses for small- to medium-sized databases, but the past five years have seen greater adoption of the product for larger enterprise databases.

[edit] History

The code base for Microsoft SQL Server (prior to version 7.0) originated in Sybase SQL Server, and was Microsoft's entry to the enterprise-level database market, competing against Oracle, IBM, and, later, Sybase itself. Microsoft, Sybase and Ashton-Tate originally teamed up to create and market the first version named SQL Server 1.0 for OS/2 (about 1989) which was essentially the same as Sybase SQL Server 3.0 on Unix, VMS, etc. Microsoft SQL Server 4.2 was shipped around 1992 (available bundled with Microsoft OS/2 version 1.3). Later Microsoft SQL Server 4.21 for Windows NT was released at the same time as Windows NT 3.1. Microsoft SQL Server v6.0 was the first version of SQL Server that was architected for NT and did not include any direction from Sybase.

About the time Windows NT was released, Sybase and Microsoft parted ways and pursued their own design and marketing schemes. Microsoft negotiated exclusive rights to all versions of SQL Server written for Microsoft operating systems. Later, Sybase changed the name of its product to Adaptive Server Enterprise to avoid confusion with Microsoft SQL Server. Until 1994 Microsoft's SQL Server carried three Sybase copyright notices as an indication of its origin.

Since parting ways, several revisions have been done independently. SQL Server 7.0 was the first true GUI based database server and was a rewrite away from the legacy Sybase code. A variant of SQL Server 2000 was the first commercial database for the Intel IA64 architecture. During this time there was a rivalry between Microsoft and Oracle for winning over the enterprise market.

The current version, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, was released in November of 2005. The launch took place alongside Visual Studio 2005. The SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is currently available for free download.^[1]

In the six years since release of Microsoft's previous SQL Server product (SQL Server 2000), advancements have been made in performance, the client IDE tools, and several complementary systems that are packaged with SQL Server 2005. These include: an ETL tool (SQL Server Integration Services or SSIS), a Reporting Server, an OLAP and data mining server (Analysis Services), and several messaging technologies, specifically Service Broker and Notification Services.

[edit] Versions for Microsoft Windows

[edit] Releases

• 1993 - SQL Server 4.21 for Windows NT
• 1995 - SQL Server 6.0, codenamed SQL95
• 1996 - SQL Server 6.5, codenamed Hydra
• 1999 - SQL Server 7.0, codenamed Sphinx
• 1999 - SQL Server 7.0 OLAP, codenamed Plato
• 2000 - SQL Server 2000 32-bit, codenamed Shiloh (version 8.0)
• 2003 - SQL Server 2000 64-bit, codenamed Liberty
• 2005 - SQL Server 2005, codenamed Yukon (version 9.0)
• Next release - codenamed Katmai

[edit] Versions for SQL Server 2005

• Enterprise Edition (x86, x64, and IA64)
• Developer Edition (x86, x64, and IA64)
• Standard Edition (x86, x64, and IA64)
• Workgroup Edition (x86 only)
• Express Edition (x86 only)
• Mobile Edition

[edit] Description

MS SQL Server uses a variant of SQL called T-SQL, or Transact-SQL, an implementation of SQL-92 (the ISO standard for SQL, certified in 1992) with some extensions. T-SQL mainly adds additional syntax for use in stored procedures, and affects the syntax of transaction support. (Note that SQL standards require Atomic, Consistent, Isolated, Durable or "ACID" transactions.) MS SQL Server and Sybase/ASE both communicate over networks using an application-level protocol called Tabular Data Stream (TDS). The TDS protocol has also been implemented by the FreeTDS project ^[2] in order to allow more kinds of client applications to communicate with MS SQL Server and Sybase databases. MS SQL Server also supports Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). The latest release SQL Server 2005 ^[3] also supports the ability to deliver client connectivity via the Web Services SOAP^[4] protocol. This allows non-Windows Clients to communicate cross platform with SQL Server. Microsoft has also released a certified JDBC^[5]> driver to let JAVA ^[6] Applications like BEA^[7] and IBM WebSphere^[8] communicate with Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and 2005.