Database Reference
In-Depth Information
18.1 Introduction
MS SQL Server (version 8.0) is Microsoft's flagship relational database engine product.
The product was developed by Microsoft for its Windows operation system platform,
and has been through several stages of revision.
18.1.1 Brief History
Microsoft SQL Server uses a version called Transact-SQL (T-SQL). Microsoft initially
developed SQL Server (a database product that implements the SQL language) with
Sybase Corporation for use on the OS/2 platform. After the IBM-Microsoft collaboration
broke down, Microsoft abandoned OS/2 in favor of its then new network operating
system, Windows NT Advanced Server. At that point, Microsoft decided to further develop
the SQL Server engine for Windows NT by itself. The resulting product was Microsoft
SQL Server 4.2, which was updated to version 4.2.1.
After Microsoft and Sybase parted ways, Sybase further developed its database
engine to run on Windows NT (currently known as Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise),
and Microsoft developed SQL Server 6.0, then SQL Server 6.5, which also ran on top of
Windows NT. SQL Server 7.0 introduced the capability to run on Windows NT as well as
on Windows 95 and Windows 98. With SQL Server 7.0, Microsoft dramatically rewrote
and modified the Sybase code. The company redesigned the core database engine and
introduced a sophisticated query optimizer and an advanced database storage engine.
SQL Server 2005 enhanced this new code line, adding significant new features. The most
recent version of the DBMS is MS SQL Server 2008.
18.1.2 Operating Environment
As mentioned earlier, MS SQL Server has been specifically designed, developed, and
tailored to operate in, and maximize the use of the features of the Windows operating
system. The DBMS can run as a Windows service. As you are no doubt aware,
a service is an application that Windows can start either automatically when booting up,
or manually on demand. Services on Windows have a generic application programming
interface (API) that can be controlled programmatically. Services facilitate the running
of applications such as MS SQL Server without requiring that a user be logged in to the
server computer.
Technically speaking, MS SQL Server is a back-end system. However, being
developed and marketed by Microsoft, all the front-end Microsoft RAD tools are designed
to integrate with SQL server. The effect is that when SQL Server is implemented in a
Microsoft Windows environment (as it must be), one has a choice from several front-end
tools that will seamlessly integrate with the SQL Server database.
