SQL VISUAL QUICKSTART GUIDE- P4 | Chapter 1 Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft SQL Server is a commercial DBMS that supports very large databases and numbers of transactions. It runs on only Microsoft Windows operating systems and is complex enough to require a fulltime database administrator DBA to run and maintain it. Learn about SQL Server products at sql and download a free 180-day trial copy of SQL Server or a permanently free copy of SQL Server Express Edition. This book covers Microsoft SQL Server 2008 but also includes tips for 2000 and 2005. To determine which version of Microsoft SQL Server you re running run the SQL Server command-line command osql -E -Q SELECT @@VERSION or run the query SELECT SERVERPROPERTY ProductVersion or SELECT @@VERSION . Tip You can use the SET ANSI_DEFAULTS ON option to make SQL Server conform to standard SQL more closely. SQL Server 2000 2005 and 2008 If you re upgrading from SQL Server 2000 to 2005 2008 here are a few things to know about running SQL programs SQL Server 2005 and later support some standard SQL features that 2000 doesn t such as the EXCEPT and INTERSECT operators described in Chapter 9 but most of the SQL examples in this book will run the same in 2000 2005 and 2008. If an example doesn t run in all versions look for a DBMS Tip. SQL Server 2005 2008 s SQL Server Management Studio Query Editor replaces 2000 s SQL Query Analyzer. SQL Server 2005 2008 s sqlcmd command-line tool replaces 2000 s osql. The sqlcmd tool has many of the same command-line options as osql and osql is still available in 2005 2008 for backward compatibility . Run sqlcmd - to show the syntax summary. SQL Server Express Edition is a free easy-to-use lightweight version of SQL Server 2005 2008. SQL Server Management Studio Express is a companion graphical management tool available as a separate download or bundled with SQL Server Express Edition. 10 DBMS Specifics Figure SQL Query Analyzer uses the selected database to resolve references
