{"id":657,"date":"2016-06-03T04:59:12","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T11:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/database.guide\/?p=657"},"modified":"2020-02-14T16:29:34","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T23:29:34","slug":"what-is-sql-server","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/database.guide\/what-is-sql-server\/","title":{"rendered":"What is SQL Server?"},"content":{"rendered":"

SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS<\/abbr><\/a>) developed by Microsoft. It is Microsoft’s enterprise level RDBMS<\/abbr> offering, and is a more sophisticated and robust system than Access, which has traditionally been a desktop system.<\/p>\n

SQL Server’s main competitors are Oracle Database<\/a>, MySQL<\/a> (now owned by Oracle), PostgreSQL<\/a>, and IBM’s DB2.<\/p>\n

SQL Server is a client-server based system, which means that it operates as a server, typically containing\u00a0many databases<\/a>, with multiple clients accessing the databases\u00a0from across a network. These clients are often other applications (such as a website or CRM system).\u00a0This is in contrast to desktop systems, where the database will often\u00a0(but not necessarily)\u00a0reside on the user’s computer.<\/p>\n

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Client-server based systems typically have much higher specifications than desktop systems, and this holds true when comparing\u00a0SQL Server to Access<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are a\u00a0couple of\u00a0examples to illustrate the difference:<\/p>\n