Microsoft SQL Server

While its really convenient to use for me as a web developer, its fairly expensive to use in a production environment. I need to explain or justify the choice of using MS SQL Server against its pricing tier which is pretty expensive. We need to think about how to keep the whole infrastructure cost reasonable while keeping MS SQL Server.

We have not used official support to solve any particular problem, we have used different community resources (like forums) to obtain additional information on specific issues or doubts that did not require escalation to Microsoft support.

In case we have to tap their support services, we are getting different responses. But, most of the times, they provide urgent and superb services. During an issue with a SQL defect or compatibility issue, the support constantly provides updates and follow-ups to the development so we can stay updated.

Whatever the question is that we may have about how to accomplish something, it's not been difficult to find answers in the typical online forums (Stack Overflow, etc). The documentation from Microsoft is pretty thorough, too, and easy to follow. I've had no problems with support for SQL Server, which is not always the case with other products.

Rank 5 since I have never used it personally. If you have an Enterprise license I've heard support is reasonable, but no personal experience.

While there have been bumps along the road, Microsoft has steadily, and in some cases rapidly, improved the product. There has been a significant improvement in support since Nadella took over as CEO (this is across the board at Microsoft). Support directly from Microsoft has become more streamlined in my experience, with less wading through L1 to get to an answer beyond the basics. Also, the user community is very involved, and there are numerous forums that assist with answers.

We managed to handle most of our problems by looking into Microsoft's official documentation that has everything explained and almost every function has an example that illustrates in detail how a particular functionality works. Just like PowerShell has the ability to show you an example of how some cmdlet works, that is the case also here, and in my opinion, it is a very good practice and I like it.

The customer support given by Microsoft SQL Server is good, but there is always an opportunity to improve.

So much support -- so many articles out there, so many sources, sample code, etc.

Support is a mixed bag. It works so well you really don't need support except for some edge cases. However, you also are going to be hiring experts in databases, specifically with SQL Server experience, in order to setup and maintain your product. Luckily, SQLServer has the largest user group and most responsive out of all technologies. You just need to put in the effort.

This is an area for improvement. Getting support from Microsoft feels too generic and I would like to see it be a little more specific to what we are trying to do. However, there is so much online about Microsoft that we don't really use the support all that much. We normally can figure out our own issues.

Never used the support.

Microsoft support seems to have really gotten better in recent years. Furthermore, documentation directly from Microsoft had greatly improved, and the prevalence of online support communities continues to grow. I can’t comment on the level of support we have personally received, as our in house team is capable of resolving the majority of our issues.

Because Microsoft SQL Server support team can not solve all problems.

While we haven't had to contact customer support, I am confident that we would be able to find support for the tool if it was needed. Microsoft has a large and well established reputation and a large support team.

Good support from Microsoft Corp for this product and for every requirement lots of blogs are present on the internet.

Support is readily available from Microsoft or other 3rd party solution providers. Many answers can also be found via Bing-ing around the Internet.

My rating is primarily based on the online community and forum support available for SQL Server. So far, whenever I have been stuck somewhere, I have been able to find help whether on the official SQL Server support forums or public forums such as StackExchange. I think using SQL instead of MySQL also goes in favor of SQL Server in that regard.

I have only had to use Microsoft SQL Server support one time in my career and it was a situation where they needed to send a support team member on site to fix. They where great with it. There is a lot of great content available for Microsoft SQL Server available online that will solve almost any issue you run into.

It is easy to get help via forums from Microsoft MVPs and the user community.

We've had problems with support bouncing the incident around between groups or engineers and having to repeat information that was already presented.

Nothing is perfect but Microsoft does fairly well even though they're such a large corporation. SQL server has a large user base and there are a lot of support tools you can find without even calling Microsoft. The internet has a plethora of knowledge and help and Microsoft has also done a great job of making articles on their MSDN website that explain and layout a lot of different things with SQL. With that comes the fact that you still have to go to the internet or on the phone to get help sometimes.

I had prompt responses and forums to look into from time to time.

Microsoft support is a world class organization. While there are challenges in resolving real world problems, the support team goes beyond the call of duty to provide the necessary expertise to get the issue resolved.