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Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server

Overview

What is Microsoft SQL Server?

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database.

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Learn from top reviewers

Microsoft SQL Server inspiration

Rating: 8 out of 10
November 22, 2024
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
Microsoft SQL Server supports the databases for our primary accounting system (MS Dynamics GP). This avoids us using much less efficient flat files or less compliant software ...
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Verified user
Manager
Microsoft SQL Server15 years of experience

Microsoft SQL is a valuable tool to manage and present information across platforms.

Rating: 7 out of 10
October 10, 2024
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
I work for a company that creates a software suite that allows our customers to manage and track their work, their companies and contacts, user logins, etc. We use an extensiv...
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Verified user
Technician
Microsoft SQL Server18 years of experience

Microsoft SQL Server review

Rating: 10 out of 10
June 28, 2024
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
I primarily use Microsoft SQL Server 2019 and 2022 data engine to run commercial workloads of various customers. A frequent configuration use case is the usage of Microsoft SQ...
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Verified user
Professional
Microsoft SQL Server10 years of experience

Solid and Reliable.

Rating: 10 out of 10
August 28, 2023
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
We use MSSQL Server along with SSIS and SSRS as it's a very competent software suite and very stable. It integrates well with other software that we use, namely JAMS Scheduler...
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Verified user
Consultant
Microsoft SQL Server11 years of experience

Powerful Relational Database Management with Microsoft SQL Server

Rating: 8 out of 10
September 4, 2021
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
In our organization, Microsoft SQL Server is being used as a relational database engine to store and manage data for multiple applications of CRM, ERP, and Automation. It is w...
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Shivani Pandey
Engineer - Information Technology
Project Engineer
Wipro Limited
Microsoft SQL Server2 years of experience
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

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Pricing

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Subscription

$1,418.00

Cloud
Per License

Enterprise

$13,748.00

Cloud
Per License

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

An Introduction to Microsoft SQL Server's Statistics

YouTube

Introduction to Transact SQL (T-SQL) using Microsoft SQL Server

YouTube
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Product Details

What is Microsoft SQL Server?

Microsoft SQL Server Video

Microsoft SQL Server Integrations

Microsoft SQL Server Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database.

Reviewers rate Implementation Rating highest, with a score of 9.

The most common users of Microsoft SQL Server are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews From Top Reviewers

View all reviews
(1-5 of 14)

Any guy can work on MS SQL server. Its an easy thing to go on.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
August 04, 2017
Verified User
Engineer in Customer Service
Computer Software Company, 1001-5000 employees
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft SQL Server
9 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Microsoft SQL Server is being used by our enterprise proprietary products as a backend database. Our entire organisation across departments widely uses Microsoft SQL Server. Microsoft SQL Server caters the needs of the following aspects. 1. Easy accessibility of data 2. Easy connectivity of data 3. Securing layers of information. 4. Hosting/Supporting/ acting as a backend database to all major applications (internal/ external).
Pros
  • Strengths of Microsoft SQL Server creating an ease even for a newcomer who just knows basics of the database. Creates an easy adoption for any other database programmer who is working on another platform (Oracle, MySQL etc.) to get migrated over to Microsoft SQL server version with minimal efforts.
  • Primarily when the application data to be hosted is very less there is less complexity involved in the creation of databases, securing access to a database table, schema and role wise. Much of the functionality of DML, DDL operations can be achieved through user interface called SQL management studio - best tool for any programmer to senior DBA.
  • SQL Server integration services, analysis services, and reporting services which are included in BI pack will definitely help enterprise customers save a lot of revenue spent on the additional BI stack Reporting products like Cognos, Crystal Reports, Informatica etc.
Cons
  • SQL Server has certain limitations in terms of functionality of SQL management studio. But there are a lot of third party programming tools which are available in the market which is powerful enough to overcome these limitations.
  • Database comparison tool - Lack of a tool where you can compare entities of database like tables, views, indexes between 2 databases of the same application (like comparing production to stage sites).
  • Version control management system (to maintain different versions of code checked in / checked out). Had to be driven using 3rd party tools.
  • SQL replication - coverage for all 3rd party databases has been withdrawn in recent editions which are a limitation especially while migrating from previous SQL server editions. This is a gray area of SQL Server often challenged to due to limitations of integration to 3rd party software's like Oracle, MySQL etc.
  • Performance management tools - even though there are built-in reports like "Activity Monitor", they are existing to monitor the performance of SQL Server. It's better to have an individual console to connect to SQL server instead of depending on Windows or other 3rd party tools like APEX SQL console, IDERA tool to monitor SQL server performance.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft SQL server is well suited in the following scenarios:
for SAAS based solutions.
for any application hosting/ storing data < 1 TB.
for any application where the native code is written in Microsoft based technologies like C#, C#.net, VB.net etc.
for applications where it requires utilisation of BI stack (Reporting - SSRS, analysis - SSAS, and developing ETL based solutions - SSIS).

Microsoft SQL Server is a Great Enterprise Database Option

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
September 10, 2019
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Microsoft SQL Server is our primary data storage for our in house software as well as 3rd party financial software and provides the data for all of our enterprise reporting. We also leverage the additional services that come with Microsoft SQL Server including SQL Server Reporting Services and SQL Server Integration Services.
Pros
  • Extremely Reliable - We have not had an instance of SQL Server itself having issues or causing downtime. We have had AWS hardware failures but not Microsoft SQL Server failures.
  • Total Cost of Ownership - Having Enterprise Edition provides us with the additional features of SQL Server Reporting Services, SQL Server Integration Services, and if we would like, SQL Server Analytics Services.
  • Multiple disaster recovery options - You can use mirroring (replaced by Always On Availability Groups), replications and log shipping to name a few options.
  • Elastic Database options - You can have a mix of on-premises and Azure instances if your use case requires it.
  • Easy Manageability - Microsoft has done a great job of making the management of Microsoft SQL Server easier with every release.
  • In-Memory Database options - You can have in-memory tables for any business case needing that level of performance.
Cons
  • While I really like their disaster recovery options, they could make them more affordable and easier to implement. Always On-Availability Groups is improving with every edition but still can come with some gotcha's if you do not watch it. Including Security across instances, jobs across instances, etc.
  • In memory, at least in 2014, once you enable it that is it. You cannot go back. This makes it difficult to retire this feature.
  • Better native Enterprise management meaning, in a use case where you may have multiple servers or clusters with multiple instances the native tools are lacking and typically require purchasing 3rd party tools or building out tools for monitoring and managing the servers and databases.
Likelihood to Recommend
I love the fact that with the Enterprise version you also get a robust reporting platform, ETL tool, and data warehouse platform. While some use cases may favor other tools in this space, these tools are all mature, robust and feature-rich with 3rd party add-ons available. When compared with other options in the Enterprise space such as Oracle and DB2, I like what Microsoft SQL Server offers and now it can be installed and ran on Linux which is a huge plus.

The way to go for your database implementations

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
September 12, 2019
GD
Gary Davis
Director
Webguild (Computer Software, 1-10 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft SQL Server
24 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I use Microsoft SQL Server primarily as the back end database server to ASP.Net C# websites. For authentication and authorization, the database uses tables and stored procedures to implement membership or identity for user login and defining roles. Of course, the database is used to hold data entities for the needs of the website. Use of stored procedures, views, and sequences full-text indexing are just some of the useful features I take advantage of.
Pros
  • Speed of selects with appropriate indexes.
  • Use through C# of Linq queries to the data.
  • Ability to use CLR assemblies to program in C#.
  • Replication to keep the database mirrored to another server.
Cons
  • I sure wish the T-SQL language was more like C# - it's really primitive.
  • I would like an easy way to pass an array to stored procedures and a way to iterate through the array in the code.
  • Integrated source control for the database would be appreciated.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft SQL Server is well suited for various scenarios and solutions since it is a general-purpose relational database capable of easily and efficiently meeting the needs of your website or application. It is fast, reliable, scalable and easy to use. Due to its popularity, there are many sources of user help, tutorials, examples, and solutions available.

SQL Server -- Enterprise Data and Analytics in a Box

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
February 22, 2020
Verified User
Professional in Information Technology
Architecture & Planning Company, 1001-5000 employees
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft SQL Server
20 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
SQL Server is our go-to database for both on-prem and cloud database needs. We are running on-prem for 3rd party, custom applications, and the enterprise data warehouse. The Cloud is great for custom applications, as well as beginning to migrate to a data lake structure with Azure SQL DW. Other than embedded databases in a few apps, it is the only RDBMS technology we leverage, although we do run several different versions and editions (Azure SQL DB, Azure SQL DW, SQL Server 2016, 2017).
Pros
  • It's easier to manage than other RDBMS.
  • Good, mature, in-the-box interface for both development and administration.
Cons
  • It has a fully extending feature set for managing Azure SQL DB to SSMS and/or Azure Data Studio.
  • It's simplifying security/access setup for Azure SQL DB.
Likelihood to Recommend
I have been using MS SQL Server since version 7, and it has grown significantly in that time. While in the early days I would only grudgingly consider it for departmental level use, by 2005 it had reached enough of a level of stability and reliability that it was a good option for small to mid-size enterprise use. Today, I consider it the premiere RDBMS for virtually any scenario, particularly considering the number of options available. Microsoft's continuing pursuit of separating compute from storage also seems like the right direction, and allows for the compute engine to leverage big data scenarios as well, where the data is sufficiently structured to support utilizing external tables. This provides for use of familiar SQL tools against outsized data sets that do not fit easily in the RDBMS storage paradigm.

SQL Server from a mid-level DBA perspective

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
February 23, 2016
BS
Bill Starling
Database Administrator
Aderant (Computer Software, 201-500 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft SQL Server
3 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
SQL Server is used throughout the organization in differing capacities. Research and Development uses it to develop new software and to fix previously coded bugs or issues. Our software communicates with a SQL server database that has almost 1000 tables with varying relationships and data amount. Support uses SQL to log customer/client issues and to see what clients have downloaded what products and who the contacts are that are viewing our released software from the Salesforce website which communicates with a local SQL database we have on site. Our Professional services team will configure databases in SQL server at client sites to help set up a new client or to solve issues that the client is encountering.
Pros
  • Handle large amounts of data. SQL can process thousands of rows of data in a pinch when given the correct hardware to utilize. SQL likes memory and it will utilize it very efficiently when given the chance.
  • SQL provides at least 2 methods to do everything. You can write simple SQL query scripts or you can use the built-in GUI (which coincidentally just runs SQL scripts behind the scenes).
  • Allows for jobs to be setup that can do simple tasks such as database backups, database restores, export and import data and even send out notifications when SQL Server encounters a problem.
  • Integrates with a lot of other programs and software. Microsoft allows SQL Server to integrate with Visual Studio and you can utilize SQL tools with SSIS, SSMS, SSAS, and SSRS to get deep into integration tools, Analyzing data, and reporting on various data in each database. You can also integrate with third party tools such as the suite of products from RedGate.
Cons
  • Speed up installation times. A manual installation of SQL server can take up a good chunk of time. You can be forced to go through an installation wizard screen by screen and it can take a lot of time waiting for each screen to load.
  • Allow for easier integration with GUI's. SQL has the capability to use a visual query builder where you can drag and drop fields, tables, etc to build a query but it is not as user friendly as you would imagine.
  • Make the permissions more stream lined. Users can have permissions to a SQL Server but not a particular database and trying to find the right spot to add the correct permissions can be painful for someone who is new to SQL Admin work.
Likelihood to Recommend
The larger the database and project the more efficient it will be if kept running smoothly. Small projects/businesses will find SQL Server useful also but for the cost of licenses it may not be as cost effective as some would like. Also if your business depends on the data in the database or server you will want a full time DBA to watch over the Server (both the hardware and software of the server) to insure you don't have any data integrity or security issues.
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