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SQL Server is an asset
September 16, 2014

SQL Server is an asset

Sean McIlvenna | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

2012

Overall Satisfaction with MS SharePoint / SQL

I use SQL Server as a database for several of our web-based applications; both internally developed applications and off-the-shelf applications (such as Sharepoint).
  • The transact-sql implementation used by SQL Server is far superior than any other database engine that I have used.
  • SQL Server has the best object-relational mapping support available (ex: Entity Framework)
  • Debugging complicated scripts is extremely easy and intuitive when using the tools supplied with SQL Server
  • SQL Server has been around for many years and is debatably the father to many other databases engines. Microsoft pays good attention to SQL Server, and continues to improve as the product grows older.
  • SQL Server is a windows-based product; it can't be used in as many applications as I would like due to OS limitations. This will never change, but is sometimes an issue.
  • SQL Server is not exactly a "light" database. It is a heavy install. SQL Server offers a "compact" edition, but it isn't straight-forward to use.
  • The learning curve for a SQL Server installation can be extreme.
MySQL is my preference for non-windows applications. However, their tooling support is far more limited than SQL Server's (ex: the GUI for database management in all three databases is no way near as advanced as SQL Server's). Oracle has great support for distributed databases, but has more of a learning curve than any of the other databases I have used (where-as SQL Server has excellent distributed database support and MUCH less of a learning curve).
SQL Server is an asset to several projects that I work on. Personally, I even use SQL Server to work with large sets of data that don't stay in a database (ex: I load data into a table to work with the data, and then remove it from the database when I'm done - either exporting it to an excel file or an email, etc.).
I would use SQL Server in any application that can be installed on a Windows server. If your project requires a Linux/Unix or Mac OS installation, SQL Server is out of the question.