Microsoft SQL Server 2005 for Windows Server 2000/2003, Workgroup, Standard, Enterprise, Developer and Express Editions
General information:
Organizations
today face numerous data challenges; for example, the need for faster and more
data-driven decisions, the need to increase the productivity and flexibility of
development staff, and pressure to reduce overall Information Technology budgets
while at the same time scaling the infrastructure to meet ever-increasing
demands.
The next release of Microsoft SQL
Server is designed to help enterprises address these challenges. Microsoft SQL
Server 2005 is a next-generation data management and analysis solution that
delivers increased security, scalability, and availability to enterprise data
and analytical applications, while making them easier to build, deploy, and
manage.
Building on the strengths of SQL
Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 provides an integrated data management and analysis
solution that will help organizations of any size to:
Build, deploy, and manage
enterprise applications that are more secure, scalable, and reliable.
Maximize
Information Technology productivity by reducing the complexity of building,
deploying, and managing database applications.
Share
data across multiple platforms, applications, and devices to make it easier
to connect internal and external systems.
Control
costs without sacrificing performance, availability, scalability, or
security.
The SQL Server 2005 product family
has been redesigned to better meet the needs of each customer segment. It will
consist of the following editions:
SQL Server 2005
Enterprise Edition is a
fully integrated data management and analysis platform for business critical
enterprise applications. It is the appropriate choice for companies with complex
workloads, sophisticated analysis needs and demanding high availability
requirements. Features include: unlimited scale and partitioning; advanced
database mirroring; complete online and parallel operations; database snapshot;
advanced analysis tools including full OLAP and data mining; customized, high
scale reporting; and advanced Integration Services.
SQL Server 2005
Standard Edition is a
complete data management and analysis platform. It was designed for medium-sized
businesses and large departments needing additional functionality beyond SQL
Server 2005 Workgroup Edition, such as business intelligence tools. Features
include: high availability; 64-bit support; database mirroring; enhanced
Integration Services, Analysis Services and Reporting Services; data mining; and
full replication and SSB publishing.
SQL Server 2005
Workgroup Edition is the
newest product to the SQL Server lineup and will provide a fast and easy-to-use
database solution. It is the ideal choice for small and medium sized
organizations that have outgrown SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and are looking
for an affordable full-size database. Features include: Management Studio;
import/export; limited replication publishing; and back-up log-shipping. It
supports up to 2 processors.
SQL Server 2005
Express Edition is a
free and redistributable version of the SQL Server 2005 database engine. It
offers the fastest way for novice developers to learn, develop and deploy small
footprint, data-driven applications. Features include: a simple management tool;
a report wizard and report controls; replication; and SSB client. It is
available for free via Web download.
Features &
Benefits
SQL Server
Data Platform SQL Server is
a comprehensive, integrated end-to-end data solution that empowers users across
your organization by providing them with a secure, reliable, and productive
platform for enterprise data and business intelligence (BI) applications. SQL
Server 2005 delivers powerful, familiar tools to Information Technology
professionals as well as to information workers, reducing the complexity of
creating, deploying, managing, and using enterprise data and analytical
applications on platforms ranging from mobile devices to enterprise data
systems. Through a comprehensive feature set, interoperability with existing
systems, and automation of routine tasks, SQL Server 2005 provides a complete
data solution for enterprises of all sizes.
The SQL Server data platform
includes the following tools:
Relational
database: Secure,
reliable, scalable, highly available relational database engine with improved
performance and support for structured and unstructured (XML) data.
Replication
Services: Data
replication for distributed or mobile data processing applications, high systems
availability, scalable concurrency with secondary data stores for enterprise
reporting solutions, and integration with heterogeneous systems, including
existing Oracle databases.
Notification
Services: Advanced
notification capabilities for the development and deployment of scalable
applications that can deliver personalized, timely information updates to a
variety of connected and mobile devices.
Integration
Services: Extract,
transform, and load capabilities for data warehousing and enterprise-wide data
integration
Analysis Services:
Online analytical processing (OLAP) capabilities for the rapid, sophisticated
analysis of large and complex datasets using multidimensional storage.
Reporting
Services: A
comprehensive solution for creating, managing, and delivering both traditional,
paper-oriented reports and interactive, Web-based reports.
Management tools:
SQL Server includes integrated management tools for advanced database management
and tuning as well as tight integration with tools such as Microsoft Operations
Manager (MOM) and Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS). Standard data
access protocols drastically reduce the time it takes to integrate data in SQL
Server with existing systems. In addition, native Web service support is built
into SQL Server to ensure interoperability with other applications and
platforms.
Development tools:
SQL Server offers integrated development tools for the database engine, data
extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL), data mining, OLAP, and reporting
that are tightly integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio to provide end-to-end
application development capabilities. Every major subsystem in SQL Server ships
with it's own object model and set of APIs to extend the data system in any
direction that is unique to your business.
The SQL Server 2005 data platform
provides organizations of all sizes with the following benefits:
Leverage data
assets: In addition to
delivering a secure, reliable database for line-of-business and analytical
applications, SQL Server 2005 enables customers to get more value from their
data by including embedded functionality such as reporting, analysis, and data
mining.
Increase
productivity: Through
comprehensive business intelligence capabilities and integration with familiar
tools such as the Microsoft Office System, SQL Server 2005 provides information
workers across your organization with critical, timely business information that
is tailored to their specific needs. The goal is to extend BI to all users
within an organization and ultimately to allow users at all levels of the
organization to make better business decisions based on one of their most
valuable assets—their data.
Reduce Information
Technology complexity:
SQL Server 2005 simplifies the development, deployment, and management of
line-of-business and analytical applications by providing a flexible development
environment for developers and integrated, automated management tools for
database administrators.
Lower total cost
of ownership (TCO): The
integrated approach and focus on ease-of-use and deployment provides the
industry's lowest upfront, implementation, and maintenance costs for rapid
return on your database investment.
What's New in SQL Server 2005
Enterprise
Data Management In today's
connected world, data and the systems that manage that data must always be
secure yet available to your users. With SQL Server 2005, users and Information
Technology professionals across your organization will benefit from reduced
application downtime, increased scalability and performance, and tight yet
flexible security controls. SQL Server 2005 also includes many new and improved
capabilities to help make your Information Technology staff more productive. SQL
Server 2005 includes key enhancements to enterprise data management in the
following areas:
Manageability
Availability
Scalability
Security
Manageability SQL Server
2005 makes it simpler and easier to deploy, manage, and optimize enterprise data
and analytical applications. As an enterprise data management platform, it
provides a single management console that enables data administrators anywhere
in your organization to monitor, manage, and tune all of the databases and
associated services across your enterprise. It provides an extensible management
infrastructure that can be easily programmed using SQL Management Objects (SMO),
enabling users to customize and extend their management environment and
Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to build additional tools and functionality
to further extend the capabilities that come out of the box.
SQL Server Management Studio SQL Server
2005 simplifies management by providing one integrated management console to
monitor and manage the SQL Server relational database, as well as Integration
Services, Analysis Services, Reporting Services, Notification Services, and SQL
Mobile across large numbers of distributed servers and databases. Database
administrators can perform several tasks at the same time including: authoring
and executing a query, viewing server objects, managing an object, monitoring
system activity, and viewing online help. SQL Server Management Studio hosts a
development environment for authoring, editing and managing scripts and stored
procedures using Transact-SQL, Multidimensional Expressions (MDX), XMLA, and SQL
Server Mobile Edition. Management Studio is readily integrated with source
control. Management Studio also hosts tools for scheduling SQL Server Agent jobs
and managing maintenance plans to automate daily maintenance and operation
tasks. The integration of management and authoring in a single tool coupled with
the ability to manage all types of servers provides enhanced productivity for
database administrators.
Proactive Performance Monitoring
and Performance Tuning SQL Server
2005 exposes more than 70 new measures of internal database performance and
resource usage from memory, locking, and scheduling to transactions and network
and disk I/O. These Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) provide greater transparency
and visibility into the database and a powerful infrastructure for proactive
monitoring of database health and performance.
SQL Management Objects SQL Management
Objects (SMO) is a new set of programming objects that exposes all of the
management functionality of the SQL Server database. In fact, Management Studio
was built with SQL Management Objects. SMO is implemented as a Microsoft .NET
Framework assembly. You can use SMO to automate common SQL Server administrative
tasks, such as programmatically retrieving configuration settings, creating new
databases, applying Transact-SQL scripts, creating SQL Server Agent jobs, and
scheduling backups. The SMO object model is a more secure, reliable, and
scalable replacement for Distributed Management Objects (DMO), which was
included with earlier versions of SQL Server.
Availability Investments in
high availability technologies, additional backup and restore capabilities, and
replication enhancements will enable enterprises to build and deploy highly
available applications. Innovative high availability features such as; database
mirroring, failover clustering, database snapshots, and enhanced online
operations will minimize downtime and help to ensure that critical enterprise
systems remain accessible. We will review these enhancements in greater detail
in this section.
Database Mirroring Database
mirroring allows continuous streaming of the transaction log from a source
server to a single destination server. In the event of a failure of the primary
system, applications can immediately reconnect to the database on the secondary
server. The secondary instance detects failure of the primary server within
seconds and accepts database connections immediately. Database mirroring works
on standard server hardware and requires no special storage or controllers.
Failover Clustering Failover
clustering is a high availability solution that exploits Microsoft Windows
Clustering Services to create fault-tolerant virtual servers that provide fast
failover in the event of a database server failure. In SQL Server 2005, support
for failover clustering has been extended to SQL Server Analysis Services,
Notification Services, and SQL Server replication. The maximum number of cluster
nodes has been increased to eight. SQL Server failover clustering is now a
complete fault-tolerant server solution.
Database Snapshots SQL Server
2005 introduces the ability for database administrators to create instant,
read-only views of a database. The database snapshot provides a stable view
without the time or storage overhead of creating a complete copy of the
database. As the primary database diverges from the snapshot, the snapshot adds
its own copy of pages as they are modified. Thus the snapshot may be used to
quickly recover from an accidental change to a database by simply reapplying the
original pages from the snapshot to the primary database.
Fast Recovery SQL Server
2005 improves the availability of SQL Server databases with a new faster
recovery option. Users can reconnect to a recovering database after the
transaction log has been rolled forward. Earlier versions of SQL Server required
users to wait until incomplete transactions had rolled back, even if the users
did not need to access the affected parts of the database.
Dedicated Administrator Connection SQL Server
2005 introduces a dedicated administrator connection to access a running server
even if the server is not responding or is otherwise unavailable. This allows
you to execute diagnostic functions or Transact-SQL statements in order to
troubleshoot problems on a server. The connection is activated by members of the
sysadmin fixed server role and is only available through the SQLCMD command
prompt utility either locally, or from a remote machine.
Online Operations (index operations
and restore) The ability to
create, rebuild, or drop an index online is an enhanced feature of SQL Server
2005 that augments the indexing capabilities of earlier versions of SQL Server.
The online index option allows concurrent modifications (updates, deletes, and
inserts) to the underlying table or clustered index data and any associated
indexes during index data definition language (DDL) execution. With support for
online index operations, you can add indexes without interfering with access to
tables or other existing indexes. Additionally, the server workload allows index
operations to take advantage of parallel processing.
SQL Server 2005 also introduces the
ability to perform a restore operation while an instance of SQL Server is
running. Online restoration capabilities improve the availability of SQL Server
because only the data that is being restored is unavailable. The rest of the
database remains online and available. Earlier versions of SQL Server require
that you bring a database offline before you restore the database.
Replication Replication is
designed to increase data availability by distributing the data across multiple
database servers. Availability is increased by allowing applications to scale
out the SQL Server read workload across databases. SQL Server 2005 offers
enhanced replication using a new peer-to-peer model that provides a new topology
in which databases can be synchronized transactionally with any identical peer
database.
Scalability Scalability
advancements such as table partitioning, snapshot isolation, and 64-bit support
will enable you to build and deploy your most demanding applications using SQL
Server 2005. The partitioning of large tables and indexes significantly enhances
query performance against very large databases.
Table and Index Partitioning Table and
index partitioning eases the management of large databases by facilitating the
management of the database in smaller, more manageable chunks. While the concept
of partitioning data across tables, databases, and servers is not new to the
world of databases, SQL Server 2005 provides a new capability for the
partitioning of tables across filegroups in a database. Horizontal partitioning
allows for the division of a table into smaller groupings based on a
partitioning scheme. Table partitioning is designed for very large databases,
from hundreds of gigabytes to terabytes and beyond.
Snapshot Isolation Once data is
copied, transformed, and archived to an analysis-oriented database it must be
maintained and/or rebuilt periodically. Users certainly benefit from looking at
a transactionally consistent version of the database; however, the version of
the data that they are viewing is no longer current. It can take many hours to
build and index and this is where snapshot isolation comes in. The snapshot
isolation level allows users to access the last row that was committed, by using
a transactionally consistent view of the database. This new isolation level
provides the following benefits:
Increased
data availability for read-only applications.
Nonblocking read operations allowed in an OLTP environment.
Automatic
mandatory conflict detection for write transactions.
Simplified migration of applications from Oracle to SQL Server.
Replication Monitor Replication
Monitor is a tool that sets a new standard for ease of use in managing complex
data replication operations with its intuitive user interface and wealth of data
metrics.
Support for 64-Bit System Itanium
and x64 Optimized for
the Intel Itanium processor, SQL Server (64-bit) takes advantage of advanced
memory addressing capabilities for essential resources such as buffer pools,
caches, and sort heaps, reducing the need to perform multiple I/O operations to
bring data in and out of memory from disk. Greater processing capacity without
the penalties of I/O latency opens the door to new levels of application
scalability.
Windows Server 2003 x64 provides
high performance for both 32-bit and 64-bit applications on the same system. The
underlying architecture is based on 64-bit extensions to the industry-standard
x86 instruction set, allowing today's 32-bit applications to run natively on x64
processors. At the same time, new 64-bit applications are executed in 64-bit
mode, which processes more data per clock cycle, allows greater access to
memory, and speeds numeric calculations. The end result is a platform that
leverages the existing wealth of 32-bit applications while also providing a
smooth migration path to 64-bit computing.
Security SQL Server
2005 makes significant enhancements to the security model of the database
platform, with the intention of providing more precise and flexible control to
enable tighter security of the data. A considerable investment has been made in
a number of features to provide a high level of security for your enterprise
data including:
Enforcing
policies for SQL Server login passwords in the authentication space.
Providing
for more granularity in terms of specifying permissions at various scopes in
the authorization space.
Allowing
for the separation of owners and schemas in the security management space.
Authorization A new security
model in SQL Server 2005 allows administrators to manage permissions at a
granular level and at a designated scope, making management of permissions
easier as well as ensuring that the principle of least privileges is upheld. SQL
Server 2005 allows you to specify a context under which statements in a module
execute. This feature also acts as an excellent mechanism for granular
permission management.
Authentication SQL Server
2005 clustering supports Kerberos authentication against a SQL Server 2005
virtual server. Administrators can specify Microsoft Windows-style policies on
standard logins so that a consistent policy is applied across all accounts in
the domain.
Native Encryption SQL Server
2005 supports encryption capabilities within the database itself, fully
integrated with a key management infrastructure. By default, client/server
communications are encrypted. To centralize security assurance, server policy
can be defined to reject unencrypted communications.
SQL and Trustworthy Computing The
Trustworthy Computing initiative outlines a framework that defines the steps
necessary to support secure computing as well as measures that help you deploy
and maintain a secure environment. These steps help to protect the
confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and systems at every phase
of the software life cycle—from design, to delivery, to maintenance. To uphold
the four tenets of the Trustworthy Computing initiative, Microsoft and the SQL
Server team have taken the following steps:
Secure by design.
The SQL Server development team conducted multiple security audits and spent
more than two months studying SQL Server components and the interaction between
them. For each potential security threat, the team did a threat analysis to
evaluate the issue and completed additional design and testing work to
neutralize potential security issues. As a result of these design efforts, SQL
Server 2005 includes many new server security features.
Secure by default.
Upon installation, SQL Server 2005 chooses the right set of configuration values
for all setup options, ensuring that when a new system is installed, it will be
in a secure state by default.
Secure in
deployment. Microsoft
has created content to help organizations deploy SQL Server using the proper
security credentials and to fully understand the steps and permissions required.
SQL Server deployment tools provide the information necessary to understand the
decisions you need to make during deployment. Security updates are easy to find
and install—and if you choose the option, the updates install automatically.
Tools are also available to help you assess and manage security risks across
organizations.
Developer Productivity
SQL Server
2005 includes many new technologies that bring significant increases in
developer productivity. From .NET Framework support to tight integration with
Visual Studio, these features provide developers with the ability to more easily
create secure, robust database applications at a lower cost. SQL Server 2005
enables developers to leverage existing skills across a variety of development
languages while providing an end-to-end development environment for the
database. Native XML capabilities will also allow developers to build new
classes of connected applications across any platform or device.
Enhancements for developer
productivity include:
Expanded language
support
Improved development
tools
Extensibility
Improved data access
XML and Web services
Application Framework
SQL Server Express More than ever
developers are leveraging relational databases to provide a rich end-user
experience. Protecting and managing information inside these applications is
critical. Microsoft SQL Server Express helps developers build robust and
reliable applications by providing a free, easy to use, and robust database. Too
often database systems are overly complex for building simple applications.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server Express reduce this complexity by
providing a simple but powerful development environment for building data-driven
applications. Developers can design schemas, add data, and query local
databases, all inside the Visual Studio 2005 environment. If developers need
more advanced database features, then SQL Server Express can be seamlessly
upgraded to more sophisticated versions of SQL Server.
Features comparison Microsoft has
redesigned the SQL Server 2005 product family to better meet the needs of each
customer segment with four new editions: Express, Workgroup, Standard, and
Enterprise. As a low-cost mainstream database, SQL Server 2005 will deliver
unprecedented value and functionality compared with competitive solutions. The
four new editions will offer a range of features, from high availability and
robust scalability to advanced business intelligence tools, designed to empower
users across an organization through a more secure, reliable, and productive
data management platform. Additionally, with the reduced application downtime,
robust scalability and performance, and tight security controls, SQL Server 2005
represents a dramatic step forward in supporting the most demanding enterprise
systems in the world. Because SQL Server is part of Windows Server System,
customers also receive the added benefits of reduced total cost of ownership and
faster development time through the increased manageability and integration that
result from the common engineering strategy implemented across Windows Server
System products. The table in the web page
Fastest
way to learn, build and deploy simple data-driven applications.
1 CPU
1-GB
RAM 4-GB DB
size
4-GB DB size
Simple
Reporting
Replication &
SSB Client
Workgroup
Most
affordable and easiest to use database solution for smaller departments
and growing businesses.
1-2
CPUs 3-GB
RAM
Management
Studio
Import/Export
Limited
Replication Publishing
Clustering
Back-up Log
Shipping
Standard
Complete data management and analysis platform for medium businesses and
larger departments.
1-4
CPUs Unlimited RAM
Database
Mirroring
Basic ETL
Standard OLAP
Server with Analysis Services
Standard
Reporting with Reporting Services
Data Mining
Full
Replication & SSB Publishing
Available in
native 32- and 64-bit editions
Supports
Itanium2 and x64
Enterprise
Fully
integrated data management and analysis platform for business-critical
enterprise applications.
Unlimited Scale & Partitioning
Advanced
database mirroring, Complete online & parallel operations, and database
snapshot.
Advanced
analysis tools including full OLAP & Data Mining.
Advanced
reporting with customized, high scale, and ad hoc reporting.
Advanced ETL
with complex data routing and transformation capabilities.
Available in
native 32 and 64 bit editions.
Supports
Itanium2 and x64
* SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
replaces MSDE for SQL Server 2000 and is a redistributable version of the SQL
Server 2005 database engine. This edition was designed as a fast way for novice
developers to learn, develop and deploy small footprint, data-driven
applications, as well as an easy way for customers and partners to get started
with SQL Server 2005. SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is available for free via
Web download.