Introduction to SQL server and how it is differ from other RDBMS

Welcome to SQL world !!!

MSSQL is a RDBMS developed by microsoft and is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications

SQL Server is not just a database, but is instead a complete database platform consisting of numerous services and hundreds of capabilities which can be avail by giving extra cost in other RDBMS.

SQL Server was originally the Microsoft rebadged version of the Sybase relational database. It is only available on Windows platforms. Current version (Mar 2012) is SQL Server 2012.

SQL Server has optional components which come at no extra cost (if hosted on same machine):

· SQL Server Reporting Services – Business Intelligence reporting, Microsoft‟ alternative to OBIEE, Discoverer, Crystal Reports. Has very good integration with Microsoft client products such as Excel which is a significant for end-user usability.

· Analysis Services – OLAP (on line analytical processing), cubes, data mining.

· SQL Server Integration Services – ETL (extract transform load) and export/import tools. Is equivalent to export/import, data pump, sql loader, DBA shell scripts. This was called DTS (Data Transformation Services) in older versions.

SQL servers comes with different editions for different audience and workloads. Following are the versions available with their release date.

Version History: Name	Number	Release Date
Sybase	-	-
SQL Server 6.5	6.5	1996
SQL Server 7	7.0	1998
SQL Server 2000	8.0	2000
SQL Server 2005	9.0	2005
SQL Server 2008	10.0	2008
SQL Server 2008 Release 2	10.5	2010
SQL server 2012	11.0	2012

Following are the 10 quick differences between SQL and oracle.

1. SQL server can have many databases in one instance while oracle can have only one database per instance
2. Oracle memory structure completely defined with in SGA while SQL server memory may go beyond maximum memory thresholld set
3. In oracle we have tablelspaces while in SQL we have file groups
4. Oracle support RAC but SQL server doesn't have real application cluster capability
5. All objects associated with database lies with in the oracled database while in SQL associated objects like linked server, logins, jobs etc lies outside the database on instance
6. Oracle have logical export/import with much more control capabilities like flat file dumps,tablespace remap,schema remap etc but SQL export/import can be done through wizard and is limited to funtionalities
7. Tables can be reorganised in Oracle but not in SQL (other way possible like cluster index rebuilt/reorganise)
8. SQL server came with many freeware services like SSRS,SSIS,SSAS but in oracle they came in seperate packges(selectively)
9. In Oracle access can be granted only on object levels while in SQL server this can be done on schema level
10. Redo and Undo segments/files are seperate in Oracle but in SQL it lies in same transaction log file