Beginning ASP.NET 4.5: in C# and VB

Appendix B

Configuring SQL Server 2012

So far, the exercises in the book assume that you are using Microsoft SQL Express 2012 LocalDB Edition 11.0 as the database for the Planet Wrox project. SQL Express LocalDB Edition 11.0 is great for development because it's free, lightweight, and easy to use. However, it's not designed to be used in a production environment and is limited in terms of processor and memory usage and database size. In cases where the LocalDB edition is not enough, you need to look at its bigger brothers: SQL Server 2012 Express edition or the commercial versions of SQL Server 2012, such as the Standard or Enterprise Editions. In this appendix you learn more about SQL Server 2012, its security model, how to enable your SQL Server 2012 database and ASP.NET 4.5 website to work together, and how to use SQL Server Management Studio Express, a free tool from Microsoft that lets you manage your database.

Although this appendix doesn't discuss earlier versions of SQL Server, you'll find that most of the concepts apply to these older versions as well. In fact, you can also use SQL Server 2012 Management Studio Express to manage older SQL Server 2005 and 2008 databases. This appendix uses SQL Server Express edition because it's a free download, but the same principles apply to the commercial versions of SQL Server.

Configuring SQL Server 2012

Before you can configure your database, you need to be aware of the various security concepts that are inevitably associated with ...