Networking All-in-One For Dummies

Chapter 3

Using SQL Server 2014

In This Chapter

Looking at relational databases and SQL

Installing SQL Server 2014

SQL Server 2014 is the latest and greatest version of the most common database server used on Microsoft networks.

This chapter introduces you to the basics of installing and running SQL Server 2014. It begins with a basic introduction to relational databases and SQL. Then it shows you how to manage a SQL Server database by using SQL Server 2014 Management Studio.

Note: The information in this chapter applies to previous versions of SQL Server as well.

What Is a Database?

A database is simply an organized collection of information. Here are some examples of databases from everyday life:

• Your personal address book
• The shoebox that contains your tax records for the year
• Your baseball card collection
• All those parking tickets conveniently stuffed into your car’s glove compartment
• The phone book (well, from everyday life in the good ol’ days anyway)
• That pile of score cards that has been accumulating in the bottom of your golf bag for 15 years

You can think of each of these databases as a collection of records. In database lingo, a record consists of all the useful information that you can gather about a particular thing. In your address book, each record represents ...