Features of SQL SERVER 2000

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is a full-featured relational database

management system (RDBMS) that offers a variety of
administrative tools to ease the burdens of database development,
maintenance and administration. We’ll cover six of the more
frequently used tools: Enterprise Manager, Query Analyzer, SQL
Profiler, Service Manager, Data Transformation Services and Books
Online. Let's take a brief look at each: 

Enterprise Manager is the main administrative console for SQL

Server installations. It provides you with a graphical "birds-eye"
view of all of the SQL Server installations on your network. You
can perform high-level administrative functions that affect one or
more servers, schedule common maintenance tasks or create and
modify the structure of individual databases. 

Query Analyzer offers a quick and dirty method for performing

queries against any of your SQL Server databases. It's a great
way to quickly pull information out of a database in response to a
user request, test queries before implementing them in other
applications, create/modify stored procedures and execute
administrative tasks. 

SQL Profiler provides a window into the inner workings of your

database. You can monitor many different event types and observe
database performance in real time. SQL Profiler allows you to
capture and replay system "traces" that log various activities. It's
a great tool for optimizing databases with performance issues or
troubleshooting particular problems. Service Manager is used to
control the MSSQL Server (the main SQL Server process), MSDTC
(Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator) and SQL Server
Agent processes. An icon for this service normally resides in the
system tray of machines running SQL Server. You can use Service
Manager to start, stop or pause any one of these services. 

Data Transformation Services (DTS) provide an extremely flexible

method for importing and exporting data between a Microsoft SQL
Server installation and a large variety of other formats. The most
commonly used DTS application is the "Import and Export Data"
wizard found in the SQL Server program group.

Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 features include:

 Internet Integration.

The SQL Server 2000 database engine includes integrated

XML support. It also has the scalability, availability, and
security features required to operate as the data storage
component of the largest Web sites. The SQL Server 2000
programming model is integrated with the Windows DNA
architecture for developing Web applications, and SQL Server
2000 supports features such as English Query and the
Microsoft Search Service to incorporate user-friendly queries
and powerful search capabilities in Web applications.

 Scalability and Availability.

The same database engine can be used across platforms

ranging from laptop computers running Microsoft Windows® 98
through large, multiprocessor servers running Microsoft
Windows 2000 Data Center Edition. SQL Server 2000
 Enterprise Edition supports features such as federated
servers, indexed views, and large memory support that allow
it to scale to the performance levels required by the largest
Web sites.

 Enterprise-Level Database Features.

The SQL Server 2000 relational database engine supports the

features required to support demanding data processing
environments. The database engine protects data integrity
while minimizing the overhead of managing thousands of users
concurrently modifying the database. SQL Server 2000
distributed queries allow you to reference data from multiple
sources as if it were a part of a SQL Server 2000 database,
while at the same time, the distributed transaction support
protects the integrity of any updates of the distributed data.
Replication allows you to also maintain multiple copies of data,
while ensuring that the separate copies remain synchronized.
You can replicate a set of data to multiple, mobile,
disconnected users, have them work autonomously, and then
merge their modifications back to the publisher.

 Ease of installation, deployment, and use.

SQL Server 2000 includes a set of administrative and

development tools that improve upon the process of installing,
deploying, managing, and using SQL Server across several
sites. SQL Server 2000 also supports a standards-based
programming model integrated with the Windows DNA, making
the use of SQL Server databases and data warehouses a
seamless part of building powerful and scalable systems.
These features allow you to rapidly deliver SQL Server
applications that customers can implement with a minimum of
installation and administrative overhead.
  Data warehousing.

SQL Server 2000 includes tools for extracting and analyzing

summary data for online analytical processing. SQL Server
also includes tools for visually designing databases and
analyzing data using English-based questions.

Other features:

1. Integrated XML support

XML support is key to Microsoft's push to Web-enable SQL

Server 2000. The new release supports T-SQL extensions that let
SQL Server produce a result set as an XML document. In addition,
you can use XML documents to directly insert and update SQL
Server tables.

2. INSTEAD OF Triggers 

SQL Server 2000's new INSTEAD OF triggers aren't exactly

like BEFORE triggers, but you can use them in a similar way. Unlike
AFTER triggers, which the system executes after a transaction
changes the database, INSTEAD OF triggers execute instead
of the triggering action.

3. Table Data Type

The new table data type lets an application store temporary results
as a table that you can manipulate by using a select statement or
even action queries—just as you can manipulate any standard user
table.
 4. User-Defined Functions

 User-defined functions enhance T-SQL's programmability by

letting you create and use your own functions in T-SQL stored
procedures and batches. SQL Server 2000 executes user-defined
functions in the same way that it executes T-SQL's built-in
functions, and user-defined functions can return either scalar
variables or table data types.

5. Indexed Views

Unlike standard views, in which SQL Server resolves the

data-access path dynamically at execution time, the new indexed
views feature lets you store views in the database just as you
store tables. Indexed views, which are persistent, can significantly
improve application performance by eliminating the work that the
query processor must perform to resolve the views.

6. Federated Database Support 

Federated database support, which lets you use SQL Server

2000's distributed partitioned views to horizontally partition tables
across multiple servers, enabled SQL Server 2000 to set its new
Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) TPC-C benchmark
of 262,243 transactions per minute (tpmC) with 12 clustered
Compaq systems.

7. Cascading DRI 

Cascading Declarative Referential Integrity (DRI) might not

be SQL Server's sexiest new feature, but it's the feature you'll
most likely use. With cascading DRI, you specify a relationship
between a parent and a dependent table so that a deletion or
update of a row in the parent table automatically cascades to
corresponding rows in the dependent table.