Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft. As a database, it is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network (including the Internet). There are at least a dozen different editions of Microsoft SQL Server aimed at different audiences and for workloads ranging from small single-machine applications to large Internet-facing applications with many concurrent users. Its primary query languages are T-SQL and ANSI SQL. It offers unbeatable features:

Microsoft® SQL Server™ is a database management and analysis system for e-commerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions. It builds on the mission-critical capabilities delivered in our prior release by providing breakthrough performance, availability and manageability for your mission critical applications. It delivers new in-memory capabilities built into the core database for online transaction processing (OLTP) and data warehousing, which complement our existing in-memory data warehousing and BI capabilities for the most comprehensive in-memory database solution on the market.

Features that the database engine provides

• Clustering Services, which is actually a server operating system feature that SQL Server leverages, allows you to recover instantly from one system to another. Starting in SQL Server 2005, Database Mirroring is also included for another level of redundancy.
• Replication Services keeps data in synchronization between SQL Server databases and other systems such as Oracle, Microsoft Access, handheld devices, and more. You can use replication to send data to multiple systems as data changes, on a scheduled basis.
• Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents can enable data transfer between heterogeneous programs or data sources. SQL Server 2000 provides basic XML capabilities and SQL Server 2005 and higher pushes full support by adding native XML storage and processing, and support for the XQuery language.
• SQL Server 2008 adds a new Policy Based Management system to SQL Server, which allows you to report on and enforce a specific configuration for just about any database object.
• SQL Server 2008 also adds a central Management Data Warehouse feature, which can track performance and other data in a central location and report on it.
• Starting in SQL Server 2008, Microsoft includes a SQL Server “Provider” for PowerShell. PowerShell is a shell that allows you to run and save script programs, not just for SQL Server but for Windows, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office and just about anything covered by the .NET application programming interface. The SQL Server provider treats SQL Server Instances, Databases and Database Objects as drive letters, and lets you work with them in a very intuitive way.

Features that do data retrieval and transfer

• Notification Services is a (free) add-on to SQL Server 2000 (it's built in to SQL Server 2005 but removed in SQL Server 2008) that can expose your data in even more ways. If you’ve ever used Microsoft’s MSN Messenger to alert your cell phone of traffic problems in your area or access stock information from it on your mobile device, then you’ve possibly already used Notification Services.
• In SQL Server 2000, the Natural Language Processing (English Query) feature allows you to tie English phrases to be automatically converted to Transact-SQL (T-SQL) statements. That way, your users don’t need to know the table structures or how to program in Structured Query Language (SQL) to get the data. They can type (or say) the words "How many sales did my group make today?" and the server will provide the right data.
• Full Text Services allow you to search for large and inexact text strings within text columns and any binary-ready system your server has installed, such as Microsoft Word.
• The Service Broker in SQL in Server 2005 and higher is a tool you can use to create a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that enables disconnected, disparate systems in your entire organization.
• Data Transformation Services (DTS) provide import and export capabilities to SQL Server 2000. Not only can DTS import data from another SQL Server, but also from Microsoft Access, text files, Microsoft Excel, Oracle, FoxPro, and any other data source that has Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) drivers. DTS imports and exports data, but it can also change the data along the way. Not only that, but DTS is also fully programmable — and the transformations and data transfers can be stored in packages that can be reused, edited, and copied. Here’s the kicker — you can use DTS to transfer data between any data source and any data destination. For instance, you could transfer data from an Oracle database to a text file — and change every third field to uppercase if you wanted to. This whole process can be scheduled to happen at any time.
• SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is the replacement for DTS in SQL Server 2005 and higher. Although you can still run DTS packages in Integration Services, you have a completely new programming model that you can use to automate much more than just import and export operations in Integration Services. Both DTS and SSIS are often used as the Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) system for Business Intelligence systems, such as those included with SQL Server.

Features that do report and analyze

• Analysis Services provides a full set of Business Intelligence capabilities in SQL Server 2000, and in the higher versions this service provides a robust set of tools to truly be considered a full part of a Business Intelligence landscape. Analysis Services provides data cube functionality and more, and also has its own query language so that you can access that data from a programming language such as C# or Visual Basic, or even a web page or Microsoft Office products.
• Reporting Services allows users to see and work with SQL Server data directly in their browsers. It's an add-on to SQL Server 2000, and comes built in to SQL Server 2005 and higher. It's often used as the visual representation of Business Intelligence data, making SQL Server a platform that can extract data from various systems, transform and cleanse it, process it into multi-dimensional analysis, and present it to users to work with. You literally don't have to buy anything else.

SOURCE: INTERNET