Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS) produced by Microsoft. Its primary query languages are T-SQL, Entity-SQL and ANSI SQL.
The current version of SQL Server makes data management self-tuning, self organizing, and self maintaining with the development of SQL Server Always On technologies, to provide near zero downtime.
SQL Server also includes support for structured and semi-structured data, including digital media formats for pictures, audio, video and other multimedia data. In current versions, such multimedia data can be stored as BLOBs (binary large objects), but they are generic bitstreams. Intrinsic awareness of multimedia data will allow specialized functions to be performed on them.
According to Paul Flessner, senior Vice President, Server Applications, Microsoft Corp., SQL Server can be a data storage backend for different varieties of data: XML, email, time/calendar, file, document, spatial, etc. as well as perform search, query, analysis, sharing, and synchronization across all data types. Other data types include specialized date and time types and a Spatial data type for location-dependent data. Better support for unstructured and semi-structured data is provided using the new FILESTREAM data type, which can be used to reference any file stored on the file system. Structured data and metadata about the file is stored in SQL Server database, whereas the unstructured component is stored in the file system. Such files can be accessed both via Win32 file handling APIs as well as via SQL Server using T-SQL; doing the latter accesses the file data as a BLOB. Backing up and restoring the database backs up or restores the referenced files as well. SQL Server also natively supports hierarchical data, and includes T-SQL constructs to directly deal with them, without using recursive queries. The Full-Text Search functionality has been integrated with the database engine, which simplifies management and improves performance.
SQL Server now includes better compression features, which also helps to improve scalability. It also includes a Resource Governor that allows reserving resources for certain users or workflows and capabilities for transparent encryption of data as well as compression of backups. SQL Server supports the ADO.NET Entity Framework and the reporting tools, replication, and data definition to be built around the Entity Data Model.
Nexus Software Systems' database designers have built many high performance database systems and web applications utilizing a custom SQL Server database design.
When you are ready, contact us to learn more about an SQL Server database design for your web application.