Understanding the SQL Server 2005 Architecture-Overview of SQL Server 2005

• Overview of SQL Server 2005
  
  Lesson Introduction

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  This lesson introduces the various components that make up the SQL Server 2005 product. It includes a topic on each component; if a component exists in previous versions of SQL Server, the topic concentrates on enhancements in SQL Server 2005.

  Lesson Objectives

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  After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

  • List the main components of SQL Server 2005.

  • Describe the components of SQL Server 2005.

What is SQL Server 2005?
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is a comprehensive platform for data-centric solutions. It consists of many components, each with the functionality required to meet particular requirements. By understanding how these components fit together, you can build and maintain powerful software solutions.
At its core, SQL Server 2005 is a powerful relational database engine that provides a high-performance, scalable, secure environment for storing, retrieving, and modifying data in relational or Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.
SQL Server Analysis Services provides the basis of a powerful business intelligence solution that supports Online Analytical processing applications and data mining.
SQL Server Integration Services, or SSIS, is an engine for building data import and export solutions and performing transformations on data as it is transferred.
Notification Services provide a framework for solutions in which subscribers are sent notifications when specific events occur. SQL Server can generate notifications efficiently based on event and subscription data, and send them to subscribers by e-mail, text message, or some other custom channel.
Reporting Services are used to extract data from a data source and generate reports, which can be viewed in a browser, exported to a file, or sent to subscribers by e-mail.
Service Broker is a queuing mechanism for reliable, transactional message-based communication between software services. You can use service broker to build highly scalable, asynchronous, service-oriented solutions.
Hosted in SQL Server, the .NET Common Language Runtime, or CLR, makes it possible to implement database solutions using managed code written in a .NET language such as Microsoft Visual C# .NET or Microsoft Visual Basic .NET.
Native HTTP Support enables client applications to connect to HTTP endpoints within SQL Server without requiring Internet Information Services.
Replication provides a set of technologies for copying and distributing data and database objects from one database or server to another and then synchronizing between databases to ensure consistency.
Full-Text Search enables fast and flexible indexing for keyword-based queries of text data stored in a SQL Server database.
With all of these components, SQL Server 2005 provides a comprehensive platform for data-centric software solutions.

Self Test

Question	1	2

Attempted 

Which of the following components of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 can you use to develop transactional message-based communication between software services?

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Select the one best answer.

That is incorrect. You can use Service Broker to develop transactional message-based communication between software services.		Reporting Services
That is correct. You can use Service Broker to develop transactional message-based communication between software services.		Service Broker
That is incorrect. You can use Service Broker to develop transactional message-based communication between software services.		Notification Services
That is incorrect. You can use Service Broker to develop transactional message-based communication between software services.		Common Language Runtime (CLR)

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CorrectIncorrectThat is correct. You can use Service Broker to develop transactional message-based communication between software services.

Attempted 

Which keyword can you use to extend the length of the varchar, nvarchar, and varbinary data types?