Database Engine Concepts

The Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Database Engine is a service for storing and processing data in either a relational (tabular) format or as XML documents. The links in the following table go to the main documentation sections for the Database Engine.

Database Engine Tasks

The order of the topics in the Database Engine documentation follows the main sequence of tasks used to implement a system that uses the Database Engine for data storage:

  • Design and create a database to hold the relational tables or XML documents required by the system.

  • Implement systems to access and change the data stored in the database. This includes implementing Web sites or applications that work with the data, and also building procedures that use the SQL Server tools and utilities to work with the data.

  • Deploy the implemented systems to the organization or customers.

  • Provide daily administration support to optimize the performance of the database.

Database Engine Documentation