SQL server question

wobblegobble

Appreciate some help from some SQL experts. Very basic question.

Am looking at using SQL server to host some databases. Have installed a trial copy of SQL server on my company laptop and am able to create test databases, create basic reports etc on laptop (laptop acting as the server).

I now want to install SQL server on another computer at work which will act as the server. I am assuming that if SQL server is installed as a client on other computers on a Windows network they will be able to access the SQL databases on the server computers c:drive?

Or is it best to host the databases on a network drive so that everyone can access the data that way.

Apologies if this seems like a really stupid quesiton

Lil306

To me it would be install and run the sql server software ( MySQL for me since it's free) choose the relevant option for your server setup whether it be database server, multifunctional app server or web server and install the relevant directories

After that it's a case of configuring OBDC connections for accessing the database I believe so you would need a PC with a static IP address on your network to act as the server and a username / password.

I'm not an SQL admin as my above comment will show but that's how I'd guess it would be setup

I'll wait for an SQL expert to offer further advise, that's just a bit of forward notice to help out

RobTang

Proper databases are not like acces et al.
The server (software) itself is the database any files it keeps are only readable by the server. All clients connect to the server (software) to access data.

Also SSMS isn't a user front end to the database, its an admin / development tool. Clients would normally be a bespoke desktop application or web application.

SQL Express (the free version) is very good but if you intend to use the full fat version you really should look at the licencing costs first.

wobblegobble

Thanks, think I understand it a bit better now. We are thinking of SQL 2008 Express rather than MySQL.

If we install the server (software) on the computer acting as a server would we able to install the server software on other computers as well to utilise the development tools in SSMS? Or would the other machines (clients) only be able to have client software installed to access the data on the server?

Don't want to have to do all the development on the server machine.

Once again, apologies if these are very basic questions but new to this!

whatyadoinsucka

i recommend 'toad' by quest software for sql programming
as a front office solution

Mobeer

SQL Server would be installed on the server computer and configured to accept remote connections:
http://www.sqlserverclub.com/essentialguides/how-to-configure-sql-server-2005-to-allow-remote-connections.aspx

SQL Server Express Management Studio can be installed on any other PC (on the same network) and used to manage the server.

To actually access the data, you could use a single Microsoft Access database on a network share, with tables linked to SQL Server, or pass-through queries that run on the server but show their results within Access.

wobblegobble

Thanks, all making sense now. I assume to install management studio on the other computers it is just a question of installing the server software again on the other computers?

Or is it a separate version of management studio that needs to be installed?

TimothyEBaldwin

No and no. Use the same installer package, there is no need to install the "database engine" or other server software.