SQL Server Reviews

There are three variations available within SQL Server, the first one being that you can migrate your SQL instances from an on-premises version to the cloud. Second, you have an option to modernize the SQL platform and move to managing instances on the cloud. Third, SQL Server has an offering called Azure SQL, where you can deploy Azure instances in a flexible manner, and it can automatically scale up or down, depending upon the requirements. There are specific features you can license, as per the CPU cores and transactions you deal with in your business. There are various models of the tool that are available.

Features like autoscaling, business continuity, and security are beneficial. The tool's compatibility with almost all of the enterprise-class applications is also beneficial for users.

The tool is secure in nature. The security portfolios are changing day by day, and new security bugs are being released. The tool responds to users' requirements to deal with bugs and security issues. I feel that the tool should offer more security features to be made available. The security packages to be followed by users should be consolidated and sent to customers every day or every week so that they can have the security features updated. If security packages are available in a consolidated manner every month, it will be beneficial. I think there are certain areas of concern regarding the backup of the product that I have heard from my company's engineers. Sometimes, the tool doesn't support all the native features, and because of this, our company has to customize it to meet our requirements, which is a challenging process for our company's engineers. The tool has to be user-friendly- in terms of supporting the backup features and adapting to various backup environments.

I have been using SQL Server for 5 years.

It is a very stable solution. Hundreds and thousands of customers have adopted SQL Server since it is a very stable solution.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

My company deals with organizations where the solution is used, with between 200 and 7,000 users.

The solution's technical support is available twenty-four hours, seven days a week, with the specific SLAs associated with the product. Apart from Microsoft, there are hundreds of solution integrators and managed service providers available worldwide who provide support for SQL servers.

The product's initial setup phase is very straightforward and nothing complex. Anybody who has a basic knowledge of SQL and Azure should be able to deploy the product.

SQL Server has a clear set of procedures to help users deploy the product. Initially, to identify your sizing or capacity requirements, after which you pick up the right setup from the cloud and then configure it with the right level of storage and the right level of CPU and memory before choosing the version of SQL you want to deploy, post which you will be ready to use the tool.

You can opt for a pay-as-you-go model, which allows you to pay as per your usage, which is a little expensive. You also have the option to purchase for a period of a year or three, which comes with discounted pricing. Depending upon your usage, you can use the pay-as-you-go model for a short period of time. For longer projects, we can opt for one-year or a three-year license.

Speaking about a project where SQL Server was essential in archiving our company's objectives, I feel that customers generally like to optimize their licenses while making sure they get the right level of operational excellence out of it. When you run the tool on an on-premises version, you are dependent upon operational resources or human resources to manage it. When the tool is in the cloud, it is managed by Azure, where you can optimize or effectively use your resources, which can provide you with cost advantage or cost optimization. As the tool is flexible in nature, you don't have to monitor it all the time for performance and capacity issues. The tool automatically scales and provides you with the required level of scalability, and it also has built-in DR and business continuity features. Even in the case of a disaster, it automatically moves to a DR location and provides you with the right level of business continuity and availability.

The product has built-in scalability features. Depending upon the number of transactions or usage, it automatically scales itself. You can also define specific parameters for how the tool needs to scale or how to respond to the requirements of the users. The tool has a good amount of scalability features.

Azure provides funding for doing a PoC, so if you are a little apprehensive about using it, then you can reach out to a local Azure partner, who will be able to help you with providing the funding from Azure. Azure's funding part is valid for a period of two to three weeks, so you can actually deploy it and play around to ensure that you are comfortable with what you are doing. Once you are satisfied with the results of the tool, you can go ahead and migrate or modernize your databases. I suggest others use the funding from Azure so that you can get a touch and feel for the product.

SQL Server comes under the category of enterprise tools. Most enterprise tools have connectivity available. If there is no connectivity available in the enterprise tools you use, you can develop APIs to integrate with other tools.

The benefits attached to the solution revolve around the fact that it offers scalability and reliability. The tool also helps with fault tolerance while offering business continuity features. The tool offers its users a fully secure environment. In banking, federal government, or insurance firms, I feel that the tool ensures that its users are fully secured, and you can apply whatever regulatory governance you want to apply to the tool.

 I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

There are no specific use cases attached to the solution. From an academic point of view, I make the tool available to the students for some training or tests. I also used it to compare the functionalities of Oracle Data Integrators with other data integration systems.

I can't comment on the valuable features of the product right now since I recently downloaded some whitepaper and manuals. I downloaded the documentation related to the tool, but I haven't used much of the system. I know that SQL Server is a good system, based on a report I read on the Gartner website.

The interface of the tool has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required.

I have been using SQL Server for ten to twenty years.

It is a stable solution.

I haven't tested the system for scalability. I use it for simple tasks.

As per our company's agreement with Microsoft, some of the software from Microsoft 10 was included in SQL Server when there were about 1,000 students attending database classes using it.

The product's initial setup phase was simple.

There were no specific projects for which I used the tool. I conduct classes related to data integration. I need to use some products attached to the data integration area having a Python framework. I wanted to compare the tool with some commercial tools such as Oracle Data Integrator.

I recommend the product to those who plan to use it.

SQL Servers and Power BI Report Servers can integrate well.

I rate the tool a seven to eight out of ten.

We extracted data from SAP and stored it in SQL Server. We created a connection between the Data Services Server and the SQL Server. If anything went wrong, there were SQL Server experts who took care of everything. So, we extracted data from our ERP system and stored it in SQL Server.

Whenever we had to restore the data, it was not as difficult as restoring the database to any other RDBMS. The restoration of data is very easy compared to any other database. The solution is very intuitive and easy to use. It is one of the best relational database systems in the market. The restore and backup strategy was not complicated. The ease of use was excellent compared to any other databases.

The performance degrades when the data is huge. It also degrades when there is a flux of data.

I used the solution for four to five years.

The tool is stable. I rate the stability a seven out of ten.

The tool is pretty scalable. We had 100 users in our organization. We can scale the tool vertically and horizontally.

SQL Server is the best database when the data is not huge or when we know that the data is coming in at a specific rate. I rate the integration of the product with SAP BusinessObjects Data Services nine out of ten. It is easy. We did not come across any issues or delays. Every organization uses Microsoft. SQL Server is one of the oldest RDBMSs on the market. It is easy to use and intuitive. A lot of people know about it. The ease of use is greater than any other server in the market. Overall, I rate the solution an eight and a half out of ten.

I work as a BI specialist, so I am directly using SQL Server since I am using the database and making reports from it via SSAS.

I use SQL Server daily for data analysis using its database capabilities and reporting via SSAS. It is easy to use for a BI specialist.

It can be better if it enables the use of AI functions. I used to work with Alteryx, and it has an analytical platform that was best for working directly from a database with machine learning algorithms. So, it would be better, I think.

I have been using SQL Server for around three years.

I would rate the stability around nine or ten. I have not encountered any problems with it.

I used to work with Dataiku, however, I switched jobs. I used to work as a developer for Dataiku, and now I am working as a BI specialist.

I think it is not easy to work with date types when compared to Oracle. Oracle is more useful, but I do not know which feature is better for SQL Server.

I deploy all packages myself and use SSIS for that. We are creating stored procedures and triggering some jobs in SQL Server. I did the deployment by myself.

I am unable to determine any ROI since I have always used SQL Server and cannot compare it with other tools.

I have previously worked with Dataiku.

Based on my experience, SQL Server is a common tool and does not offer significantly higher benefits or anything too special. It is easy to use, and I would recommend it to others. 

I would rate it around five on a scale of one to ten.

I use the solution in my company for .NET programs and as a database.

The solution's most valuable part revolves around data management, which can be seen in its audit features and performance.

The tool needs to develop a better audit control mechanism.

Even if you have some technical agreement with Microsoft, the technical support of the solution won't help you. The support needs to be improved.

I have been using SQL Server for eight years. I am an end-user of the solution.

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

The scalability features of the product are simple for me to use.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Around five percent of the people in my company use the tool.

I rate the technical support a five to six out of ten.

Neutral

I have worked with Microsoft Entra ID Protection for ten years. I also use Microsoft Defender.

Over the other solutions of the market, I started to use SQL Server since it is available for free and is more secure, while offering good performance. SQL Server offers good performance even over Elasticsearch, or maybe the others open-source database products.

The product's initial setup phase is very easy. On a scale of one to ten, if one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the setup phase a ten.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

The solution can be deployed in a few hours.

My company's in-house team carried out the product's deployment process.

The tool is not something that helps with the cost saving part, but I can say that is a practical tool to use.

On a scale of one to ten, when one is cheap and ten is an expensive solution, I rate the product price as seven. The product is expensive.

The tool's integration capabilities are very good. We don't have any problems.

I don't have any idea about how the product can be used for AI-driven projects because we don't use AI.

I don't recommend the tool to others. I recommended free products because they are tools that offer high performance.

I rate the tool a seven out of ten.

We use SQL Server to store applications. The SQL Server manages various functions, such as digital innovation projects, document storage, handling login credentials, and maintaining authentication and authorization through the database.

Unlike MySQL, SQL Server is advantageous because it allows the execution of stored procedures and commands. It's easy to understand, run, and manage. Also, Microsoft frequently updates SQL Server, quickly resolving issues in new versions.

I have been working with the product for three years. 

My team has five users. 

The tool's deployment is easy. 

SQL Server offers three versions. You can get a free trial for 30 days. 

The solution is easy to understand if you know basic queries. I rate it a nine out of ten. 

We use the tool to store and retrieve application data. It allows for storage via multiple threads and separates threads.

I find query optimization to be highly valuable for data management. Additionally, drag-and-drop query creation greatly facilitates data management tasks.

The solution's stability can be improved. 

I can't provide a definitive comment on stability, but I'd lean towards the positive side and rate it around a seven out of ten. I've encountered more efficient and faster databases that deserve a higher rating. Therefore, I'm hesitant to rate SQL Server a nine out of ten for stability.

The number of users depends on the primary master database, which handles the core data. The solution typically serves around two million users interacting with the primary master database. In terms of deployment and maintenance, not much is needed. I'm quite familiar with databases, so that I can handle it myself. Even without guides, setting up and maintaining the system is manageable.

The deployment process was fairly simple, especially with SQL Server and other modern products. The interfaces are easy to understand, and the configuration is straightforward. Typically, you need to configure a node endpoint for the JDBC driver if you're connecting from a client.

Currently, we don't heavily rely on SQL Server for our projects. Most applications are developed for evaluation or quick setup and checking methods. For production-grade deployments, we primarily use PostgreSQL.

The database architecture plays a crucial role in data-heavy applications. I've worked with databases, particularly in telecom, requiring extremely real-time operations like quick authentication and seamless data transfer for calls. These use cases demand quick responsiveness and scalability, especially during high-traffic events like sports matches. Scaling up certain database nodes becomes essential to handle the increased volume of data.

I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.I haven't personally used the .NET framework, but it seems to be more elaborate compared to Java or Python.

SQL Server is very useful in managing databases for various applications. It is easy to use, making it accessible even for those with limited skills. SQL is a preferred choice for handling limited data. Additionally, Microsoft provides excellent support for SQL Server.

We are using in-house ERP. Currently, we are using SQL for different projects, like surveys and documentation. The data are stored in SQL, which is our main database.

SQL Server is very easy to use. A person with limited skill also can handle the software easily. The retrieving time of the data is very fast. You don't require any higher configuration machine for that. If you have very limited resources, you can easily manage.

There is a limitation in the SQL. There are around 4GB restrictions, which Microsoft needs to work on.

If your data volume is higher, your server performance may suffer. Microsoft needs to focus on improving stability in such scenarios.

If the dataset is limited, the performance is good. If it involves bulk data, then the speed is slow.

The number of users impacts the solution’s scalability.

100-500 users are using this solution.

Customer support is fast and knowledgeable. Whenever we raise the ticket, they reply within two hours.

The initial setup is straightforward. It is not lengthy. It's a simple flow chart. There is no complexity in the application. It will take half an hour to deploy if you have the right hardware resources.

The first step is gathering the developers’ prerequisites, which depend on the application. We consider the projected data volume for the last ten years, which informs our capacity planning. Based on that, we recommend virtualization.

We have two kinds of licenses for SQL Server: perpetual and subscription-based. We already have the perpetual license. The subscription-based license is renewed every year. The perpetual license was obtained previously, while the subscription-based license is a newer solution we've deployed. We have both perpetual and subscription-based licenses. Perpetual license lacks support.

SQL Server is very secure in terms of login and data protection. Security largely depends on the programmer’s implementation. When data is inputted, it is encrypted to prevent unauthorized access. So, laypeople cannot understand the content of the data.

If your organization needs secure data management or is considering migrating your systems to a virtualization platform, I strongly recommend utilizing Microsoft products. They are user-friendly and require no specialized skill level.

Microsoft has developed the software to be used for any major and smaller applications. Therefore, its integration is very good in terms of the specifications provided.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.