SQL Server 2000 Product Overview
Business today demands a different kind of data management solution. Performance, scalability, and reliability are essential, but businesses now expect more from their key IT investments.
SQL Server 2000 exceeds dependability requirements and provides innovative capabilities that increase employee effectiveness, integrate heterogeneous IT ecosystems, and maximize capital and operating budgets. SQL Server 2000 provides the enterprise data management platform your organization needs to adapt quickly in a fast-changing environment.
With the lowest implementation and maintenance costs in the industry, SQL Server 2000 delivers rapid return on your data management investment. SQL Server 2000 supports the rapid development of enterprise-class business applications that can give your company a critical competitive advantage.
Benchmarked for scalability, speed, and performance, SQL Server 2000 is a fully enterprise-class database product, providing core support for Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Internet queries.
Easy-to-Use Business Intelligence (BI) Tools
Through rich data analysis and data mining capabilities that integrate with familiar applications such as Microsoft Office, SQL Server 2000 enables you to provide all of your employees with critical, timely business information tailored to their specific information needs. Every copy of SQL Server 2000 ships with a suite of BI services.
Self-Tuning and Management Capabilities
Revolutionary self-tuning and dynamic self-configuring features optimize database performance, while management tools automate standard activities. Graphical tools and wizards simplify setup, database design, and performance monitoring, allowing database administrators to focus on meeting strategic business needs.
Data Management Applications and Services
Unlike its competitors, SQL Server 2000 provides a powerful and comprehensive data management platform. Every software license includes extensive management and development tools, a powerful extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) tool, business intelligence and analysis services, and new capabilities such as Notification Services. The result is the best overall business value available.
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On This Page
 | Evaluating Your Business Needs |
| Product SKU Matrix |
| Features at a Glance |
| Key Technologies |
| Customer Evidence |
Evaluating Your Business Needs
SQL Server 2000 is available in several editions:
| • | SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (64-bit) |
| • | SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition |
| • | SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition |
| • | SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition |
| • | SQL Server 2000 Personal Edition |
| • | SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE) |
| • | SQL Server 2000 WindowsR CE Edition (SQL Server CE) |
All products are available in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.
To determine which edition will best suit your business needs:
1. | Visit the Features by Edition page to compare features in each edition of SQL Server. |
2. | When you're ready to make your selection, visit the Choosing an Edition of SQL Server 2000 page. |
Product SKU Matrix
| Enterprise (64-bit) Edition | Enterprise Edition | Standard Edition | |||||||||||||||||||||
Overview | Enterprise Edition (64-bit) provide the most scalable data platform to take advantage of the class of Intel Itanium-based servers. Addressing more memory than any other edition of SQL Server, it scales to the performance levels required to support the largest Data warehousing and analysis applications, ecommerce websites and Enterprise business systems. Supporting up to 8 nodes in failover clustering, SQL Server 2000 (64-bit) provides a high level of reliability and availability for your mission-critical applications. | Enterprise Edition includes the complete set of SQL Server data management and analysis features and is uniquely characterized by several features that make it the most scalable and available edition of SQL Server 2000. It scales to the performance levels required to support the largest Web sites, Enterprise Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems and Data Warehousing systems. Its support for failover clustering also makes it ideal for any mission critical line-of-business application. Additionally, this edition includes several advanced analysis features that are not included in SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition. There are four main areas in which the additional features of SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition are most evident:
| Standard edition is an affordable option for small and medium-sized organizations. It includes the core functionality needed for non-mission-critical e-commerce, data warehousing, and line-of-business solutions. For instance, all of the XML features present in Enterprise Edition are also included in Standard Edition. And while a handful of advanced OLAP features are reserved for Enterprise Edition, all data mining features and the core OLAP functionality are included in SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services in Standard Edition. Similarly, components that other database vendors charge for as separate add-on products for their highest-end editions are included in Standard Edition:
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Operating Systems | Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition | Windows Server™ 2003, Standard Edition* | Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition* | ||||||||||||||||||||
Scalability | Up to 64 Processors | Up to 32 Processors | Up to 4 Processors | ||||||||||||||||||||
Purchasing and Licensing |
* Requires SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3 or later to be applied.
| Developer Edition | Personal Edition | Desktop Engine (MSDE) | Windows CE Edition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Overview | Developer edition is designed to allow developers to build any type of application on top of SQL Server. It includes all the functionality of Enterprise Edition but with a special development and test end-user license agreement (EULA) that prohibits production deployment. It is the ideal choice for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), consultants, system integrators, solution providers, and corporate developers developing and testing applications because it is cost effective, runs on a variety of platforms, and can be upgraded for production use to SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition. It is the only edition of SQL Server 2000 that gives the licensee the right to download and install SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition (SQL Server CE). The Developer Edition licensee also has the right to redistribute SQL Server CE-based applications to an unlimited number of devices at no additional cost beyond the purchase price of SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition. | Personal Edition is ideal for mobile users who spend some of their time disconnected from the network but run applications that require SQL Server data storage, and for stand-alone applications that require local SQL Server data storage on a client computer. This edition is functionally equivalent to Standard Edition, with the following exceptions:
| SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) is a free, redistributable version of SQL Server. Third-party software developers can include it in applications they build that use SQL Server to store data. MSDE is an ideal solution for:
This edition is functionally equivalent to Standard Edition with the following exceptions:
| Windows CE Edition (SQL Server CE) is the compact database for rapidly developing applications that extend enterprise data management capabilities to devices. SQL Server CE is a full-fledged member of the SQL Server 2000 family, with tools, application programming interfaces (APIs), and SQL grammar that developers and database administrators with existing SQL Server skills will recognize. SQL Server CE is the only edition of SQL Server 2000 that provides relational database management capabilities on Windows CE-based devices. The SQL Server CE engine provides an essential set of relational database features, including:
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Operating Systems | Windows Server™ 2003, Standard Edition* | Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition* | Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition* | Windows CE version 2.11 or later
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Scalability | Up to 32 Processors | Up to 2 Processors | Up to 2 Processors | Up to 1 Processors | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Purchasing and Licensing | Not available separately. Personal Edition is included with:
| Free download for licensed SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition users.
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* Requires SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3 or later to be applied.
Features at a Glance
| Data Warehousing | |
| Technology | Capabilities |
Analysis (OLAP) Services | Perform rapid, sophisticated analysis on large and complex data sets using multi-dimensional storage. |
Closed-Loop Analysis | Take analysis one step further with OLAP actions, allowing results to drive next steps in the business process. |
Data Mining | Discover patterns and trends with data mining, and make predictions about future trends in your business. |
Data Transformation Services | Automate routines that extract, transform, and load data from heterogeneous sources. |
Data Warehousing Alliance | Choose among broad offerings from third-party analysis tools vendors that extend Analysis Services functionality. |
English Query | Enable your users to pose questions in English instead of using multi dimensional expressions (MDX). |
Indexed Views | Gain performance from your existing hardware by storing query results and reducing response times. |
Meta Data Services | Increase developer productivity and reduce administrative overhead by sharing meta data among different tools and environments, using standard information models. |
Office 2000 Integration | Use Pivot Table Services in Microsoft Excel to enhance your data analysis. |
OLAP Flexibility | Use multiple dimension types for flexible business analysis. |
Web-Enabled Analysis | Analyze data from remote OLAP cubes that are Web accessible. |
| Enterprise Data Management | |
| Technology | Capabilities |
Clickstream Analysis | Gain a deep understanding of online customer behavior, so that you can make better business decisions. |
Distributed Partitioned Views | Partition your workload among multiple servers for additional scalability. |
Full Text Search | Use and manage both your structured and unstructured data, including searching through Microsoft Office documents. |
High Availability | Maximize the availability of your business applications with log shipping, online backups, and failover clusters. |
Improved Developer Productivity | User-defined functions, cascading referential integrity, and the integrated Transact SQL (T-SQL) debugger allow you to reuse code to simplify the development process. |
Integration with Microsoft Windows Server System™ - Microsoft BizTalk and Microsoft Commerce Server | SQL Server 2000, in conjunction with other Microsoft Server products, provides even more power for your e-business. |
Rich XML Support | Simplify the integration of your back-end systems and data transfer across firewalls using XML. |
Security | Ensure your applications are secure in any networked environment, with role-based security and file and network encryption. |
Simplified Database Administration | Automatic tuning and maintenance features enable administrators to focus on other critical tasks. |
VI SAN | Improve your overall system performance with built-in support for a virtual system area network (VI SAN). |
Web Access to Data | Connect to your SQL Server 2000 databases and OLAP cubes flexibly, by using the Web with no additional programming. |
Web and Application Hosting | Have your e-commerce solution hosted by a third party, with SQL Server 2000 support for multiple instances. |
| Line of Business | |
| Technology | Capabilities |
Analysis (OLAP) Services | Perform rapid, sophisticated analysis on large and complex data sets using multi-dimensional storage. |
Application Hosting | With multi-instance support, SQL Server enables you to take full advantage of your hardware investments so that multiple applications can be run on a single server, or outsourced. |
Extend Applications | Support for access by devices, such as Microsoft Windows® CE handheld units, provides broader access to applications and extends your user base. |
High Availability | Maximize the availability of your business applications with log shipping, online backups, and failover clusters. |
Replication | With SQL Server 2000 you can implement merge, transactional, and snapshot replication with heterogeneous systems. |
Scalability | Scale your applications up to 32 CPUs and 64 gigabytes (GB) RAM. SQL Server 2000 has demonstrated record-breaking performance that you can leverage. |
Security | Ensure your applications are secure in any networked environment, with role-based security and file and network encryption. |
Simplified Database Administration | Automatic tuning and maintenance features enable administrators to focus on other critical tasks. |
VI SAN | Improve your overall system performance with built-in support for a virtual system area network (VI SAN). |
Web Access to Data | Connect to your SQL Server 2000 databases and OLAP cubes flexibly, by using the Web with no additional programming. |
XML | XML support allows your data to be easily stored for use by Web applications. |
Key Technologies
The key technologies included in SQL Server 2000 include:
| • | Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing: Use your data to make better decisions with SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services. OLAP, data mining, and data warehousing tools are included at no extra cost |
| • | Data Transformation Services (DTS): With DTS you can automate processes to extract, transform and load data from heterogeneous sources. |
| • | MSDE: Develop applications that can scale seamlessly from portable computers to multiprocessor clusters with this embeddable, redistributable local data store. |
| • | Replication: Implement merge, transactional, and snapshot replication with heterogeneous systems. |
| • | SQL Server 2000 CE: Extend enterprise data management capabilities to mobile devices. |
| • | SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (64-bit): Reach new heights in scalability with the 64-bit database built to take advantage of hardware enhancements of the 64-bit platform. |
| • | SQL Server 2000 Notification Services: Develop and deploy scalable Web applications that deliver personalized, timely information updates to a variety of mobile devices. |
| • | SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services: Get a comprehensive solution for creating, managing, and delivering both traditional, paper-oriented reports and interactive, Web-based reports. |
| • | XML: Build Web services to transform and integrate data across the enterprise to connect with partners and customers. |
Customer Evidence
To find out how customers are using SQL Server today, visit the Case Studies page.