How to Use the Administrator's Companion

This documentation provides information you will need to administer Microsoft SQL Server 6.0. It is written for system administrators (SAs) who are responsible for overseeing and maintaining systems that run SQL Server. It presents configuration, administration, and troubleshooting topics. It describes server and client configuration and explains system administration tasks, such as managing devices and databases; managing security; backing up, recovering and transferring data; performing replication; scheduling tasks and setting up alerts; and monitoring performance. It also describes error conditions and gives troubleshooting procedures.

This documentation assumes that you are familiar with operating systems, networks, databases, and Transact-SQL, an enhanced version of SQL (Structured Query Language). It also assumes that the SQL Server software is already installed on the server computer. For information about installing SQL Server 6.0, see Microsoft SQL Server Setup. For information about Transact-SQL, see the Microsoft SQL Server Transact-SQL Reference.

For information about managing data and database objects¾such as tables, views, indexes, stored procedures, defaults, rules, constraints, and user-defined datatypes¾see the Microsoft SQL Server Transact-SQL Reference and the Microsoft SQL Server Database Developer's Companion.

This documentation assumes that you will be using SQL Enterprise Manager for most administrative tasks. For information on SQL Enterprise Manager, see Chapter 2, Introducing the SQL Distributed Management Framework. For information about system stored procedures that can also be used to administer SQL Server, see the Microsoft SQL Server Transact-SQL Reference.

The following summarizes the organization of information in the Microsoft SQL Server Administrator's Companion.

Part 1, Introduction

The chapters in Part 1 introduce this documentation, Microsoft SQL Server 6.0, the Distributed Management Framework (SQL-DMF), and SQL Enterprise Manager.

Part 2, Configuration

The chapters in Part 2 explains how to configure servers and clients. SQL Server provides setup programs that largely automate the installation of server software and client software. In most cases, you will be able to use the software immediately after installing it. However, there are a number of configuration tasks that can be performed after installation to optimize a server or client for your particular network, database, and business environment.

Part 3, Devices, Databases, and Drives

The chapters in Part 3 explain how to manage devices, databases, transaction logs, and drives.

Part 4, Security

The chapters in Part 4 explain how to manage SQL Server 6.0 security. They show how SQL Server security interacts with security for Windows NT-based domains and computers, what the three types of SQL Server security are, what SQL Server 6.0 logins and database users are, and what SQL Server 6.0 object and statement permissions are. You will also learn about the tools that are used to perform each security management task, and how to perform these tasks.

Part 5, Data Management

The chapters in Part 5 explain how to export, import, back up, and recover data.

Part 6, Replication

Replication, which is provided as an integral element of Microsoft SQL Server 6.0, allows you to automatically distribute read-only copies of transactional data from a source server to one or more destination servers at one or more remote locations. The chapters in Part 6 present the information you need to establish and maintain data replication between the servers of your enterprise.

Part 7, Other Operations

Using SQL Server's scheduling engine, you can schedule and automate a number of tasks, including command executions, Transact-SQL Statements, and replication events. Using the alerts engine, you can set up SQL Enterprise Manager to automatically respond to SQL Server events by executing a predefined task or sending an alert or a page to selected users. Using SQLMail, you can send messages through the built-in mail application programming interface (MAPI) client interface in Windows NT. Using SQL Performance Monitor, SQL Enterprise Manager, and the sp_monitor system stored procedure, you can monitor server activity and performance. The chapters in Part 7 explain how.

Part 8, Troubleshooting

The chapters in Part 8 list error messages, describe error conditions, and suggest troubleshooting procedures and techniques.