Introduction

Microsoft SQL Server 6.0, Microsoft's relational database management system for distributed client/server computing, is designed to support large-scale distributed computing environments. Microsoft SQL Enterprise Manager, included with SQL Server 6.0, is a graphical tool that provides powerful, enterprise-wide system administration capabilities for SQL Server 6.0 servers. The following chapters introduce Microsoft SQL Server 6.0 and SQL Enterprise Manager.

Chapter 1, Overview, provides a summary of features new for SQL Server 6.0, discusses what the setup program installs, explains how to use this documentation to learn how to administer SQL Server, provides "quick start" instructions on how to start and log on to SQL Server, and lists SQL Server 6.0 capacities.

Chapter 2, Introducing the SQL Distributed Management Framework, introduces the Distributed Management Framework (DMF), an integrated framework of the objects, services, and components used to manage Microsoft SQL Server. The primary management tool is Microsoft SQL Enterprise Manager, which provides an intuitive, graphical user interface for managing Microsoft SQL Servers across an enterprise.