Because Microsoft SQL Server is integrated with the Windows NT Service Control Manager, it can be started and stopped as a service, either locally or remotely. It can be manually started, stopped, paused, and continued using SQL Enterprise Manager, SQL Service Manager, the Services application in the Control Panel, or the NET START command.
Optionally, SQL Server can be started automatically as a service when Windows NT starts. You can specify this option during installation by using the setup program. After installation, you can specify this option by using SQL Enterprise Manager.
When you start SQL Server as a Windows NT service, you can log off from the Windows NT network without shutting down SQL Server.
Note that SQL Server can also be started as an application, from a command prompt. For more information, see Other Startup Procedures.