Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) is the preferred solution for installing SQL Server 7.0, PWS, and client application code on multiple clients. Among other features, SMS offers unattended software distribution of off-the-shelf programs and in-house applications. For more information about Microsoft SMS, see www.microsoft.com/smsmgmt/.
An alternative to using SMS is to perform an unattended installation and configuration of SQL Server and PWS. Applications created with Visual Studio also can be configured for unattended installation.
Do not preload the SQL Server databases for the application, because the SQL Server Snapshot Agent does this automatically when you set up replication.
SQL Server Enterprise Manager is a snap-in component for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), a universal tool for managing the Microsoft BackOffice family of products and third-party server products. MMC, which is supported on both the Windows 9x and Windows NT operating systems, is a COM-based component that can be controlled from any programming tool that supports COM, such as Visual Basic, Visual C++, PowerBuilder, or Delphi.
SQL Server also offers COM components that can be used to write customized applications to fully administer a SQL Server database: SQL-DMO, SQL-Namespace (SQL NS), SQL-DTS, and replication components. These objects are so robust that they were used by Microsoft to build SQL Server Enterprise Manager, the primary tool for performing administrative tasks on SQL Server 7.0.
Any number of SQL Servers can be centrally administered, either by using a graphical tool such as SQL Server Enterprise Manager or by using a COM-based interface such as SQL-DMO. You can write SQL-DMO scripts in any programming language that supports COM, including Windows Scripting Host (WSH) for Windows 98 and Windows NT, Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Office Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), IIS 4.0 ASP, PowerSoft PowerBuilder, and any third-party tools that support COM; for example:
By using SQL-DMO, a programmer can write a few lines of code to back up an entire group of registered servers running SQL Server databases. The SQL-DMO object hierarchy and sample code is included with SQL Server 7.0, Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN), and the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
SQL Server provides dynamic self-management, which allows the server to monitor and manage itself and minimize repetitive tasks. SQL Server 7.0 also offers more than 40 wizards, as well as task pads, to help database administrators.
Many database administration tasks can be repetitive and time-consuming. SQL Server 7.0 allows administrators to manage a group of servers as a single entity. In a multiserver environment, the master SQL Server server distributes jobs and receives events (notification of job success or failure) from the target SQL Server server. The master server stores the central copy of all jobs to be executed on the target servers. For example, you can write a single backup task that applies to all servers in your organization.
All jobs are managed by SQL Server Agent, which helps database administrators schedule maintenance functions such as backups, SQL Server programs, or external programs. It can maintain a list of database administrators and their work schedules and provides appropriate notification by pager or e-mail regarding the success or failure of a particular task. SQL Server notifies operators when an unexpected error occurs on the server, or starts a program that can take corrective action.
These features provide organizations with proactive management tools that reduce the cost of administering multiple SQL Servers.
Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere 6.0, PowerDynamo, and Adaptive Server Enterprise can be administered from Sybase Central, which is similar to MMC, but has some significant differences:
Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere 6.0 has no built-in scheduling capabilities and no alert notification. Proactive management of a server is not possible using this product alone.