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Lesson 1: Connecting to the Database Engine

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When you install the SQL Server Database Engine, the tools that are installed depend upon the edition and your setup choices. This lesson reviews the principal tools, and shows you how to connect and perform a basic function (authorizing more users).

This lesson contains the following tasks:

  • Tools For Getting Started

  • Connecting with Management Studio

  • Authorizing Additional Connections

Tools For Getting Started

The SQL Server Database Engine ships with a variety of tools. This topic describes the first tools you will need, and helps you select the right tool for the job. All tools can be accessed from the Start menu. Some tools, such as SQL Server Management Studio, are not installed by default. You must select the tools as part of the client components during setup. For a complete description of the tools described below, search for them in SQL Server Books Online. SQL Server Express contains only a subset of the tools.

Basic Tools

  • SQL Server Management Studio is the principal tool for administering the Database Engine and writing Transact-SQL code. It is hosted in the Visual Studio shell. It is not included in SQL Server Express but is available as a separate download from Microsoft Download Center.

  • SQL Server Configuration Manager installs with both SQL Server and the client tools. It lets you enable server protocols, configure protocol options such as TCP ports, configure server services to start automatically, and configure client computers to connect in your preferred manner. This tool configures the more advanced connectivity elements but does not enable features.

Sample Database

The sample databases and samples are not included with SQL Server. Most of the examples that are described in SQL Server Books Online use the AdventureWorks2012  sample database. For more information, see Getting Started with SQL Server Samples and Sample Databases.

To start SQL Server Management Studio

  • On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server 2012 , and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

To start SQL Server Configuration Manager

  • On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server 2012 , point to Configuration Tools, and then click SQL Server Configuration Manager.

Connecting with Management Studio

It is easy to connect to the Database Engine from tools that are running on the same computer if you know the name of the instance, and if you are connecting as a member of the Administrators group on the computer. The following procedures must be performed on the same computer that hosts SQL Server.

To determine the name of the instance of the Database Engine

  1. Log into Windows as a member of the Administrators group, and open Management Studio.

    Security noteSecurity Note

    If you are connecting to SQL Server 2005 on Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 (or more recent), you may need to right-click Management Studio and then click Run as Administrator in order to connect using your Administrator credentials. Starting in SQL Server 2008, setup adds selected logins to SQL Server, so your Administrator credentials are not necessary. For more information, see Connect to SQL Server from Windows Vista.

  2. In the Connect to Server dialog box, click Cancel.

  3. If Registered Servers is not displayed, on the View menu, click Registered Servers.

  4. With Database Engine selected on the Registered Servers toolbar, expand Database Engine, right-click Local Server Groups, point to Tasks, and then click Register Local Servers. All instances of the Database Engine installed on the computer are displayed. The default instance is unnamed and is shown as the computer name. A named instance displays as the computer name followed by a backward slash (\) and then the name of the instance. For SQL Server Express, the instance is named <computer_name>\sqlexpress unless the name was changed during setup.

To verify that the Database Engine is running

  1. In Registered Servers, if the name of your instance of SQL Server has a green dot with a white arrow next to the name, the Database Engine is running and no further action is necessary.

  2. If the name of your instance of SQL Server has a red dot with a white square next to the name, the Database Engine is stopped. Right-click the name of the Database Engine, click Service Control, and then click Start. After a confirmation dialog box, the Database Engine should start and the circle should turn green with a white arrow.

To connect to the Database Engine

  1. In Management Studio, on the File menu, click Connect Object Explorer.

    The Connect to Server dialog box opens. The Server type box displays the type of component that was last used.

  2. Select Database Engine.

  3. In the Server name box, type the name of the instance of the Database Engine. For the default instance of SQL Server, the server name is the computer name. For a named instance of SQL Server, the server name is the <computer_name>\<instance_name>, such as ACCTG_SRVR\SQLEXPRESS.

  4. Click Connect.

Authorizing Additional Connections

Now that you have connected to SQL Server as an administrator, one of your first tasks is to authorize other users to connect. You do this by creating a login and authorizing that login to access a database as a user. Logins can be either Windows Authentication logins, which use credentials from Windows, or SQL Server Authentication logins, which store the authentication information in SQL Server and are independent of your Windows credentials. Use Windows Authentication whenever possible.

Create a Windows Authentication login

  1. In the previous task, you connected to the Database Engine using Management Studio. In Object Explorer, expand your server instance, expand Security, right-click Logins, and then click New Login.

    The Login - New dialog box appears.

  2. On the General page, in the Login name box, type a Windows login in the format <domain>\<login>.

  3. In the Default database box, select AdventureWorks2012 if available. Otherwise select master.

  4. On the Server Roles page, if the new login is to be an administrator, click sysadmin, otherwise leave this blank.

  5. On the User Mapping page, select Map for the AdventureWorks2012 database if it is available. Otherwise select master. Note that the User box is populated with the login. When closed, the dialog box will create this user in the database.

  6. In the Default Schema box, type dbo to map the login to the database owner schema.

  7. Accept the default settings for the Securables and Status boxes and click OK to create the login.

Security noteSecurity Note

This is basic information to get you started. SQL Server provides a rich security environment, and security is obviously an important aspect of database operations.

Next Lesson

Lesson 2: Connecting from Another Computer