Datasheet

For further configuring and managing your SQL Server 2005 Express server,
you can choose between graphical and character-based tools. As you might
expect, graphical tools provide more intuitive, easy-to-understand informa-
tion about your server.
When it comes to graphical tools, it’s hard to beat Microsoft’s free, excellent
graphical management environment known as SQL Server Management
Studio Express. Figure 1-4 shows a sample of what this product looks like.
SQL Server Management Studio Express can do much more than simply show
you tables and run queries. One handy tool is the activity monitor, which
opens a window onto all database-related activity for your server. Figure 1-5
shows a sample session; you can monitor a tremendous amount of informa-
tion using this tool.
For those of you who prefer a character-based configuration and manage-
ment utility, Microsoft continues to ship the SQLCMD utility, which allows for
direct entry of SQL statements. Because you find much of the administrative
capabilities for SQL Server embedded in stored procedures, you can run just
about any management operation from the rather bland SQLCMD interface.
Figure 1-4:
Viewing a
table in SQL
Server
Manage-
ment Studio
Express.
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Chapter 1: SQL Server 2005 Express Overview
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