Who Uses SQL Server?

Not very long ago, enterprise databases were hidden away on large servers that were never visible to the casual business computer user. Any interaction with these systems was performed only by members of the elite order of database administrators. These highly revered professionals worked in large, noisy, sealed server rooms on special consoles and workstations. Even after many companies migrated their database systems from mainframe and mid-range computer platforms to PC-based servers, the databases were still hands-off and carefully protected from all but a select few.

A generation of smaller-scale database products evolved to fill the void left for the casual application developer and power user. Products such as the following became the norm for department-level applications because they were accessible and inexpensive:

• dBase

• FoxPro

• Paradox

• Clipper

• Clarion

• FileMaker

• Access

The big databases were in another class and were simply not available outside of formal IT circles. They were complicated and expensive. Database administrators and designers used cumbersome command-line script to create and manage databases. It was a full-time job; DBAs wrote the script to manage the databases and application developers wrote the code for the applications that ran against them. Life was good. Everyone was happy. However, there is only one real constant in the IT world and that is change. In the past five years, there have been significant changes in the world of application development, database design, and management.

I recall attending the launch event for SQL Server 7.0. Steve Ballmer, the President of Microsoft Corporation, was on the road to introduce this significant product release. After demonstrating several simple, wizard-based features, he asked for all of the career database administrators to stand up. There were probably 1500 people in the audience and 100 or so DBAs came to their feet. He said, "I'd like to do you all a favor and give you some career advice." He paused with a big smile before he continued, "Learn Visual Basic." Needless to say, there were several uneasy DBAs leaving the launch event that day. Steve's advice was evidence of the harsh reality of changing times. Today, SQL Server (and other related Microsoft products) represents a toolkit in the hands of a different kind of business IT professional; not a full-time DBA, specialized Business Analyst, or single-minded Application Developer, but a Solution Architect who creates a variety of software solutions consisting of all these pieces. From the initial requirement gathering and solution concept to the database design, component architecture, and user-interface construction, the Database Solution Developer often covers all these bases. Just a quick note to help clarify Mr. Ballmer's point: What do SQL Server and Visual Basic have to do with one another? Chapter 14 answers this question more completely by showing you some examples of complete application solutions. In short, solving business problems requires the use of multiple tools, SQL and programming languages working together to solve complex business problems.

Although we have certainly seen a lot of recent change in the database world, I won't be so nave to say that traditional database servers are going away. On the contrary, most large companies have centralized most of their data on large-scale servers and the largest corporate databases are now in the ballpark of 10–20 terabytes in size. In just the past few years, these volumes have been doubling about every three years. There are really two separate trends: Corporate, mission-critical data is growing more than ever, stored on large-scale (albeit physically much smaller) servers, managed by full-time database administrators. The other trend is that small-scale, regional data marts (relatively small, reporting databases) and data silos (specialized, departmental databases) have emerged. Unlike the ad-hoc, desktop databases of the past decade, these are stored on department-level database servers. They are managed and used primarily by business unit power users, rather than career IT folks.

A new class of SQL Server user has recently emerged. Computer power users now have access to SQL Server using a variety of tools. Bill Gates refers to these individuals as the "knowledge worker" of the twenty-first century. Desktop applications such as Microsoft Excel and Access can easily be used as front-ends for SQL Server. In fact, Access gives users the ability to create and manage database objects much like an administrator would using SQL Server Enterprise Manager and Management Studio. This means that more casual users have the ability to create and utilize these powerful databases that were available only to highly trained professionals a few years ago. Of course, this also means that untrained users can use these powerful tools to make a big mess. Yes, this means that more users now have the tools to create poorly designed databases, more efficiently than ever before.

Hopefully, your organization has standards and policies in place to manage production database servers and to control access to sensitive data. With a little guidance and the appropriate level of security access, SQL Server can be a very useful tool in the hands of new users who possess some fundamental skills.