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Introducing SQL Server for Windows NT |
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| Glossary |
Application Program Interfaces, subroutines that allow client applications to interface with SQL Server. Also known as libraries.
See development tool.
A value supplied to a function or procedure that is required to evaluate the function.
Recording security-related system activity that can be used to detect penetration of the system and misuse of system resources.
A copy of a database or transaction log, used to recover from a media failure.
The rules to which the data in a database must conform.
See data cache.
A set of specific (usually standardized) characters with an encoding scheme that uniquely defines each character. ASCII and ISO 8859-1 (Latin 1) are two common character sets.
The user's side of a client/server arrangement; can refer to the software making the calls to the server or to the machine running the client software.
A computer system architecture in which clients request a service and a server provides that service. Each machine can then specialize in the tasks it is best suited for.
An index in which the physical order and the logical (indexed) order is the same. A table can have only one clustered index.
A data value that describes one characteristic of an entity. Also called a field.
An instruction that specifies an operation to be performed by the computer. Each command or SQL statement begins with a keyword, such as insert, that names the basic operation performed.
A rule applied to a database object that ensures that all entries in the database object to which it applies satisfy a particular condition. For example, a column may have a constraint requiring that all values in the column be unique.
Transact-SQL's programming-like constructs (such as if, else, while, goto label) that control the flow of execution of Transact SQL statements.
Also referred to as named cache or cache. A cache is an area of memory within SQL Server that contains the in-memory images of database pages and the data structures required to manage the pages.
The process of setting up databases and creating database objects such as tables, indexes, rules, defaults, procedures, triggers, and views.
The system tables that contain descriptions of the database objects and how they are structured.
The correctness and completeness of data within a database.
Adding, deleting, or changing information in the database with the insert, delete, and update commands.
Requesting data from the database and receiving the results. Also called a query.
A set of related data tables and other database objects that are organized and presented to serve a specific purpose.
The tasks involved in maintaining, designing, implementing changes to, tuning, and expanding a database. See also system administration.
See device.
One of the components of a database: table, view, index, stored procedure, trigger, column, default, or rule.
The user who creates a database. A Database Owner has control over all the database objects in that database. The login name for the Database Owner is ''dbo''.
Specifies what kind of information each column will hold, and how the data will be stored. Datatypes include char, int, money, and so on. Users can construct their own datatypes based on the SQL Server system datatypes.
In a user's own database, SQL Server recognizes the user as "dbo." A Database Owner logs into SQL Server using his or her assigned login name and password.
Data used to help managers make business decisions. Usually involves a lot of queries as opposed to updates.
The option chosen by the system when no other option is specified.
The database that a user connects with when he or she logs in.
Software such as PowerBuilder that helps you build specialized GUI applications for accessing SQL Server databases.
Any piece of disk (such as a partition) or a file in the file system that you specially prepare and that is used to store databases and their objects.
Reads or writes to or from a database device.
The process of preparing a database device or file for SQL Server use. Once the device is initialized, it can be used for storing databases and database objects. The command used to initialize a database device is disk init.
Dynamic Link Libraries, software used by Microsoft Windows and IBM OS/2 to provide services to applications.
To make a backup of an entire database, including both the data and the transaction log, which you accomplish with the dump database command. Also, the data that results from this action.
The basic unit described by tables in a relational database. Identifying them is the first step in the logical design.
Techniques available to Transact-SQL programmers for basing code on and displaying errors and error messages.
A file that stores severe error messages and results about the startup and recovery of databases on a server being started up.
A message that SQL Server issues, usually to the user's terminal, when it detects an error condition.
A data value that describes one characteristic of an entity. Also called a column.
A key column in a table that logically depends on a primary key column in another table. Also, a column (or combination of columns) whose values are required to match a primary key in some other table.
System-defined variables that SQL Server updates on an ongoing basis. For example, @@error contains the last error number generated by the system.
Uniquely named set of users assigned a set of permissions for the objects and operations within a database.
Default user in the model database that allows any user with valid SQL Server login can use that database, with limited privileges.
A database object that consists of key values from the data tables, and pointers to the pages that contain those values. Indexes speed up access to data rows by pointing SQL Server to the location of a table column's data on disk.
Rules that describe how data will be kept accurate and consistent in the relational model.
A basic operation in a relational system that links the rows in two or more tables by comparing the values in specified columns.
A field used to identify a record, often used as the index field for a table.
Any value that is indexed.
A word or phrase that is reserved for exclusive use by Transact-SQL. Also known as a reserved word.
See APIs.
To restore data stored in a backup created during a dump.
User-defined variables defined with a declare statement.
The process of restricting access to resources in a multi-user environment to maintain security and prevent concurrent access problems. SQL Server automatically applies locks to tables or pages.
Defining the tables, relations, and keys of a relational database. Distinguished from physical design.
The primary, foreign, or common key definitions in a database design that define the relationship between tables in the database. Logical keys are not necessarily the same as the physical keys (the keys used to create indexes) on the table.
The process of accessing a data or index page already in memory to satisfy a query. Compare to physical read.
The name a user uses to log onto SQL Server. A login is valid if SQL Server has an entry for that user in the system table syslogins.
Controls the user databases and the operation of SQL Server for Windows NT as a whole. Known as master, it keeps track of such things as user accounts, ongoing processes, and system error messages.
A table that contains data on which data in another table logically depends. The detail table typically has a foreign key that joins to the primary key of the master table.
A media failure occurs when the information on a medium (typically a hard disk drive) becomes unusable.
The number that uniquely identifies an error message.
A template for new user databases. The installation process creates model when SQL Server is installed. Each time the create database command is issued, SQL Server makes a copy of model and extends it to the size requested, if necessary.
select statements that contain one or more subqueries.
An index that stores key values and pointers to data.
The standard rules of database design in a relational database management system.
Having no explicitly assigned value. NULL is not equivalent to zero, or to blank. A value of NULL is not considered to be greater than, less than, or equivalent to any other value, including another value of NULL.
Permissions that regulate the use of certain commands (data modification commands, plus select, truncate table and execute) to specific tables, views or columns.
See database object.
The Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface, defined by Microsoft Corporation, a standard interface to database management systems in the Windows and Windows NT environments.
A group of programs that translates your commands to the computer, so that you can perform such tasks as creating files, running programs, and printing documents.
Collection of data named and recognized by the operating system. SQL Server data is not stored in so-called operating system files but can be exported to operating system files using bulk copy.
SQL Server code that analyzes queries and database objects and selects the appropriate query plan. It estimates the cost of each permutation of table accesses in terms of how much processing and disk writing time it will take.
A 2K block of data that is the minimal unit that can be read from or written to disk.
An argument to a stored procedure.
The speed with which SQL Server processes queries and returns results. Performance is affected by several factors.
The authority to perform certain actions on certain database objects or to run certain commands.
Mapping the logical design to the Transact-SQL data definition commands that actually create the databases on the server.
A column name, or set of column names, used in a create index statement to define an index on a table. Physical keys on a table are not necessarily the same as the logical keys.
A disk I/O to access a data, index, or log page. SQL Server for Windows NT estimates physical reads and logical reads when optimizing queries. See logical read.
The column or columns whose values uniquely identify a row in a table.
The authority to perform certain actions on certain database objects or to run certain commands. Synonymous with permission.
One of the basic query operations in a relational system. A projection is a subset of the columns in a table.
1. A request for the retrieval of data with a select statement.
2. Any SQL statement that manipulates data.
The ordered set of steps required to carry out a query, complete with the access methods chosen for each table.
The process of rebuilding one or more databases from database dumps and log dumps.
The rules governing data consistency, specifically the relationships among the primary keys and foreign keys of different tables. SQL Server addresses referential integrity with user-defined triggers and with referential integrity constraints.
A collection of tables that stored interrelated data.
RDBMS, a system for storing and retrieving data from two-dimensional tables in which SQL use is standard.
Describes how entities are related. A basic step in logical design of a database is to identify the relationships between the entities you have identified.
A stored procedure executed on a different SQL Server from the server the user is logged into.
For databases, a process by which the changes to data in one database (including creation, updating, and deletion of records) are also applied to the corresponding records in other database.
A subset of the rows in a table. Also called a selection, it is one of the basic query operations in a relational system.
A value that indicates that the procedure completed successfully or indicates the reason for failure.
Provide individual accountability for users performing system administration and security-related tasks in SQL Server. The System Administrator, System Security Officer, and Operator roles can be granted to individual server login accounts.
A Transact-SQL statement used with a user-defined transaction (before a commit transaction has been received) that cancels the transaction and undoes any changes that were made to the database.
A set of related columns that describes a specific entity. Also called a record.
A specification that controls what data may be entered in a particular column, or in a column of a particular user-defined datatype.
The login name for the Sybase System Administrator.
A marker that the user puts inside a user-defined transaction. The user can later use the rollback transaction command with the savepoint name to cancel any commands up to the savepoint, or commit transaction to actually complete the commands.
A subset of the rows in a table. Also called a restriction, it is one of the basic query operations in a relational system.
The ID number by which a user is known to SQL Server.
Used by SQL Server to determine the order in which to sort character data.
Structured Query Language (SQL), the language used to communicate with a relational database and that is the subject of standards set by several standards bodies.
The server in Sybase's client/server architecture. SQL Server manages multiple databases and multiple users, keeps track of the actual location of data on disks, maintains mapping of logical data description to physical data storage, and maintains data and procedure caches in memory.
A statement begins with a keyword that names the basic operation or command to be performed.
A collection of SQL statements and optional control-of-flow statements stored under a name. SQL Server-supplied stored procedures are called system procedures.
A select statement that is nested inside another select, insert, update or delete statement, or inside another subquery.
An assortment of tasks including but not limited to managing SQL Server's physical storage, creating and backing up databases, creating user accounts, granting permissions, and running diagnostic and repair functions. See also database administration.
A user authorized to handle SQL Server system administration, including creating user accounts, assigning permissions, and creating new databases.
The databases on a newly installed SQL Server: master, which controls user databases and the operation of the SQL Server; tempdb, used for temporary tables; model, used as a template to create new user databases; and sybsystemprocs, which stores the system procedures. Distinguished from user databases.
Stored procedures that SQL Server supplies for use in system administration. These procedures are provided as shortcuts for retrieving information from the system tables, or mechanisms for accomplishing database administration and other tasks that involve updating system tables.
One of the data dictionary tables. The system tables keep track of information about the SQL Server for Windows NT as a whole and about each user database. The master database contains some system tables that are not in user databases.
A collection of rows (records) that have associated columns (fields). The logical equivalent of a database file.
The database in SQL Server called tempdb that provides a storage area for temporary tables and other temporary working storage needs.
The volume of work completed in a given time period. It is usually measured in transactions per second (TPS).
The SQL dialect used in Sybase SQL Server.
A grouping of a series of Transact-SQL statements so that they are treated as a single unit of work. Either all statements in the group are executed or no statements are executed. The tables queried during the transaction are locked until the transaction is complete.
A system table (syslogs) in which all changes to the database are recorded.
A special form of stored procedure that goes into effect when a user gives a change command such as insert, delete, or update to a specified table or column. Triggers are often used to enforce referential integrity.
Indexes that do not permit any two rows in the specified columns to have the same value. SQL Server checks for duplicate values when you create the index (if data already exists) and each time data is added.
An addition, deletion, or change to data, involving the insert, delete, truncate table, or update statements.
Database created by a user, distinguished from system databases.
A definition of the type of data a column can contain that is created by the user. These datatypes are defined in terms of the existing system datatypes. Rules and defaults can be bound to user-defined datatypes (but not to system datatypes).
The ID number by which a user is known in a specific database. Distinct from server user ID.
An entity that is assigned a value. SQL Server has two kinds of variables, called local variables and global variables.
A named select statement that is stored in the database as an object. It allows users to "view" a subset of rows or columns from one or more tables.
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