We use SQL Server for database integration as we sometimes use queries to take information from the database. For example, if I need a couple of information that is archived or not indexed, I will inform the SQL Server team to help.
Specialist Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Easy to install and helps us to keep customer data safe
Pros and Cons
- "I use the menu on the management view credit section to get information from the database."
- "SQL Server is a very good product and we use Microsoft SQL Server software that runs on Windows as most of our clients make use of the Windows operating system."
- "But I don't have a hundred percent trust in Microsoft products."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
I use the menu on the management view credit section to get information from the database.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SQL Server for eight to ten years, but I still check Google for things that aren't clear to me. For service delivery, we use on-premises solutions for our customers.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We don't use SQL Server as our primary product. Our focus is on safe customer SQL admin as we don't want problems with customer data in our system.
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How are customer service and support?
I think we consulted once for support in the active directory. We requested the support of Integration Engineers for installation, and their service was very good. However, in the last eight years, we have also used Microsoft support with satisfaction.
How was the initial setup?
For the initial installation process, I did an installation for database testing using SQL Server Express. Sometimes, the trials for the samplers are not allowing the SQL Server Express. So, when I was doing the installation, I just selected database management because it isn't the default and it has helped me not to fill out the same details for future use.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I cannot answer that question concerning pricing and licensing because I'm just a technical staff member. However, we are just a customer of Microsoft and some of our clients say SQL Server is very high in price.
What other advice do I have?
SQL Server is a very good product and we use Microsoft SQL Server software that runs on Windows as most of our clients make use of the Windows operating system. But I don't have a hundred percent trust in Microsoft products. Why am I saying that? This is not a security issue. I am just... We are hitting this kind of issue because, as you know, Windows servers sometimes get corrupted or we need to restart them.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Program Solution Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Simple to install, easy to use, and it is not difficult to find resources to manage it
Pros and Cons
- "It is easy to use and easy to perform a backup."
- "In summary, this is a good product and I recommend it."
- "In my experience, I've found that scalability can be improved."
- "In my experience, I've found that scalability can be improved."
What is our primary use case?
My background is primarily in software development, and I use SQL Server among other tools in that capacity. SQL Server was one of the main databases in my previous company, and it is used for storing data from different applications.
What is most valuable?
It is easy to use and easy to perform a backup.
It is easy to find resources that can manage SQL Server.
What needs improvement?
In my experience, I've found that scalability can be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used SQL Server while working for different companies.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have between 40 and 50 applications running on it, which are used by many people.
How are customer service and technical support?
The support from Microsoft is good.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is simple.
What about the implementation team?
We have an in-house team for deployment and maintenance.
One administrator is suitable for managing it.
What other advice do I have?
In summary, this is a good product and I recommend it.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Stable and able to process a lot of data, but it is expensive and integration needs improvement
Pros and Cons
- "Stability is one of the most valuable features."
- "Stability is one of the most valuable features."
- "Indexing, as well as integration, are areas of this product that need improvement."
- "Indexing, as well as integration, are areas of this product that need improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use SQL Server to process a lot of data. We are using versions and 2015 and 2018.
What is most valuable?
We like the whole product and we use most of the features.
What needs improvement?
Indexing, as well as integration, are areas of this product that need improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using SQL Server for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution. Stability is one of the most valuable features.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's somewhat scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
We don't have any issues with technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used SQL Server from day one, along with OpenSQL. We used them both regularly.
We don't use Oracle often but we do have a few areas where it is used.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
We have experience and did find it to be challenging.
We do multiple deployments which require three or four teams.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost is high and because it's an expensive product, we are in the process of moving towards open-source solutions.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have evaluated MongoDB and are in the process of transforming ourselves.
What other advice do I have?
We will continue using SQL Server for some things but not everything. Most of our applications will be migrated to MongoDB and others.
I am not in the position to recommend SQL Server to anybody. Rather, I am more in the area of quality assurance.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Manager Digital Technologies at a real estate/law firm with 51-200 employees
Easy to use, simple to configure, and has a straightforward setup
Pros and Cons
- "The solution has the capability to scale."
- "Overall, it helps our organization a lot."
- "Microsoft doesn't have active-active load balancing scenarios. It's always a failover cluster."
- "Microsoft doesn't have active-active load balancing scenarios. It's always a failover cluster."
How has it helped my organization?
Most of the application what we use today are SQL-based applications. If you take a Microsoft ecosystem, there are many tools that connect easily with SQL - especially when it comes to reporting and analytics. Power BI is one of the good examples which can easily connect to SQL and then you can pull any report you want. SQL itself has its own tools like reporting services and transformation services. It also helps you to generate reporting and analytics and data transformation.
Overall, it helps our organization a lot. Again, it depends on what requirements and company has, and for what purpose you are using it. However, from an application relational database point of view that we are using today, it helps due to the fact that it comes with all that we need. Also, from a performance point of view, it configures well.
What is most valuable?
When you use the solution with Azure, for example, you get very good scalability. You can scale fast, whether it is horizontal or vertical.
If we use the product as a PaaS, Platform as a Service, it comes with all the security features you need - including against DDoS attacks.
The product offers good bloc storage, which you can buy at an additional cost. This allows you to have large object storage if you need it.
Over a period of time, their split engine has evolved and in the latest version, they've done a lot. Even from the management tool perspective, a lot of things have been done. A lot of functions have been added.
The initial setup is pretty straightforward.
Technical support has been good.
The solution has the capability to scale.
The pricing isn't as high as other options.
SQL is very easy to use. That's a very good thing about it in general.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft doesn't have active-active load balancing scenarios. It's always a failover cluster. There is no active-active cluster, which other tools, other database providers like Oracle, provide. If Microsoft can consider or probably come up with an active-active cluster, then it would be good. It will be more powerful in a scenario like that.
The pricing, while not the most expensive, is still quite high.
They have something called Parallel Queries, however, I don't know how it works. I've never tested it in a horizontal way. I'd like to understand a bit more about it and be able to use it horizontally.
For how long have I used the solution?
I'm new to my organization and have only been using the product for three or four months here, however, previously, I worked with SQL for a long time.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of direct users, there are only a few. However, there are applications that are using SQL and those application's users are 100 plus, or maybe 300 to 400 plus users.
This company is in the phase of growth. If it grows as expected, then definitely the chances are high in terms of the number of users - which means we will scale up a bit.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have direct support from Microsoft. We have Microsoft partners as well. I don't see any problem with technical support, as we ourselves are capable of troubleshooting. I'm a certified BBS developer. If there any related issues, we take care of them internally. If not, we raise a ticket from Microsoft and we get support from them. They are helpful and responsive. We are satisfied with the level of service they provide.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is very straightforward. It's not too complex. A company shouldn't have an issue implementing it. Once you install everything and get it configured as per your requirements if you are an SQL professional and an administrator, it's very straightforward.
It's doesn't take too long to set up. Within a week you can get it deployed. If you do a standalone module, a week likely is not required. If it is in a cluster module, of course, within a week you can set up a cluster and then get things done.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
SQL pricing is slightly high compared to where it was before. That said, compared to other products like Oracle, they are still cheap. It's not overly expensive in comparison to others.
The final price you can expect all depends on your requirements. A standard version of SQL is always cheaper than an enterprise. If you're going to go on a cluster, it's particularly expensive. However, when it comes to the value and what is provided, that is also important.
It all depends on what you need. I cannot just blindly say that it's expensive or cheap as it all depends on your requirement. Comparatively, SQL is cheaper than other products like Oracle. Oracle is really expensive compared to SQL.
What other advice do I have?
We are customers and end-users.
I'm certified in SQL. I have a pretty good understanding of the product.
Overall, I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.
Whether or not it would work well for a company all depends on what purpose it is being used for. However, SQL is simple to use and simple to configure, and very powerful in terms of relational database and the SQL language and functions it comes with. If you configure it well and then use it well, the outcome will likely be very good.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Chief Information Officer at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Good SSMS and profiling tools that work well for internal applications
Pros and Cons
- "I like that the new version has a memory-optimized table to improve the performance."
- "I like that the new version has a memory-optimized table to improve the performance."
- "I would like to see the performance improved. Migrating should be easier and the scalability needs improvement."
- "We had some difficulty doing the performance tuning when we migrated from the 2008 version to the 2016 version, as we experienced a drop in performance and could not understand or figure out what caused it."
What is our primary use case?
We use SQL Server for our internal applications.
What is most valuable?
Working with SQL Server, it is quite convenient to use the SSMS tools to write a profile. I also like the profiling tools.
I like that the new version has a memory-optimized table to improve the performance.
What needs improvement?
We had some difficulty doing the performance tuning when we migrated from the 2008 version to the 2016 version. We experienced a drop in the performance. We could not understand or figure out what caused the drop in performance. We did not change any settings to cause this effect. We tried to keep the same settings.
We feel that when running the 2008 version, it was much quicker in terms of performance.
That is an area of SQL Server that can be improved. Moving to a new version, you shouldn't have to change the configuration.
We have not been able to utilize it fully because it is not straightforward.
I would like to see the performance improved. Migrating should be easier and the scalability needs improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for many years.
We are using version 2016.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability, it has some room for improvement.
We have 20 people in our organization who are using this solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
We don't usually get support from Microsoft. We get it from our software vendors or we try to do it ourselves.
We are somewhat satisfied with the support that we have received from the vendor, but not fully because of the issue we faced when we moved to a newer version. But in other areas, it's okay.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used SQL Server from the beginning.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was moderate. It was not easy but it was not difficult.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate SQL Server a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Information Security Engineer at a security firm with 11-50 employees
User-friendly interface, stable, and easy to install
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is easy installation. It was very easy to install."
- "The interface is very user-friendly."
- "I would like to see more integration with other products and it needs to be more secure."
- "I would like to see more integration with other products and it needs to be more secure."
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is easy installation. It was very easy to install.
The interface is very user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see more integration with other products and it needs to be more secure.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SQL Server for two months and I believe that we are using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution. It's very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution.
My installation requires SQL Servers, so I have to continue using them.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not contacted technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we did not use another product.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. The installation was easy.
It took two hours to deploy.
What about the implementation team?
I completed the implementation myself.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it.
I would rate SQL Server an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Vice President, Product Engineering at Logitix
Reliable with good scalability and offers a very high level of performance
Pros and Cons
- "The solution offers very high performance."
- "The solution offers very high performance."
- "The Task Scheduler has a lot of shortcomings. This could be improved quite a bit."
- "Our original architecture messaging infrastructure was based on Microsoft SQL server's Message Broker. It's been a complete disaster."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution as a relational database system.
What is most valuable?
The solution offers very high performance.
It is a very reliable solution. We find it to be quite stable.
We've found the product to be very scalable, specifically from MSSQL.
The product offers various deployment models.
What needs improvement?
The Message Broker portion of the solution is not very scalable in comparison to the rest of the solution. The problem is, you can exclude that portion.
The Task Scheduler has a lot of shortcomings. This could be improved quite a bit.
The enterprise version of the product should be more cost-effective.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for the last 15 or so years. It's been a while. We have a lot of experience with it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the product is very good. It offers excellent performance. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is extremely scalable. If a company needs to expand, it can do so without any problems.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The enterprise version of the solution needs to be priced more competitively.
We have a couple of models. We lease through Azure monthly, which is for the Standard version. We have had to purchase the Enterprise version to the tune of a few hundred thousand dollars, which is just ridiculous.
On top of that, there aren't really any other knock-on costs.
What other advice do I have?
We have experience with almost every angle of Microsoft ecosystem that you could imagine.
We're a direct customer. We own a MSSQL server. We have it deployed both on-premises and on the cloud, so we use different deployment models. We have distinct instances in the cloud and we have distinct instances in our on-prem.
I would warn other organizations to not use their Message Broker and don't rely on their Task Scheduler. Look elsewhere. Go look at Oversource, Rabbit MQ, Azure Message Broker, or something other than what's built into Microsoft's SQL server. That would be my advice.
Our original architecture messaging infrastructure was based on Microsoft SQL server's Message Broker. It's been a complete disaster. It's a black hole that can't be diagnosed or supported in terms of troubleshooting from Microsoft when it doesn't work. When it doesn't work, it just doesn't work and no one can answer why. That is very bad. The intended use of it was for enterprise messaging. However, that is not a use case for MSSQL Message Broker, period. We're in the process of moving in a couple of directions. We're going to move to Azure Service Bus as an interim solution, as our current technical capabilities are very Microsoft-centric. Then, the next step will be to move to other more enterprise-class messaging and queuing subsystems like RabbitMQ.
The SQL server as an engine probably deserves a very high nine out of ten. It's a very, very efficient relational database management system. And it is very scalable.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Software Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Stable, user-friendly interface, and good community support
Pros and Cons
- "The interface is user friendly."
- "We always like to work with the best products, we are happy with SQL Server, and I recommend it."
- "Better integration with other platforms would be an improvement."
- "Better integration with other platforms would be an improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use SQL Server to store, retrieve, and manage data.
What is most valuable?
This product works well, serving as our operational database.
The interface is user friendly.
What needs improvement?
Better integration with other platforms would be an improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SQL Server for almost two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have had no issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable product. It is being used in three or four projects with a total of between 50 and 100 people.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not been in contact with technical support for this project, but we use the Microsoft communities to get answers to questions that we have. For example, we have checked the settings to make sure that we are safe.
Overall, the support is pretty good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is definitely straightforward and can be completed within a couple of minutes.
What about the implementation team?
The installation and initial setup were completed by our admin team. However, there are some drivers and additional components that I installed myself.
What other advice do I have?
We always like to work with the best products, we are happy with SQL Server, and I recommend it.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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