We have hundreds of databases that are using SEL Server and there may be other capabilities.
Manager at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
Feature-rich, stable, scalable, and easy to install
Pros and Cons
- "There is no lack of features."
- "The agility of the non-SQL-based features is relevant on the market."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
It's a standard product that is used with standard applications, which is why we use it.
There is no lack of features.
What needs improvement?
There are newer models that are available on the market. The agility of the non-SQL-based features is relevant on the market.
Integration is one thing but it's making use of all the iterations or the new cloud data result.
Today's architectures are in many different directions. Not always via SQL relational databases, but also NoSQL databases, and they have a pretty good Java database as well.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using SQL Server in our organization for 10 years, but I am not a day-to-day user.
We use a couple of the versions. We have used the 2016 version and most likely have used some newer versions as well.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SQL Server is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We don't have any issues with the scalability of SQL Server.
We have hundreds of thousands of applications using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
We have a dedicated Microsoft account team and we have also dedicated support conditions.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Areas in our organization use AWS Lambda.
We use other relational databases. The most important product besides SQL Server is Oracle. We use SQL Server and Oracle equally.
How was the initial setup?
I am not a patient person with installations, but there are no issues with the installation of this solution.
We have a database team to maintain this solution along with an engineering team, an operational team and we have eternal resources.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The enterprise-level license agreement is very complicated. It's complex, not only with SQL server but with a number of products.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I would rate SQL Server an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Enterprise Architect at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
Easy to set up and use, and the technical support is good
Pros and Cons
- "It is the latest technology and pretty powerful in terms of the high availability of the virtual server."
- "We have had problems implementing a data warehouse using SQL Server."
What is our primary use case?
We use SQL Server for our application data.
As a government agency, all of our data is stored in our environment on-premises.
What is most valuable?
SQL Server is easier to use than Oracle, programming-wise.
It is the latest technology and pretty powerful in terms of the high availability of the virtual server.
What needs improvement?
We have had problems implementing a data warehouse using SQL Server. It may be because the data is too big, although it claims to be able to handle the amount of data that we have. Perhaps there are some technical issues because there is something weird going on. It cannot find the correct IP address.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SQL Server for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This product is not quite as stable as Oracle. I would rate the stability as moderate and would not rate it ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
SQL Server claims to be good, scalability-wise, but we have had issues with it.
On the other hand, we have been using it for a lot of large applications and it has worked well in those cases. For the most part, it is good, and we have a lot of users.
How are customer service and technical support?
Microsoft technical support is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I also have experience with Oracle and I find that SQL Server is easier to work with, but it is not as powerful.
How was the initial setup?
Initially, it is easy to set up.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for anybody who is considering this product is that it is relatively easy to set up.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
SQL Server
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about SQL Server. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Software Solutions Account Manager at First Technology
Helps users to manage their data but improvement is needed in pricing and support
Pros and Cons
- "SQL Server is easy to manage."
- "The tool needs to improve its pricing and technical support."
What is most valuable?
SQL Server is easy to manage.
What needs improvement?
The tool needs to improve its pricing and technical support.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the product for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the product’s stability a seven out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the tool's scalability a seven out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
I rate the tool's deployment a seven out of ten. Deployment time depends on the customer's environment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I rate the product’s pricing a six out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
Our clients are from small, medium, and enterprise businesses. It helps users to manage their data.
I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
CEO at Informula Ltd
Highly stable and secure, but stability could improve
Pros and Cons
- "The support from Microsoft has been good."
- "SQL Server has good performance, but it could be better."
What is our primary use case?
We developed a product for banks and we store the data in SQL Server.
What needs improvement?
SQL Server has good performance, but it could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SQL Server for a couple of years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of SQL Server is very important for us because we provide services for banks. The banks need a secure and stable solution from us and we have requested from the cloud provider to give us this level of service.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have approximately 10 developers and architects using SQL Server. Additionally, we have approximately four end-users using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Microsoft has been good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously used Oracle.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of SQL Server is not complicated.
What about the implementation team?
We have four technicians that do the implementation and maintenance of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a license required to use the solution and I am satisfied.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate SQL Server a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Works at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
User-friendly, easy to install, and has a straightforward syntax
Pros and Cons
- "For my business requirements, the performance is good."
- "In the next release, I would like to see a better user interface and a familiar syntax."
What is most valuable?
For my business requirements, the performance is good. If we use it on a larger scale, it will not fit our business needs.
It is easy to use.
It has simple syntax, but you must check your packet on a daily basis.
What needs improvement?
We occasionally face or encounter a problem with the database table itself. Some tables and their flyers, as well as the content's data, must be truncated. It was a major issue with my ERP system because it is a backbone database application. It hasn't happened often, but it was a bad experience. Regarding some table issues, I believe we will encounter them in many applications, but I believe the other vendor, such as Oracle, has more than tools to protect my data.
In the next release, I would like to see a better user interface and a familiar syntax.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with SQL Server since 2003. It's been more than 10 years.
We use a version component for each application. One is for 2014, and the other is for 2017.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SQL Server is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have two users in my company. The ERP system has nearly two users. We have about five users for subsidies and the sister company.
I'm not going to increase our usage because I'm going to the cloud. We're going to the cloud, according to my plan. Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft cloud, or NetSuite. Because they are both cloud-based, I don't need to increase the number of SQL server users, either for administration or for users.
How are customer service and support?
I'm not opening a ticket with SQL about the issues we experienced, because it was opened by my partner, but it didn't solve the problem. For my table, it almost uses truncate comma syntax, and it flushes my table contact.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Approximately 10 years ago, I used Oracle Database.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. I did not encounter any issues.
We have 12 technical teams with four admins to maintain the solutions in our companies.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't need a license for it as I will be migrating to Office 365.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution for small and medium-sized companies, but for enterprise businesses.
I know it's not the best, but this application meets our requirements.
I would rate SQL Server an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Business Intelligence Manager at a consumer goods company with 10,001+ employees
Enables us to use ADF Azure data factory for analysis services for a large amount of data but data navigation could be improved
Pros and Cons
- "We are using the net for our environment. We're using the ADF Azure data factory for our analysis services, and it is pretty good."
- "Something that could be improved is the cost because it's very high. That's the only thing I'm concerned about but the technology is good."
What is our primary use case?
We have a large amount of information and data. We are using a lot of business models for our menu mix.
How has it helped my organization?
Because we are using the solution from an analytics perspective, the performance is good. We have a large amount of information in our dashboard. The data navigation could be improved.
What is most valuable?
We are using the net for our environment. We're using the ADF Azure data factory for our analysis services, and it is pretty good.
What needs improvement?
Something that could be improved is the cost because it's very high. That's the only thing I'm concerned about but the technology is good. We are looking forward to getting some discounts because we have a large amount of data.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for three and a half years. The solution is deployed on a public cloud. Azure is the cloud provider.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's much more stable. It's good. We haven't had any downtime during the past two years. The solution has gone down maybe once.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It should be scalable within the coming years because data is growing and the business is growing.
Right now we have about 300 users, but by next year we might have around 2,000 because we also have a retail side, which could also use the platform. Some of their roles are in the executive layers and the managers layers, and reporting line people also.
We are planning to increase the usage. This is a transformation phase, so we are currently using SAP business objects, and we are on the Oracle database. We just moved to Azure cloud with the data warehouse and Power BI tools.
How are customer service and support?
My team works with support. As far as I know the technical support is good, but occasionally it takes a little bit of time.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, I was using SAP, which is good. The technology is great. It has many more features than Microsoft SQL, like the data architect and performance.
My plan was to use SAP HANA, but we had an acquisition in our company, so we got a new team and new managers. The head of BI decided to go with Microsoft, however, my POC was already accepted with SAP HANA and AWS cloud hosting. We went in the other direction and started using SQL because the people who were hired were more familiar with the Microsoft technology rather than SAP.
How was the initial setup?
It is mostly straightforward. There were no issues. It takes about two or three months to prepare. Development takes another three months. It takes almost one year to just kick off the project with live production.
For deployment and maintenance, we used seven or eight people. Most of them were developers and DBAs, and some of them were business analysts.
What about the implementation team?
We used in-house developers and had some consultation from Microsoft.
What was our ROI?
There is a return on investment because based on analytics, we are reducing the number of people who are doing the analytical part so that it's an automated process, and the data will be available to everyone, including business users.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing fees increase depending on size and performance. If you want higher performance, you should go for a different course.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 7 out of 10.
My advice is to know your use case and requirements so that you aren't surprised after deciding to get this product and realizing in the implementation that you need much more space. You at least need to make a massive POC to know if the product will give you 100% what you need.
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: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Tech lead at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
User-friendly with a lot of tools
Pros and Cons
- "SQL Server is quite user-friendly. I have experience with Oracle and PostgreSQL, so out of three, I like SQL Server a lot."
- "It may be a licensing issue, but sometimes its operating speed becomes slow if we have multiple users. It's lacking some performance, but it's acceptable because we have a heavy load."
What is most valuable?
Out of all the tools in the complete SQL Server package, I'm mainly using Toolbox and SQL Profiler because I'm using SSIS packets, so we're using job scheduling a lot. And sometimes we are creating the SSIS packages, so I'm using SQL Server for MSD for maintenance purposes. SQL Server is quite user-friendly. I have experience with Oracle and PostgreSQL, so out of three, I like SQL Server a lot.
What needs improvement?
They could increase the intelligence of SQL Server. That would be good for us. There are some good intelligent features in SQL Server. However, they need to increase the intelligence because people switching to SQL Server from other solutions are not so familiar with it. I've been working with SQL Server for the last six years, but people are coming from MySQL or Oracle, so it will take one or two months to adjust. Still, they could add some intelligent tools to convert Oracle into SQL Server something like that.
And sometimes when I'm writing a function, there is already a predefined structure available. So if they defined their structure more precisely, that would be good for us. And the last thing I would like to add is that SQL Server should handle queries more like Oracle does. For example, you submit a query in Oracle, and the whole table comes up. In SQL Server, you go to the table, right-click, and it lets you see the first 200 rows. Then on top of that, you can add 200 more rows.
So in place of those 200 rows, if I can update all my table records or search my table record without a new search query, it'll be very beneficial. That functionality exists in Oracle, but this feature is not available everywhere in SQL Server. So if SQL Server had the feature, it'd be great because SQL Server is lacking only on this point. For example, one of my clients is a semi-technical person, so I have to train them to file a query in SQL. And they say that Oracle is much better. Say, for example, that I wanted to query a particular employee from a list of all staff. So the query output comes, and they can directly filter out the data by just applying the filter. They don't have to use the drop-down menu and search for all the employees with a given name.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using SQL Server for the last six years. I'm working with SSIS, SSRS, or MDS. These tools are part of SQL Server, and the back-end queries are developed in SQL Server.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SQL Server is stable. SQL Server has crashed only two times in six years, but it wasn't a major system error.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It may be a licensing issue, but sometimes its operating speed becomes slow if we have multiple users. It's lacking some performance, but it's acceptable because we have a heavy load. And I would like to add that we're running SQL Server and SSIS at the same time. So while I've found that SQL Server is quite fast, SSIS is a part of SQL Server. It is just for data testing in India. But if a person knows SSIS, then they usually have very little knowledge about SQL and vice versa.
I know both of them. I found that maybe it's a bad habit, but I'm using SSIS packages. And in the SSIS package, I'm using Toolbox from SQL Server to improve the latency. Implementing both together takes a little time. And one more point is data handling. I am just forwarding the error names, and there are multiple errors in the SQL Server tool, but what if a person comes to work under me and has only one or two years of experience? Sometimes it might be difficult for them to understand what the errors mean. For example, when joining data, it's easy to implement the inner joint. In the inner joint, there are two columns, so when there's an output error, someone who is inexperienced with SQL Server might not understand. Error messages should be a little more precise and defined, so it's easy to understand.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up an individual SQL Server is pretty straightforward, but when you are implementing multiple tools, it's more complicated. In terms of maintenance, for the DBA part, there are two based in my company because I am on a master device, so they don't allow me to maintain the server part. So one person is from South Korea, and the other is from China. They are handling my SQL Server. So maybe there are multiple teams, but I am contacting these two guys, the DBA. And I'm MDS, so I'm a single person. There are two people on my team, and I have one junior staff member. So I have a three-person team, and there are two DBA sites because I'm discussing my master team. I am deployed on the business side, and there are more than 80 people who are end-users of SQL.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
If you're using SQL Server along with SSIS and SSRS tools, it works pretty smoothly and all. When working with Oracle SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc, there are a few problems with the connection.
Overall, SQL Server is good, but sometimes, optimization becomes a little bit tricky when you're using SQL Servers in place of Oracle. For example, while I was implementing two queries one time, the SQL Server gave me the wrong results. This wasn't because of their internal modules. So there may have been some missing data, but SQL Server failed to identify those issues. SQL Server needs to improve there.
For example, say there is a line with a value of 136 or 137. The second value is a space, and the third value is null. And the last one is space. So a space means this is also null. So you are comparing these four values, and if you don't have any idea about data, it's a little problematic. So cases like this, we can deal with such queries using syntax, but if a person has no idea how to deal with this, they'll face an issue.
Here's another example. Say there's a team query that means we are erasing data from the teams, and some people are just analyzing the string. So I see data from it, which means the calling system is there. In the calling system, we receive the data to call anyone, and that type of wire call setup is there. So I am receiving a full-text format from the file I have to upload in the SSIS package. And some cells have a null value. It's a text file, so you can understand there are blanks in some places. I don't know the file type, so I am just trying to dump it into our SQL Server. But when I have time to get to that table, I realize that some values are null, space, and blank. So these four values make problems for me.
What other advice do I have?
I rate SQL Server nine out of 10. I would recommend SQL Server to anyone because you can use cloud-based services, so it's very beneficial. If you install SQL Server on-premise and on the Azure cloud, it is much more advantageous for you.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Solutions Architect at One Click
Knocks ROI out of the park
Pros and Cons
- "Scalability, cluster ability, ease of use, ease of implementation — these are all great."
- "In terms of exceptionally large databases, it doesn't scale as well as Oracle."
What is our primary use case?
SQL Server is enterprise database software. It provides the back end for any number of different applications, including web applications, and other types of internal applications, and software-based applications. It also provides a back end for enterprise backup tools. It's incredibly diverse in terms of its use case.
What is most valuable?
Scalability, cluster ability, ease of use, ease of implementation — these are all great.
What needs improvement?
In terms of exceptionally large databases, it doesn't scale as well as Oracle. It scales excellently and it's flexible and it can provide a solution for exceptionally large databases, but it doesn't work as well as Oracle does for this particular use case. The performance starts to drag in the case of exceptionally large databases; especially where there's a lot more feature functionality. With Oracle, there's a lot more tunability.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with this product for 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's exceptionally stable. The ease of implementation and the ease of use can't be beaten. I think it's outstanding overall.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability-wise, it's outstanding. The one limitation it has is that at the very, very high end of petabytes-sized databases, it doesn't scale as well as Oracle. Still, you're not going to run into very many exceptionally large databases. Almost 100% of the use cases for it scale very well.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is available for a separate cost. If you don't have a subscription or a support contract, then you don't get support. You'll be stuck with online forums — that's how you'll have to get answers to questions. Assuming you have a support contract with Microsoft, it's outstanding.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
What was our ROI?
This solution is available at a much lower price point than Oracle. Plus, it includes 99% of the same feature functionality. I'd say it knocks ROI out of the park.
What other advice do I have?
If you're interested in using this product, make sure that you have a good understanding of best practices for database implementation. Make sure to incorporate them in your deployment right off the bat. You won't want to have to go back and have to take production databases down because you have to change the configuration, post-implementation. Make sure you get all of these things done, pre-production implementation.
They've come a long, long way in the 20 years I've been working with them. Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give SQL Server a rating of nine.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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