Microsoft details SQL Server role with Win 2000
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Microsoft is betting big on Active Directory, and last week the company upped the ante as it detailed how another of its key BackOffice servers will integrate with the Windows 2000 service.
Microsoft said the next version of SQL Server, formerly called Shiloh and last week officially named SQL Server 2000, will rely on Active Directory to simplify the management of large enterprise deployments. A database server, SQL will use the directory to centralize configuration, location and maintenance information.
Earlier this year, Microsoft detailed how another BackOffice server, Exchange 2000, will be wed to Active Directory, and how Exchange, SQL and Office 2000 will be integrated into a knowledge management platform.
The moves highlight Microsoft's attempts to add substance to its product integration, which has been more concept than reality for most enterprise users.
"This year, Microsoft's attempt to integrate products is probably at its highest point ever," says Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group in Cambridge, Mass. "There has always been the promise that Microsoft products would work well with other Microsoft products, but that has not always been the case. The overall effort now is to simplify the mass of products they have."
Customers are hopeful but skeptical. "Any level of integration from Microsoft is good, if in fact it works," says Julia Goldberg, global IS manager for Razorfish. com. Goldberg has a host of SQL Servers, but is delaying the rollout of Win 2000 until after the network operating system proves itself in the market.
Microsoft will face its litmus test on integration next year. The test will include Windows DNA 2000, an integration of servers and services to create a platform for building and managing Web-based applications. The platform's key pieces are expected to ship in 2000, including Win 2000 and Active Directory; BizTalk, an XML middleware server; and AppCenter Server for load-balancing Web server farms. Microsoft also will embrace XML as a key integration tool. SQL Server 2000, for example, will support XML-based queries.
Microsoft knows tight integration is key as enterprise customers begin to rely more on distributed Web-based applications that take advantage of legacy back ends.
With SQL Server 2000, Active Directory will serve as a central hub for registering servers, finding databases, subscribing to replication services, and keeping applications and databases in sync. When installed, SQL Server 2000 will automatically register in Active Directory, which will let database administrators search for SQL Servers and databases without knowing a location or name.
With data centralized, applications also will use the directory to find databases. Replication services will be published in the directory where administrators can search for them.
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