Introduction
Often people in newsgroups ask about some comparison of Access and
SQL Server databases. In this article, I want to tell you about some
general characteristics of Access 97/2000 and SQL Server 7.0/2000,
about their restrictions, and about the comparison of these products.
Access 97/2000
Microsoft offers a full family of database tools for the desktop,
the server, and for open connectivity. For the desktop Microsoft
offers Microsoft Access 97/2000.
The Microsoft Access 97/2000 is a full-featured multiuser relational
database management system that designed for the Microsoft Windows
operating systems (such as Windows 9x, Windows NT, Windows 2000).
Access 97/2000 is extremely visually oriented and easy to use.
It makes extensive use of drag-and-drop and visual design for queries,
forms, and reports.
Access 97/2000 comes with an integrated development environment (IDE),
including incremental compilation, a fully interactive visual debugger,
breakpoints, and single step-through. These capabilities combine to
make Microsoft Access an extremely powerful platform for developing
client-server database solutions.
There are general Access 97/2000 characteristics:
Click here for comparison table 1.
Though the maximum database size is 1 Gb, but your database can
include linked tables in other files, and its total size is limited
only by available storage capacity.
Number of characters in a Memo field can be up to 65,535
characters when entering data through the user interface
or can be up to 1 Gb when entering data programmatically.
Access 2000 can lock on the row level in comparison with Access 97
page level’s lock.
SQL Server 7.0/2000
For the server engine in client-server solutions Microsoft provides
the Microsoft SQL Server 7.0/2000.
There are no many differences in the internal architecture between
SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000. SQL Server 2000 has the same
features as SQL Server 7.0: autogrow features, new storage engine,
complete row level locking and so on. So, the general characteristics
of these versions are the same.
There are general SQL Server 97/2000 characteristics:
Click here for comparison table 2.
SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition on the Windows 2000 DataCenter
can support up to 32 CPU and up to 64GB physical memory (RAM) on a
computer!
Literature
-
SQL Server Books Online
-
Maximum Capacity Specifications
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/psdk/sql/8_ar_ts_8dbn.htm -
ACC: Choosing Database Tools White Paper Available in Download Center
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q128/3/84.asp -
Microsoft SQL Server: Microsoft Access 2000 Data Engine Options
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/backgrnd/html/acmsdeop.htm
