Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS) that supports a wide variety of transaction processing, business intelligence and analytics applications in corporate IT environments.

SQL Server is primarily built around a row-based table structure that connects related data elements in several tables to at least one another, avoiding the necessity to redundantly store data in multiple places within a database.

The core component is the SQL Server Database Engine, which controls data storage, processing and security. It includes a relational engine that processes commands and queries and a storage engine that manages database files, tables, pages, indexes, data buffers and transactions. Stored procedures, triggers, views and other database objects also are created and executed by the Database Engine.