The Enterprise Manager is a graphical interface tool used to administer your SQL Servers. You can use the Enterprise Manager to configure SQL Server options, create/edit/view databases, perform maintenance and backups, and do quite a few more tasks that we will look at over the next few weeks.
Back a couple of articles we saw that the SQL Server 2000 setup creates a program group on the Start Menu named “Microsoft SQL Server.” To launch the Enterprise Manager Click Start > Programs > Microsoft SQL Server > Enterprise Manager
If you have ever used the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) you will notice that the Enterprise Manager looks familiar. This is because the Enterprise Manager is a MMC snap-in like many of the tools provided with Windows 2000. If you would like more information on using the Microsoft Management Console have a look at the following link:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/howitworks/management/mmcover.asp
By expanding “Microsoft SQL Server” and then expanding “SQL Server Group” you can locate the SQL Server you have installed on your local system. Expanding the tree further allows you to manage databases, security, replication, etc…
Right clicking the SQL Server’s icon in the tree view will also popup a menu with options that allow you to start/stop the server, view the server messages, access the server’s properties, etc…
Enterprise Manager also provides you with a quick look at the status of your SQL Servers. Depending on the icon displayed in the tree view you can tell if SQL Server is running, stopped, paused, and if you are currently connected to the server. Use the following table to check the status of your SQL Servers:
- Server Running, You are currently connected
- Server Running, You are not currently connected
- Server Paused
- Server Stopped