Integrated with the Internet

The Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 relational database engine includes native support for XML:

Transact-SQL results can be returned as XML documents to Web or line of business applications using the OLE DB and ADO APIs.
You can define annotated XDR schemas that represent a logical view of the tables in your database. Web applications can then reference these schemas in XPath queries to build XML documents.
The SQL Server 2000 includes an ISAPI DLL that allows you to define virtual roots in Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) associated with an instance of SQL Server 2000. Internet applications can then compose URL strings that reference a SQL Server 2000 virtual root and contains a Transact-SQL statement. The Transact-SQL statement is sent to the instance of SQL Server 2000 associated with the virtual root, and the result is returned as an XML document.
XML documents can be added to SQL Server 2000 databases. The OPENXML function can be used to expose the data from an XML document in a rowset, which can be referenced by Transact-SQL statements, such as SELECT, INSERT, or UPDATE.

SQL Server 2000 works with other products to form a stable and secure data store for Internet and intranet networks:

SQL Server 2000 works with Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server and Microsoft Windows NT® Server security and encryption facilities to implement secure data storage.
SQL Server 2000 forms a high-performance data storage service for Web applications running under IIS, or accessing the database through a firewall.
SQL Server 2000 can be used with Site Server to build and maintain large, sophisticated e-commerce Web sites.
The SQL Server 2000 TCP/IP Sockets communications support can be integrated with Microsoft Proxy Server to implement secure Internet and intranet communications.

Analysis Services includes features that support the functionality required in many Business to Business, or Business to Consumer Web applications:

An integrated data mining engine supports data mining analysis of both relational databases and OLAP cubes. The data mining engine is extensible through OLE DB for Data Mining, allowing you to incorporate algorithms from Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to support extended data mining features.
Features such as distinct count and OLAP alerts allow you perform actions such as analyzing Web site click-streams to evaluate the effectiveness of your Web interface.

English Query allows Web applications to support users of any skill level entering English language questions about data in either a relational database or OLAP cube. English Query will match the question against a model of the database or cube, and return either a SQL or MDX query to retrieve the proper results.

All of these SQL Server 2000 features are also supported from your line of business applications, allowing you to more easily integrate your Web and line of business applications.

Integrated with the Internet

See Also