Beginning ASP.NET 3.5: In C# and VB

Appendix B. Configuring SQL Server 2005

This book assumes that you are using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition as the database for the Planet Wrox project. SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is great for development because it's free, relatively lightweight, and easy to use. However, in a production environment it doesn't always cut it because it isn't designed to handle lots of users simultaneously. In cases where the Express Edition is not enough, you need to look at its bigger brothers: the commercial versions of SQL Server 2005, like the Standard or Enterprise Editions. In this appendix you will learn about security in SQL Server 2005, how to enable your SQL Server 2005 database and your ASP.NET 3.5 application to work together, and how to obtain and use SQL Server Management Studio Express, a free tool from Microsoft that lets you manage your database.

Although this appendix doesn't discuss SQL Server 2000, you'll find that most of the concepts apply to this older version of SQL Server as well. In fact, you can even use SQL Server Management Studio Express to manage your SQL Server 2000 database.

In addition to configuring your SQL Server and ASP.NET 3.5 application to work together, this appendix also shows you how to configure a SQL Server database to support the ASP.NET 3.5 application services. This is necessary if you want your application to use your own, custom database instead of the aspnetdb.mdf database that is generated for you automatically.