Chapter 1. DBMS Specifics

You need a database management system to run SQL programs. You can have your own private copy of a DBMS running on your desktop (local) computer, or you can use a shared DBMS over a network. In the latter case, you use your desktop computer to connect to a DBMS server running on another machine. The computer where the DBMS is running is called a host.

Because this book is about SQL and not DBMSs, I won’t rehash the instructions for installing and configuring database software. This evasion might seem like a brush-off at first glance, but setting up a DBMS varies by vendor, product, version, edition, and operating system. All DBMSs come with extensive installation, administration, reference, and tutorial documentation. ...

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