Introduction to Microsoft SQL Server

Before installing Microsoft SQL Server 2008, make sure you have installed all service packs on your operating system.

One of the main concerns of a database is security, and this is central to Microsoft SQL Server. To install and use Microsoft SQL Server, you must use a computer account that must be authenticated to the computer. To start, you must create an appropriate user account. This depends of the operating system of the computer you will use.

Creating a User Account in Microsoft Windows XP

1. Start Control Panel
2. Click User Accounts:
    
   
3. Click Create New User:
    
   
4. Type the name for the new account:
    
   
5. Click Next.
   Make sure the Computer Administrator radio button is selected
    
   
6. Click Create Account
7. To assign a password to an account, in the User Account, click the account you created
8. Click Create A Password
    
   
9. In the Type A New Password text box, type Password1 and press Tab
10. Type Password1 to confirm and type anything in the last text box:
     
    
11. Click Create Password

Creating a User Account in Microsoft Windows 7

1. Start Control Panel
2. Click User Accounts
    
   
3. Click User Accounts again
4. Click Manage Accounts
    
   
    
   
5. Click Advanced
6. Click Advanced again
7. In the left frame, right-click Users and click New User...:
    
   
8. Enter the user name, the full name, an optional description, and a password twice:
    
   
9. Click Create
10. Click OK

Creating an Account in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or 2008

1. Log in to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or 3008 with an account that can create accounts
2. To create an account in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or 2008, on the taskbar, click Start -> Administrative Tools -> Active Directory Users and Computers.
   If you receive a message box, click Continue
3. In the left frame, expand the node of the domain if necessary.
   Right-click Users, position the mouse on New, and click User
    
   
4. Enter the first name, the optional initial (you can skip it), the last name, and the user name (the domain name will be different from yours)
    
   
5. Click Next
6. Type the password and press Tab
7. Type the password again and accept the options in the check boxes
    
   
8. Click Next (in the summary, the domain name will be different from yours)
    
   
9. Read the summary in the last page of the wizard and click Finish

1. Depending of your operating system, create the following accounts that we will use in our lessons:
    

   Microsoft Windows Server			User (Logon) Name	Windows XP-7	Password
   First Name	Initials	Last Name		Full Name
   Patricia	H	Katts	pkatts	Patricia H Katts	Password1
   Orlando		Perez	operez	Orlando Perez	Password1
   Gertrude	D	Monay	gdmonay	Gertrude Danielle Monay	Password1
   Raymond		Kouma	rkouma	Ramond A Kouma	Password1

2. After creating the accounts, Click Close
3. Click Start -> Switch User
    
   
    
   
4. One after the other, log in as each of the above user accounts and provide the password as Password1
5. When asked to provide the new password, type one you like, otherwise, use P@ssword1
6. Re-log in to the computer or server using the Administrator account

A security principal is a person or an object that needs access to a database. The security principal can be considered as one entity or as a group of entities:

This means that a security principal can be considered as a lone entity or as member of a group. For example, a person who accesses a database can be considered an entity. A group of people who perform the same job and have been give the same accecss(s) to a database (or to an object of a database) is considered a collection.

Creating a Group in Microsoft Windows 7:

(We didn't have access to Microsoft Windows XP when writing this lesson) 

1. Start Control Panel
2. Click User Accounts
    
   
3. Click User Accounts again
4. Click Manage Accounts
    
   
5. Click Advanced
6. Click Advanced again
7. In the left frame, right-click Groups and click New Group...
    
   
8. Enter the desired name of the group and an optional description
    
   
9. You can click Create
10. When creating a group or after creating it, to make it useful, you should (must) add one or more users to it. If you have created a group and had closed the dialog box already, open it using the previous steps.
    To add a user, click Add...
11. This would open a dialog box. First check the location. If it is not displaying the right computer, click Locations... In the Locations dialog box, if you will access the database locally, select the name of the computer and click OK.
    In the bottom text box, type the (complete) username of the person you want to add
     
    
     
    
12. Click Check Names
     
    
     
    
13. Once the name has been resolved, click OK.
    You can either add one name at a time or add the other names one after another

Creating a Group in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 - 2008:

1. Open the Active Directory Users and Computers
2.  Right-click Users -> New -> Group
    
   
3. Type the desired name for the group and check the options of the radio buttons
    
   
4. After providing and checking the options, click OK
5. In order to use a group, you should add at least one user to it. To do this, locate the group and double-click it or right-click the group and click Properties
6. When the dialog box opens, click the Members tab
7. Click Add
8. In the bottom text box, enter the (complete) user name of the account
9. Click Check Names
10. When the name has been resolved, click OK
    

You can control the type of access that a security principal can exercise on a machine or a database, based on a level of accecss. There are three levels: Windows, server, and database:

Based on the functionality of a security principal, it can be considered as belonging to a collection.

To help the operating system identify them, each security principal uses a unique number called a security identifier (SID).

1. Depending of your operating system, create a group named Clerks
2. Set the Description to Applications Testers
3. Add the operez and the rkouma accounts to it
    
   
    
   
4. Click Create

To actually install Microsoft SQL Server 2008, you must use a user account that has the ability to install an application. If you are using Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, or 7, you should use the Administrator account or create a new account that has administrative rights. The account must also use/have a password.

During the installation of Microsoft SQL Server, you must log in, using a username and a password. If you are working in Microsoft Windows XP->7, after the installation, if you want, you can remove the password on the account, but you will not be able to connect to Microsoft SQL Server again. If you want to connect to the server, you will have to use a password again.

Creating an Administrator in Microsoft Windows 7

1. To start, display the [Local Users and Groups (Local)] window
2. In the left frame, click Groups
3. In the right frame, either double-click Administrators or right-click it and click Properties
4. Click Add...
5. Check the contents of the Location. If you are working locally, click Locations. If a dialog box comes up, click Cancel. Select the name of the computer
   In the bottom text box, type the (complete) user name of the person
    
   
6. Click Check Names
    
   
7. When the name has been resolved, click OK

Creating an Administrator in Microsoft Windows Server 2003-2008

1. To start, display the Active Directory Users and Computers window
2. You have various options:
   1. To add an account to the built-in Administrators group:
      1. In the left frame, click BuiltIn
      2. In the right frame, either double-click Administrators or right-click it and click Properties
   2. To add an account to another group, such as the Domain Admins:
      1. In the left frame, click Users
      2. In the right-click frame, either double-click Domain Admins
3. Click the Members tab
4. Click Add...
5. In the bottom text box, type the (complete) user name of the person
    
   
6. Click Check Names
    
   
    
   
7. When the name has been resolved, click OK

1. Depending of your operating system, access the properties of the built-in Administrators account
2. Add the pkatts and the gdmonay accounts to it
    
   
3. Click OK

After creating the accounts, if you haven't done so, you must install Microsoft SQL Server.