Chapter 3. SQL Server Tools

We as developers are accustomed to using integrated development environments (IDEs) in our software projects. Visual Studio has been a major player in the IDE space for many years, if not decades, and has allowed developers to use the latest software development processes to further improve quality and efficiency in software projects. Server management on the other hand, has generally been a second-class citizen for many products in the past. In general, this focus can be understood, if not agreed with. IDEs are tools that design and create software which can generate revenue for a business, whereas management tools generally only offer the benefit of some sort of cost savings, rather than direct revenue generation.

The SQL Server Tools of the past (pre-SQL 2005) were very much focused on fulfilling the requirements of being able to manage and query SQL Server instances and databases, but received no great investments in making the tools "comfortable...