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Table of Contents
Several Microsoft products address the needs of the
Data Access layer.
From within the defined product range Microsoft
supplys a production level enterprise database
solution, MS SQL Server. SQL Server provides
facilities for running databases for any kind of
traditional solution including On-Line Transaction
Processing (OLTP) and Analytical Processing.(OLAP).
SQL Server is tightly integrated into the NT architecture
and provides facilities for automatic maintenance and
performance optimization.
Databases are not the only data stores however and
Microsoft produces a feature rich, Internet connectable,
Mail Server solution. Exchange Server is aimed at
Collaborative and Information Sharing. Within the DNA
application structure, Exchange also acts as a repository,
a business rule engine, and a content delivery mechanism.
To access information about other services, developes and
resources within the application infrastructure
can use ADS, the Active Directory Service. ADS provides
access to a hierarchical tree of information spanning
the network resources and beyond. A distributed store
of this information maintains and serves data to
applications that query it. The information may be
users, groups, machine information, services and even
other databases.
NTFS provides the file system of choice within the DNA
application and can be considered as another data source.
The facilities provided by the NT File System are extensive
and well document. To find out more, you may go to
http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver.
One other data repository deserves note. The Microsoft
Index Server is a product to enable the indexing of web,
word processing, and other office based documents. By
default, Index server provides an API and example ASP
pages to enable web-based access for researching content.
Often Index Server is used to enable searching a portal.
Several sources of information are indexed. When a client
requests a search, it is performed and the results are
interpreted and return to the user in order for them to
take further action.
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