= Database Services =

Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) provide you the ability to store large amounts of relational (tabular) records in many interlinked tables. A query language called SQL (the Structured Query Language) is used to create tables, insert/update records, and perform complex queries on the data.

In DoC, we support the following RDBMS implementations:

  * [[http://www.postgresql.org/|PostgreSQL]], a high-quality open-source RDBMS, originally created as a reimplementation of ''Ingres'';
  * [[http://www.microsoft.com/sql/|Microsoft SQL Server]], Microsoft's flagship SQL server implementation, which is remarkably similar to the old Unix RDBMS, ''Sybase''.

Current PostgreSQL services offered include:

  * ~+`db.doc.ic.ac.uk`+~, running PostgreSQL 8.3, intended for general teaching and educational use;
  * ~+`db-research.doc.ic.ac.uk`+~, running PostgreSQL 7.4, dedicated for DoC research group activities.  Soon to be upgraded.

Current Microsoft SQL services offered include:

  * ~+`db-ms.doc.ic.ac.uk`+~, running SQL Server 2003, intended for general teaching and educational use.

Please see our:

  * [[guides/databases/postgres|Postgres guide]]
  * [[guides/databases/mssql|Microsoft SQL server guide]]
  * [[guides/java/jdbc|Java JDBC Worked example in both databases]]

for more info.