enterprise geodatabase ... in SQL Server

Personally, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and 2005 are the easiest database to install, configure and tune as compared to Oracle or DB2. Easy in the sense ... a lot of operations and functions are hidden from the user and the software handles them. One of the beauty in SQL Server is the ability to blend with Windows and its authentication. A lot of the memory and processor issues are tied with the O/S itself. This makes the management of SQL Server relatively simple.

SQL Server is set to groe dynamically in its usage of memory and processing power. You can even use the Windows performance monitor to check the consumption of hardware and O/S resources. This is quite neat.

When ArcSDE is installed with SQL Server we now have an Enterprise Geodatabase. The ArcSDE installation is divided into 2 steps.... software installation during which ArcSDE configuration files and executables and written to disk ... AND... post installation setup, during which the ArcSDE repository and service are created.