Terms

Term Definition
An integral Windows component that supports building, deploying,
and running the next generation of applications and Web services. It
provides a highly productive, standards-based, multilanguage
environment for integrating existing investments with next
generation applications and services, as well as the agility to solve
.NET Framework the challenges of deployment and operation of Internet-scale
applications. The .NET Framework consists of three main parts: the
common language runtime, a hierarchical set of unified class
libraries, and a componentized version of ASP called ASP.NET. See
also: ASP.NET, common language runtime, .NET Framework class
library.

An SQL statement that has been run but whose result set has not yet
active statement
been canceled or fully processed.

Component Object Model objects that provide access to data

sources. This API provides a layer between OLE DB and
ActiveX Data Objects programming languages such as Visual Basic, Visual Basic for
Applications, Active Server Pages, and Microsoft Internet Explorer
Visual Basic Scripting.

ActiveX Data Objects A high-level, language-independent set of object-based data access

(Multidimensional) interfaces optimized for multidimensional data applications.

ActiveX Data Objects A managed data provider used to communicate with

MultiDimensional.NET multidimensional data sources.

An .rdl report created with Report Builder 1.0 that accesses report
ad hoc report
models.

A custom extension, written in any language that supports the

add-in Component Object Model (COM), that interacts with Analysis
Manager and provides specific functionality.

ADO MD See Other Term: ActiveX Data Objects (Multidimensional)

ADOMD.NET See Other Term: ActiveX Data Objects MultiDimensional.NET

A control or status area that is attached to the edge of a pane or

adornment
window, such as a toolbar or ruler.

A function that performs a calculation on multiple values and

aggregate function
returns a single summary value.
 A summary value calculated from aggregates, such as the maximum
aggregate of aggregates
of a set of sums.

A query that summarizes information from multiple rows by

aggregate query
including an aggregate function such as Sum or Avg.

aggregation A table or structure that contains precalculated data for a cube.

In Analysis Services, the process of defining how an aggregation is

aggregation design
created.

A string that is combined with a system-defined ID to create a

aggregation prefix
unique name for a partition's aggregation table.

alert A user-defined response to a SQL Server event.

An alternative name for a table or column in expressions that is

often used to shorten the name for subsequent reference in code,
alias
prevent possible ambiguous references, or provide a more
descriptive name in the query output.

A condition that exists when an index is built on the same partition

alignment
scheme as its corresponding table.

allocation unit A set of pages that can be operated on as a whole.

AMO See Other Term: Analysis Management Objects

Analysis Management The complete library of programmatically accessed objects that let
Objects and application manage a running instance of Analysis Services.

In a report, a set of numeric values that can be analyzed. In a report

analytical data map, analytical values control color, marker type, or size of map
elements on each map layer.

A member in a superior level in a dimension hierarchy that is related

ancestor through lineage to the current member within the dimension
hierarchy.

A property that is maintained by Metadata Services as string data

annotational property that can be attached to any repository object that exposes the
IAnnotationalProps interface.

A type of pull subscription for which detailed information about the

anonymous subscription
subscription and the Subscriber is not stored.

antialiasing In graphics, using an algorithm to smoothing out a jagged

 approximation of a curved line.

A server cursor that is built to support the cursor functions of an

API server cursor
API, such as ODBC, OLE DB, ADO, and DB-Library.

An individual solution for matching events with subscriptions, and

application
then formatting and delivering the resulting notifications.

application database The database that stores user and system data for one application.

A SQL Server role created to support the security needs of an

application role
application.

A value that provides information to an action, an event, a method, a

argument
property, a function, or a procedure.

article A database object in a publication that is specified for replication.

A managed application module containing class metadata and

managed code as an object in SQL Server, against which CLR
assembly
functions, stored procedures, triggers, user-defined aggregates, and
user-defined types can be created in SQL Server.

Description of an operation where all the transaction data

atomic modifications must be performed; if all data modifications are not
performed, none are.

1. The building block of dimensions and their hierarchies that

corresponds to a single column in a dimension table. 2. In Master
attribute
Data Services, an object that describes the members within an
entity.

The hierarchy associated with an attribute containing a single level

attribute relationship
based on the corresponding column in a dimension table.

The process of verifying the identity of a user, computer, process, or

other entity by validating the credentials provided by the entity.
authentication
Common forms of credentials are digital signatures, smart cards,
biometric data, and a combination of user names and passwords.

A data structure used by one party to prove that another party knows
authenticator
a secret key.

automatic failover The process in which, in response to a node or resource failure,

resources in a cluster switch ownership and start on another node in
the server cluster. This term applies to a server cluster/failover
 cluster combination only.

The vertical and horizontal lines on a graph used to show the

axis
position of a point.

backup device A tape or disk drive containing a backup medium.

A single backup within a media set. Each backup set is distributed

backup set
among all the media families of the media set.

A dimension hierarchy in which all leaf nodes are the same distance
balanced hierarchy
from the root node.

A collection of files, folders, and other data that have been backed
base backup
up and stored in a file or on one or more tapes.

A data backup of a database or files upon which a differential

base object backup is fully or partially based. The base backup is the most
recent full or file backup of the database or files.

A table stored permanently in a database. Base tables are referenced

base table
by views, cursors, SQL statements, and stored procedures.

1. A set of SQL statements submitted together and run as a group. 2.

batch In Reporting Services, a collection of SOAP method calls within a
single transaction.

Files that store bulk copy data created by the bulk copy utility or by
bcp file
synchronization between a Publisher and its Subscribers.

A piece of binary data that has an exceptionally large size, such as

images, audio, or multimedia tracks that are stored as digital data, or
binary large object (BLOB)
any variable or table column that is large enough to hold such
values.

In Analysis Services, a defined relationship between an attribute or a

binding measure and one or more underlying columns in a dimension or fact
table.

An in-memory structure that uses a compact representation of a set

of values from a table in one part of the operator tree to filter rows
from a table in another part. The filter improves the performance of
bitmap filter parallel query plans by removing non-qualifying rows early. A
bitmap filter can be applied after optimization or dynamically during
optimization. When applied dynamically, it is called an optimized
bitmap filter.
 An operation that manipulates a single bit, or tests whether a bit is
bitwise operation
on or off.

blocks A series of Transact-SQL statements enclosed by BEGIN and END.

bookmark A link in a report that jumps to another place within the report.

An operation or expression that can be evaluated only as either true

Boolean
or false.

bootstrap A program that installs or runs other programs.

1. A location in a program at which execution is halted so that a

programmer can examine the program's status, the contents of
breakpoint variables, and so on. 2. A line of code in a Function or Sub
procedure at which Microsoft Visual Basic automatically suspends
execution.

A function that lets you scan database rows and update their values
browse mode
one row at a time.

A method of placing and locating files in a database that allows both

B-tree
random and sequential access to data.

A map layer that displays variable size circles. Bubbles center on

bubble map
polygon center points or on points.

buffer pool A block of memory reserved for index and table data pages.

A group of predefined functions provided as part of the Transact-

built-in functions
SQL and Multidimensional Expressions languages.

A database recovery mode that minimally logs bulk operations, such

bulk-logged recovery
as index creation and bulk imports, while fully logging other
model
transactions.

A merge replication feature that allows you to run custom code

business logic handler
during the synchronization process.

A column in a table that displays the result of an expression instead

calculated column
of stored data.

A field, defined in a query, that displays the result of an expression

calculated field
instead of stored data.

A member of a dimension whose value is calculated at run time by

calculated member
using an expression.
 A Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) logical expression that is
calculation condition used to determine whether a calculation formula will be applied
against a cell in a calculation subcube.

A Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) expression used to supply

calculation formula a value for cells in a calculation subcube, subject to the application
of a calculation condition.

A stage of calculation in a multidimensional cube in which

calculation pass
applicable calculations are evaluated.

The set of multidimensional cube cells that is used to create a

calculation subcube calculated cells definition. The set of cells is defined by a
combination of MDX set expressions.

A column or set of columns that have a unique value for each row in
candidate key
a table.

Defines the number of instances allowed and/or required of a child

cardinality
entity per parent entity.

An operation that deletes a row that contains a primary key value

cascading delete that is referenced by foreign key columns in existing rows in other
tables.

An operation that updates a primary key value that is referenced by

cascading update
foreign key columns in existing rows in other tables.

In data mining, a case is an abstract view of data characterized by

case
attributes and relations to other cases.

In data mining, the element of a case by which the case is referenced

case key
within a case set.

case set In data mining, a set of cases.

The axis for grouping data in a chart, usually the horizontal axis.
category (x) axis Exception: in bar charts, the axes are reversed and the y axis
displays grouping data.

In a cube, the set of properties, including a value, specified by the

cell
intersection when one member is selected from each dimension.

In ADO MD, an object that contains a collection of cells selected

cellset
from cubes or other cellsets by a multidimensional query.

certificate A digital document that is commonly used for authentication and to

 help secure information on a network. A certificate binds a public
key to an entity that holds the corresponding private key.
Certificates are digitally signed by the certification authority that
issues them, and they can be issued for a user, a computer, or a
service.

A text file that contains SQL statements for all changes made to a
change script database, in the order in which they were made, during an editing
session.

A dimension that has a flexible member structure, and is designed to

changing dimension
support frequent changes to structure and data.

character encoding A method or system of assigning numeric values to characters.

The types of characters that SQL Server recognizes in the char,

character set
varchar, and text data types.

A report item on a report layout that displays data in a graphical

chart data region
format.

An event in which the Database Engine writes dirty buffer pages to

checkpoint disk. Each checkpoint writes to disk all the pages that were dirty at
the last checkpoint and still have not been written to disk.

A calculated value that is used to test data for the presence of errors
checksum
that can occur when data is transmitted or when it is written to disk.

A member in the next lower level in a hierarchy that is directly

child
related to the current member.

chronicle A table that stores state information for a single application.

In Transact-SQL, a subunit of an SQL statement. A clause begins

clause
with a keyword.

A report that displays related report model data when you click data
clickthrough report
within a rendered Report Builder report.

An application that retrieves data from a server and performs local

client application analysis and presentation of data from relational or
multidimensional databases.

A cursor that is implemented on the client. The entire result set is

client cursor first transferred to the client, and the client API software implements
the cursor functionality from this cached result set.
 A subscription to a merge publication that uses the priority value of
client subscription
the Publisher for conflict detection and resolution.

CLR See Other Term: common language runtime

A function created against a SQL Server assembly whose

CLR function implementation is defined in an assembly created in the .NET
Framework common language runtime.

A stored procedure created against a SQL Server assembly whose

CLR stored procedure implementation is defined in an assembly created in the .NET
Framework common language runtime.

A trigger created against a SQL Server assembly whose

CLR trigger implementation is defined in an assembly created in the .NET
Framework common language runtime.

A user-defined data type created against a SQL Server assembly

CLR user-defined type whose implementation is defined in an assembly created in the .NET
Framework common language runtime.

An index in which the logical order of the key values determines the
clustered index
physical order of the corresponding rows in a table.

A data mining technique that analyzes data to group records

clustering together according to their location within the multidimensional
attribute space.

coarse-grained lock A lock that applies to a large amount of code or data.

A mechanism provided by the common language runtime whereby

managed code is granted permissions by security policy and these
code access security
permissions are enforced, helping to limit the operations that the
code will be allowed to perform.

For character and Unicode data, a definition of the bit patterns that
code page represent specific letters, numbers, or symbols (such as 0x20
representing a blank space and 0x74 representing the character "t").

The minimum bit combination that can represent a unit of encoded

code point
text for processing or exchange.

A set of rules that determines how data is compared, ordered, and

collation
presented.

collection 1. An object that contains a set of other objects. 2. In Master Data

 Services, a hierarchical grouping of members from explicit
hierarchies and other collections.

A condition that exists when partitioned tables and indexes are

collocation
partitioned on equivalent partition functions.

The algorithm that automatically assigns colors to each map element

color rules
on a map layer.

A type of map legend that is used to interpret what colors represent

color scale
on a map.

The binding of an Analysis Services object to a column in a data

column binding
source view.

A character which separates columns from each other in the CSV

column delimiter
file being imported/exported.

A filter that restricts columns that are to be included as part of a

column filter
snapshot, transactional, or merge publication.

column-level collation Supporting multiple collations in a single instance.

A constraint definition that is specified within a column definition

column-level constraint
when a table is created or altered.

In transactional replication, a command consists of one Transact-

command SQL data manipulation language (DML) statement or one data
definition language (DDL) statement.

Provides instructions to hardware based on natural-language

command relationship
questions or commands.

An operation that saves all changes to databases, cubes, or

commit
dimensions made since the start of a transaction

The process of saving all the changes made by a transaction to the

commit transaction
database.

The engine at the core of managed code execution. The runtime

supplies managed code with services such as cross-language
common language runtime
integration, code access security, object lifetime management, and
debugging and profiling support.

common table expression A certain type of expression commonly used in Transact-SQL.

complete database restore A restore of a full database backup, the most recent differential
 database backup (if any), and the log backups (if any) taken since
the full database backup.

An expression that cannot be represented as a single built-in field

complex expression
reference, and is displayed on the design surface as <<Expr>>.

An object-based programming model designed to promote software

interoperability; it allows two or more applications or components to
easily cooperate with one another, even if they were written by
Component Object Model
different vendors, at different times, in different programming
(COM)
languages, or if they are running on different computers running
different operating systems. OLE technology and ActiveX are both
built on top of COM.

composite index An index that uses more than one column in a table to index data.

composite key A key composed of two or more columns.

computed column A virtual column in a table whose value is computed at run time.

A value in a formatted notification that has been computed by using

computed field
a Transact-SQL expression.

The combining of two or more character strings or expressions into

a single character string or expression, or to combine two or more
concatenation
binary strings or expressions into a single binary string or
expression.

A process that allows multiple users to access and change shared

data at the same time. SQL Server uses locking to allow multiple
concurrency
users to access and change shared data at the same time without
conflicting with each other.

A restore of a full database backup, the most recent differential

conditional split database backup (if any), and the log backups (if any) taken since
the full database backup.

config file See other term: configuration file

In reference to a single microcomputer, the sum of a system's

internal and external components, including memory, disk drives,
configuration
keyboard, video, and generally less critical add-on hardware, such
as a mouse, modem, or printer.

configuration file A file that contains machine-readable operating specifications for a

piece of hardware or software, or that contains information about
 another file or about a specific user.

In Integration Services, a name/value pair that updates the value of

configurations
package objects when the package is loaded.

An interprocess communication (IPC) linkage established between a

connection
SQL Server application and an instance of SQL Server.

In Integration Services, a logical representation of a run-time

connection manager
connection to a data source.

In Master Data Services, a member created specifically for use in

consolidated member
explicit hierarchies to group leaf or other consolidated members.

constant A group of symbols that represent a specific data value.

A property assigned to a table column that prevents certain types of

constraint
invalid data values from being placed in the column.

container A control flow element that provides package structure.

The scope in which an expression is evaluated. Scope is determined

containment scope
by the report processor as data and layout elements are combined.

The part of the distributor that turns raw notification data into
content formatter
readable messages.

The changing of the identity against which permissions to execute

context switch
statements or perform actions are checked.

A tape that is used after the initial tape in a media family fills,
continuation tape
allowing continuation of a media family.

A Service Broker object that defines the message types that can be
contract
exchanged within a given conversation.

The ordered workflow in an Integration Services package that

control flow
performs tasks.

A report that summarizes data in user-defined groups or breaks. A

control-break report
new group is triggered when different data is encountered.

Transact-SQL keywords that control the flow of execution of SQL

control-of-flow language statements and statement blocks in triggers, stored procedures, and
batches.

conversation In Service Broker, a long-running, asynchronous exchange of

 messages

The object which represents a party participating in the

conversation endpoint
conversation.

conversation handle An identifier which uniquely defines a conversation.

correlated subquery A subquery that references a column in the outer statement.

A SQL Server statistic that reports the time, in milliseconds, that the
CPU busy
central processing unit (CPU) spent on SQL Server work.

crawl See other term: population

Data used by a principal to establish the identity of the principal,

credential
such as a password or user name.

When an object references other objects and the calling and the
cross-database ownership
called objects are owned by the same user across different databases
chaining
in a single instance of SQL Server.

A set of data that is organized and summarized into a

cube multidimensional structure defined by a set of dimensions and
measures.

cube role A collection of users and groups with the same access to a cube.

An entity that maps over a result set and establishes a position on a

cursor
single row within the result set.

cursor degradation See Other Term: implicit cursor conversion

A part of the ODBC and DB-Library APIs that implements client

cursor library
cursors.

An aggregation calculation that is customized for a dimension level

custom rollup or member, and that overrides the aggregate functions of a cube's
measures.

In a role, a specification that limits the dimension members or cube

custom rule
cells that users in the role are permitted to access.

An aggregation calculation that is customized for a dimension level

custom variable or member and overrides the aggregate functions of a cube's
measures.

data adapter An object that exchanges data between a data store and a DataSet
 object.

data backup Any backup that includes the full image of one or more data files.

1. In text, ntext, and image data, a data block is the unit of data
transferred at one time between an application and an instance of
data block SQL Server. The term is also applied to the units of storage for these
data types. 2. In tape backup files, data block is the unit of physical
I/O.

A collection of information that is required to access a specific data

data connection source. The collection includes a data source name and logon
information.

The subset of SQL statements used to control permissions on

Data Control Language
database objects.

data convergence Data at the Publisher and the Subscriber that matches.

data definition Specifying the attributes, properties, and objects in a database.

The subset of SQL statements that define all attributes and

data definition language
properties of a database and its objects.

A set of system tables, stored in a catalog, that includes definitions

data dictionary
of database structures and related information, such as permissions.

The exponential growth in size of a multidimensional structure, such

data explosion
as a cube, due to the storage of aggregated data.

A component in Reporting Services that is used to retrieve report

data extension
data from an external data source.

A mechanism for users to receive a stream of data from data

data feed sources. In Reporting Services, the Atom rendering extension
generates data feeds in Atom format from reports.

The ordered workflow in an Integration Services package that

data flow
extracts, transforms, and loads data.

data flow engine An engine that executes the data flow in a package.

Encapsulates the data flow engine that moves data between sources
data flow task and destinations, providing the facility to transform, clean, and
modify data as it is moved.

data hierarchy The organization of data that is processed by the report processor:
 dataset, data region, data region group, details group.

A state in which all the data values stored in the database are
data integrity
correct.

The subset of SQL statements that is used to retrieve and manipulate

data manipulation language
data.

data mart A subset of the contents of a data warehouse.

A child member associated with a parent member in a parent-child

data member
hierarchy.

data mining The process of analyzing data to identify patterns or relationships.

Data Mining Model The process a data mining model uses to estimate model parameters
Training by evaluating a set of known and predictable data.

data point The smallest individual entity in a chart.

A component in Reporting Services that is used to retrieve report

data processing extension
data from an external data source.

The layer of sofware that handles communication between data

extensions and customized software specific to each type of external
data provider data source. Depending on the specific data source, multiple data
providers are available from Microsoft and from third-party
vendors.

A report item that displays repeated rows of data from an underlying

data region
dataset in a table, matrix, list, or chart.

Part of the process of building a data warehouse out of data coming

data scrubbing
from multiple online transaction processing (OLTP) systems.

1. In ADO and OLE DB, the location of a source of data exposed by

an OLE DB provider. 2. The source of data for an object such as a
cube or dimension. It is also the specification of the information
necessary to access source data. It sometimes refers to object of
data source
ClassType clsDataSource. 3. In Reporting Services, a specified data
source type, connection string, and credentials, which can be saved
separately to a report server and shared among report projects or
embedded in a report definition (.rdl) file.

data source name In a report, the name of the data source object.

data source view A named selection of database objects that defines the schema
 referenced by OLAP and data mining objects in an Analysis
Services databases.

An attribute that specifies what type of information can be stored in

data type
a column, parameter, or variable.

data warehouse A database specifically structured for query and analysis.

A collection of information, tables, and other objects organized and

database presented to serve a specific purpose, such as searching, sorting, and
recombining data.

database backup A backup of every data file in a database.

The part of a database that contains the definition of all the objects
database catalog
in the database, as well as the definition of the database.

database diagram A graphical representation of the objects in a database.

database file One of the physical files that make up a database.

The language used for accessing, querying, updating, and managing

database language
data in relational database systems.

The process of immediately reproducing every update to a

read/write database (the principal database) onto a read-only mirror
database mirroring
of that database (the mirror database) that resides on a separate
instance of the Database Engine (the mirror server).

Two server instances that act as role-switching partners for a

database mirroring partners
mirrored database.

A database component in a database. Can also refer to the database

database object
itself.

database owner The member of the database administrator role of a database.

A collection of one or more data connections (a database and the

database project
information needed to access that database).

A collection of users and groups with the same access to an

database role
Analysis Services database.

The names of tables, fields, data types, and primary and foreign
database schema
keys of a database. Also known as the database structure.

database script A collection of statements used to create database objects.

database snapshot A read-only, static view of a database.

An SQL query that contains data definition language (DDL)

data-definition query
statements.

A subscription in Reporting Services that uses a query to retrieve

data-driven subscription
subscription data from an external data source at run time.

datareader A stream of data that is returned by an ADO.NET query.

1. In OLE DB for OLAP, the set of multidimensional data that is the

result of running a Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) SELECT
statement. 2. In Reporting Services, a named specification that
dataset includes a data source definition, a query definition and optional
parameter values, calculated fields, and filtering and collation
information as part of a report definition (.rdl) file. An .rdl file can
have multiple datasets.

DBCS double-byte character set

dbo See Other Term: database owner

DDL See Other Term: data definition language

A trigger that fires in response to data definition language (DDL)

DDL trigger
statements.

A situation when two users, each having a lock on one piece of data,
deadlock
attempt to acquire a lock on the other's piece.

Systems designed to support the complex analytic analysis required

decision support
to discover business trends.

decision tree A treelike model of data produced by certain data mining methods.

1. A data value, option setting, collation, or name assigned

automatically by the system if a user does not specify the value,
default
setting, collation, or name. 2. An action taken automatically at
certain events if a user has not specified the action to take.

The database the user is connected to immediately after logging in

default database
to SQL Server.

The instance of SQL Server that uses the same name as the
default instance
computer name on which it is installed.

default member The dimension member used in a query when no member is

 specified for the dimension.

defection The removal of a server from multiserver operations.

A transaction that is not committed when the roll forward phase of

deferred transaction recovery finishes, and that cannot be rolled back during database
startup because the data required by rollback is offline

An object in a database that requires the use of special characters

delimited identifier (delimiters) because the object name does not comply with the
formatting rules of regular identifiers.

1. In Transact-SQL, characters that indicate the start and end of an

object name, by using either double quotation marks ("") or brackets
delimiter
([]). 2. In Integration Services and Reporting Services, characters
that are used to separate records, fields, or strings.

delivery channel A pipeline between a Distributor and a delivery service.

The protocol for a delivery channel, such as Simple Mail Transfer

delivery channel type
Protocol (SMTP) or File.

A component in Reporting Services that is used to distribute a report

delivery extension
to specific devices or target locations.

The set of communication rules used to route notification messages

delivery protocol
to external delivery systems.

To introduce redundancy into a table to incorporate data from a

denormalize
related table.

1. In an index, the frequency of duplicate values. 2. In a data file, a

percentage that indicates how full a data page is. 3. In Analysis
density
Services, the percentage of cells that contain data in a
multidimensional structure.

dependencies Objects that depend on other objects in the same database.

On a report server, a report catalog item to which other items

contain a reference. For example, when a report definition contains
dependent item
a reference to a shared data source, the data source is a dependent
item.

A transformation that creates new column values by applying

derived column
expressions to transformation input columns.

derived hierarchy In Master Data Services, a hierarchy that is derived from the
 domain-based attribute relationships that already exist between
entities in a model.

derived hierarchy with In Master Data Services, a hierarchy in which the levels from an
explicit cap explicit hierarchy are used as the top levels of a derived hierarchy.

A member in a dimension hierarchy that is related to a member of a

descendant
higher level within the same dimension.

An Integration Services data flow component that writes the data

destination from the data flow into a data source or creates an in-memory
dataset.

destination adapter A data flow component that loads data into a data store.

A user-defined description of a particular device, used in

device name conjunction with the Subscriber ID to identify a specific Subscriber
device.

A value from a developer-defined list that specifies the types of

device type
devices that a given application will support.

A character that is attached to or that overlays a preceding base

character, such as a mark placed over, under, or through a Latin-
diacritic character
based character to indicate a change in phonetic value compared to
the unmarked state.

In Service Broker, a conversation that sends messages from one

dialog
service to another service.

A backup containing only changes made to the database since the

differential backup
preceding data backup on which the differential backup is based.

The most recent full backup of all the data in a database or in a

differential base
subset of the files or filegroups of a database.

A structural attribute of a cube, which is an organized hierarchy of

dimension
categories (levels) that describe data in the fact table.

The lowest level available to a particular dimension in relation to a

dimension granularity
particular measure group

A table in a data warehouse whose entries describe data in a fact

dimension table table. Dimension tables contain the data from which dimensions are
created.

direct connect The state of being connected to a back-end database, so that any
 changes you make to a database diagram automatically update your
database when you save the diagram or selected items in it.

The default mode in which SQL Server statistics are gathered

direct response mode
separately from the SQL Server Statistics display.

A buffer page that contains modifications that have not been written
dirty page
to disk.

dirty read Reads that contain uncommitted data.

discretized column A column that represents finite, counted data.

To move transactions or snapshots of data from the Publisher to

distribute Subscribers, where they are applied to the destination tables in the
subscription databases.

A view that joins horizontally partitioned data from a set of member

distributed partitioned view tables that exist across more than one server. The data appears as if
it is in one table.

distributed query A single query that accesses data from multiple data sources.

distributed transaction A transaction that spans multiple data sources.

A database on the Distributor that stores metadata and history data

distribution database for all types of replication and transactions for transactional
replication.

In transactional replication, the amount of time transactions are

distribution retention
stored in the distribution database. Also referred to as the transaction
period
retention period.

A database instance that acts as a store for replication specific data

Distributor
associated with one or more Publishers.

DML See Other Term: data manipulation language

A stored procedure that executes when data in a specified table is

DML trigger
modified.

DMV See Other Term: dynamic management view

A navigation pane in a report arranged in a hierarchy of links to

document map
report sections and groups.

domain 1. In Windows security, a collection of computers grouped for

 viewing and administrative purposes that share a common security
database. 2. In relational databases, the set of valid values allowed
in a column.

domain integrity The validity of entries for a specific column

A character encoding in which the code points can be either 1 or 2

double byte character set
bytes.

An article in a merge publication that can be updated only at the

download-only article
Publisher or at a Subscriber that uses a server subscription.

To navigate through levels of data ranging from the most

drill down/drill up
summarized (up) to the most detailed (down).

1. In Analysis Services, to retrieve the detailed data from which the

data in a cube cell was summarized. 2. In Reporting Services, to
drill through
open related reports by clicking hyperlinks in the main drillthrough
report.

A technique for navigating through levels of data ranging from the

drilldown/drillup
most summarized (up) to the most detailed (down).

1. In Analysis Services, a technique to retrieve the detailed data

from which the data in a cube cell was summarized. 2. In Reporting
drillthrough
Services, a way to open related reports by clicking hyperlinks in the
main drillthrough report.

A report with the 'enable drilldown' option selected. Drillthrough

drillthrough report
reports contain hyperlinks to related reports.

DSN See Other Term: data source name

A type of data connection that is created based on information in a

DSN-less connection data source name (DSN), but is stored as part of a project or
application.

dump device See backup device.

In Reporting Services, an expression that you build into the report,

allowing the user to select which data source to use at run time. You
dynamic connection string
must build the expression and data source selection list into the
report when you create it.

A cursor that can reflect data modifications made to the underlying

dynamic cursor
data while the cursor is open.
dynamic filter See Other Term: parameterized row filter

The process used by SQL Server to determine the most cost-

dynamic locking
effective locks to use at any one time.

A set of built-in views that return server state information about

dynamic management view
values, objects, and settings in SQL Server.

The process that detects and/or attempts to correct software failure

dynamic recovery or loss of data integrity within a relational database management
system (RDBMS).

dynamic snapshot See Other Term: partitioned snapshot

In Embedded SQL for C, an SQL statement built and executed at

dynamic SQL statement
run time.

effective policy The set of enabled policies for a target.

A method for keeping sensitive information confidential by

encryption
changing data into an unreadable form.

1. In Reporting Services, an entity is a logical collection of model

items, including source fields, roles, folders, and expressions,
entity presented in familiar business terms. 2. In Master Data Services, an
entity is an object within a model. Each entity contains related
members that are defined by attributes.

entity integrity A state in which every row of every table can be uniquely identified.

A fixed set of integer values or string constants that may be used to

enumeration
specify the value of certain properties.

A join in which the values in the columns being joined are

equijoin
compared for equality, and all columns are included in the results.

1. In SQL Server, a text file that records system information. 2. In

Integration Services, a record of errors, warnings or events, which
error log
can be stored by multiple log providers, including SQL Server
Profiler, the Windows Event log, and SQL Server.

A number associated with SQL Server messages that helps

error state number Microsoft support engineers find the specific code location that
issued the message.

escape character A character used to indicate that another character in an expression

 is meant literally and not as an operator.

Extraction, transformation, and loading. The complex process of

ETL
copying and cleaning data from heterogeneous sources.

Any significant occurrence in the system or an application that

event
requires users to be notified or an entry to be added to a log.

event chronicle A table that stores event state information.

One or more Transact-SQL statements that manage the data in the

event chronicle rule
event chronicle.

1. A single class defined by one EventClass node in an application

event class definition file. 2. In SQL Trace, a collection of properties that define
an event.

event collection stored System-generated stored procedures that an application can call to
procedures submit events to the event table in the application database.

1. A software routine that executes in response to an event. 2. In

event handler Integration Services, a control flow that runs in response to a run-
time event.

A special kind of trigger that sends information about database

event notification
events to a service broker.

A component that collects event data from one or more event

event provider sources and submits the events to the event tables in the application
database.

An SQL-annotated XML Schema definition language (XSD)

event schema schema that maps event data to an event schema defined in the
application definition file. Used by the EventLoader class.

event source The point of origin of an event.

event table A table in the application database that stores event data.

A lock that prevents any other transaction from acquiring a lock on

exclusive lock a resource until the original lock on the resource is released at the
end of the transaction.

In Integration Services, a package, Foreach Loop, For Loop,

executable
Sequence, or task.

execution tree The path of data in the data flow of a SQL Server 2005 Integration
 Services package from sources through transformations to
destinations.

In Master Data Services, a hierarchy that uses consolidated

explicit hierarchy
members to group other consolidated and leaf members.

A group of SQL statements enclosed within transaction delimiters

explicit transaction
that define both the start and end of the transaction.

1. In SQL, a combination of symbols and operators that evaluate to

a single data value. 2. In Integration Services, a combination of
expression
literals, constants, functions, and operators that evaluate to a single
data value.

All expressions found within a report are that are compiled into an
expression host assembly assembly. The expression host assembly is stored as a part of the
compiled report.

User-defined text (descriptive or instructional including input masks

extended property and formatting rules) specific to a database or database object. The
text is stored in the database as a property of the database or object.

A function in a dynamic link library (DLL) that is coded using the

SQL Server Extended Stored Procedure API. The function can then
extended stored procedure
be invoked from Transact-SQL using the same statements that are
used to execute Transact-SQL stored procedures.

An XML vocabulary that is used to transform XML data to another

Extensible Stylesheet
form, such as HTML, by means of a style sheet that defines
Language
presentation rules.

Evolved from the early Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)

standard. XSL specifies a language definition for XML data
presentation and data transformations. Data presentation means
Extensible Stylesheet
displaying data in some format and/or medium, and concerns style.
Language Transformations
Data transformation refers to parsing an input XML document into a
tree of nodes, and then converting the source tree into a result tree.
Transformation concerns data exchange.

The unit of space allocated to a SQL Server object, such as a table

extent
or index, whenever the object needs more space.

A system, such as Microsoft Exchange Server, that delivers

external delivery system
formatted notifications to destination devices.

fact A row in a fact table in a data warehouse. A fact contains values that
 define a data event such as a sales transaction.

A relationship between a dimension and a measure group in which

fact dimension
the dimension main table is the same as the measure group table.

A central table in a data warehouse schema that contains numerical

fact table
measures and keys relating facts to dimension tables.

A transaction that encountered an error and was not able to

failed transaction
complete.

A network of two or more interconnected servers that redirects an

failover clustering
overloaded or failed resource to maintain system availability.

A user who receives the alert if the designated operator cannot be

fail-safe operator
reached.

A set of linked servers that shares the processing load of data by

federated database servers
hosting partitions of a distributed partitioned view.

fetch An operation that retrieves a row or block of rows from a cursor.

A situation where an instance of SQL Server allocates one Windows

fiber mode thread per SQL scheduler, and then allocates one fiber per worker
thread, up to the value set in the max worker threads option.

1. An area in a window or record that stores a single data value. 2.

In Report Builder, dataset fields represent either numeric or non-
numeric data from a data connection. For example, sales amounts,
field
total sales, customer names, database identifiers, URLs, images, and
spatial data. A report can have three types of fields: dataset fields,
dataset calculated fields, and built-in fields.

In bulk copy, the maximum number of characters needed to

field length
represent a data item in a bulk copy character format data file.

In bulk copy, one or more characters marking the end of a field or

field terminator
row, separating one field or row in the data file from the next.

In Integration Services, a logical representation of a connection that

File connection manager enables a package to reference an existing file or folder, or to create
a file or folder at run time.

A backup of one or more files containing only changes made to each

file differential backup
file since its most recent file backup.

file DSN File Data Source Names. File-based data sources shared among all
 users with the same drivers installed. These data sources are not
dedicated to a user or local to a computer.

The association of a file's contents with a portion of the virtual

file mapping
address space of a process.

file restore An operation that restores one or more files of a database.

An option that causes SQL Server to close the current file and create
file rollover
a new file when the maximum file size is reached.

Defines the storage format used in the data file that transfers data
file storage type
from a bulk copy out operation to a bulk copy in operation.

In SQL Server, a named collection of one or more data files that

filegroup forms a single unit of data allocation or for administration of a
database.

An object that maintains the association of a file's contents with a

file-mapping object
portion of the virtual address space of a process.

An attribute of an index that defines how full the SQL Server

fill factor
Database Engine should make each page of the index.

1. A set of criteria that controls the set of records returned as a result

filter set. 2. In Full-Text Search, given a specified file extension, filters
extract text from a file stored in a varbinary(max) or image column.

filter expression An expression used for filtering data in the Filter operator.

1. To restrict data based upon criteria set in the WHERE clause of

filtering
an SQL statement.

fine-grained lock A lock that applies to a small amount of code or data.

A predefined role that exists in each database. The scope of the role
fixed database role
is limited to the database in which it is defined.

A predefined role that exists at the server level. The scope of the
fixed server role
role is limited to the SQL Server instance in which it is defined.

A file consisting of records of a single record type, in which there is

flat file no embedded structure information governing relationships between
records.

flattened interface An interface created to combine members of multiple interfaces.

 A multidimensional data set presented as a two-dimensional rowset
flattened rowset in which unique combinations of elements of multiple dimensions
are combined on an axis.

A bounded namespace that uniquely identifies all reports, folders,

folder hierarchy shared data source items, and resources that are stored in and
managed by a report server.

In Integration Services, a container that runs a control flow

For Loop container
repeatedly by testing a condition.

In a database mirroring session, a failover initiated by the database

forced service owner upon the failure of the principal server that transfers service
to the mirror database while it is in an unknown state.

In Integration Services, a container that runs a control flow

Foreach Loop container
repeatedly by using an enumerator.

The column or combination of columns whose values match the

foreign key primary key (PK) or unique key in the same or another table. Also
referred to as the referencing key.

foreign table A table that contains a foreign key.

A file containing meta information (such as data type and column

format file size) that is used to interpret data when being read from or written to
a data file.

A cursor that cannot be scrolled; rows can be read only in sequence

forward-only cursor
from the first row to the last row.

A difference between the physical and logical ordering of index data

fragmentation
that can occur when data modifications are made.

full backup A backup of an entire database.

A backup of all files in the database, containing only changes made

full differential backup
to the database since the most recent full backup.

A type of outer join in which all rows in all joined tables are
full outer join
included, whether they are matched or not.

A database recovery mode that fully logs all transactions and retains
full recovery model
all the log records until after they are backed up.

full-text catalog Stores all of the full-text indexes for tables within a database.
 The portion of a full-text catalog that stores all of the full-text words
full-text index
and their locations for a given table.

As a SELECT statement, a query that searches for words, phrases,

or multiple forms of a word or phrase in the character-based
full-text query columns (of char, varchar, text, ntext, nchar, or nvarchar data types).
The SELECT statement returns those rows meeting the search
criteria.

A search for one or more documents, records, or strings based on all

Full-Text Search of the actual text data rather than on an index containing a limited
set of keywords

full-text service The SQL Server component that performs the full-text querying.

Characters of East Asian character sets whose glyph image extends

full-width character across the entire character display cell. In legacy character sets, full-
width characters are normally encoded in two or three bytes.

A piece of code that operates as a single logical unit. A function is

function called by name, accepts optional input parameters, and returns a
status and optional output parameters.

In Integration Services, a data cleaning methodology that examines

Fuzzy Grouping values in a dataset and identifies groups of related data rows and the
one data row that is the canonical representation of the group.

GAC See Other Term: global assembly cache

The process of transitively tracing through all pointers to actively

used objects to locate all objects that can be referenced, and then
garbage collection
arranging to reuse any heap memory that was not found during this
trace.

1. In the Microsoft .NET Framework, manages the allocation and

garbage collector release of memory for a .NET application. 2. Part of the operating
system that performs garbage collection.

GC See Other Term: garbage collector

Row in the leaf level of an index that has been marked for deletion,
ghost record
but has not yet been deleted by the database engine.

ghost row See Other Term: ghost record

global assembly cache A machine-wide code cache that stores assemblies specifically
 installed to be shared by many applications on the computer.

A default that is defined for a specific database and is shared by

global default
columns of different tables.

A rule that is defined for a specific database and is shared by

global rule
columns of different tables.

global subscription See Other Term: server subscription

To apply permissions to a user account, which allows the account to

grant
perform an activity or work with data.

The degree of specificity of information that is contained in a data

granularity
element.

The single attribute is used to specify the level of granularity for a

granularity attribute
given dimension in relation to a given measure group.

grid A view type that displays data in a table.

grouping A set of data that is grouped together in a report.

A special user account that is present in all SQL Server databases

guest
and cannot be removed from any database.

Characters whose glyph image occupies half of the character display

half-width character
cell.

To put string or character literals in the main body of code, instead

hard-coding
of in external resource files.

heterogeneous Consisting of dissimilar elements or parts (AHD)

heterogeneous data Data stored in multiple formats.

A logical tree structure that organizes the members of a dimension

hierarchy such that each member has one parent member and zero or more
child members.

Status of a resource that remains operational and usable by clients

high availability most of the time with a very low percentage of failures that interrupt
service.

Abbreviation for "heap or B-tree, used to indicate the table structure

HoBT when the index configuration could be either type. HoBT is often
used when describing locks.
 In Analysis Services, a percentage of training data that is reserved
holdout data for use in measuring the accuracy of the structure of the data mining
model.

Data that comes from multiple data sources that are all managed by
homogeneous data
the same software.

In data communications, one segment of the path between routers on

hop a geographically dispersed network. The distance between each of
those routers is a communications hop.

To segment a single table into multiple tables based on selected

horizontal partitioning
rows.

A standby server that can support rapid failover without a loss of

hot standby server
data from committed transactions.

HTML See Other Term: Hypertext Markup Language

A user interface consisting of a report toolbar and other navigation

HTML Viewer
elements used to work with a report.

A storage mode that uses a combination of multidimensional data

hybrid OLAP structures and relational database tables to store multidimensional
data.

A text markup language used to create documents for the Web.

Hypertext Markup
HTML defines the structure and layout of a web document by using
Language
a variety of tags and attributes

IAM See Other Term: Index Allocation Map

identifier The name of an object in a database.

identifying field A field or group of fields that identify an entity as a unique object.

identity column A column in a table that has been assigned the identity property.

A property that generates values that uniquely identify each row in a

identity property
table.

ideograph A column in a table that has been assigned the identity property.

A character in an Asian writing system that represents a concept or

ideographic character
an idea, but not a particular word or pronunciation.

idle time A SQL Server Agent condition that defines how much CPU usage
 by the SQL Server Database Engine constitutes an idle state.

One of two international standards bodies responsible for

developing international data communications standards. The
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) works closely with
IEC
the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to define
standards of computing. They jointly published the ISO/IEC SQL-
92 standard for SQL.

An option available with snapshot replication and transactional

replication that allows data modifications to be made to replicated
Immediate Updating
data at the Subscriber. The data modifications are then immediately
propagated to the Publisher using two-phase commit protocol (2PC).

A subscription to a transactional publication for which the user is

immediate updating able to make data modifications at the Subscriber. The data
subscriptions modifications are then immediately propagated to the Publisher
using the two-phase commit protocol (2PC).

implicit cursor conversion The return of a different type of cursor than the user had declared.

A connection option in which each SQL statement executed by the

implicit transaction
connection is considered a separate transaction.

implied permission Permission to perform an activity specific to a role.

Included column index A nonclustered index containing both key and nonkey columns.

The set of operations that either adds new members to an existing

incremental update
cube or dimension, or adds new data to a partition.

In a relational database, a database object that provides fast access

index
to data in the rows of a table, based on key values.

A page that maps the extents in a 4-GB part of a database file that is
Index Allocation Map
used by an allocation unit.

index DDL operation A nonclustered index containing both key and nonkey columns.

To look up rows of a single table by using several indexes, followed

index ORing
by producing the result (by combining the partial results).

index page A database page containing index rows.

A view that has a unique clustered index applied on it to improve

indexed view
the performance of some types of queries.
 A type of security threat in which a malicious user is able to derive
inference attack the value of data without actually accessing it, for example by
monitoring the response time to a query.

An object-oriented schema that defines metadata constructs used to

information model specify the structure and behavior of an application, process,
component, or software artifact.

Files that include schema and data, constraints, extended properties,

initial snapshot indexes, triggers, and system tables that are necessary for
replication.

The first synchronization for a subscription, during which system

initial synchronization tables and other objects that are required by replication, and the
schema and data for each article, are copied to the Subscriber.

In a media set using tape backup devices, the first tape in a media
initial tape
family.

An operation that retrieves rows from multiple source tables by

comparing the values from columns shared between the source
inner join
tables. An inner join excludes rows from a source table that have no
matching rows in the other source tables.

A member whose value is loaded directly from the data source

input member
instead of being calculated from other data.

The set of data provided to a Multidimensional Expressions (MDX)

input set
value expression upon which the expression operates.

Any table, view, or schema diagram used as an information source

input source
for a query.

A cursor that does not reflect data modification made to the

insensitive cursor
underlying data by other users while the cursor is open.

1. A copy of SQL Server running on a computer. 2. A specific copy

instance of a report item, such as a report part, subreport, dynamic member,
or group.

A numeric data type category that includes the bigint, int, smallint,
integer
and tinyint data types.

A property defined on a table that prevents data modifications that

integrity constraint
would create invalid data.

intent lock A lock that is placed on one level of a resource hierarchy to protect
 shared or exclusive locks on lower-level resources.

An interactive command prompt utility provided with SQL Server

interactive structured query
that lets users run Transact-SQL statements or batches from a server
language
or workstation and view the results that are returned.

A defined set of properties, methods, and collections that form a

interface
logical grouping of behaviors and data.

If an interface implies another interface, then any class that

implements the first interface must also implement the second
interface implication
interface. Interface implication is used in an information model to
get some of the effects of multiple inheritance.

internal identifier A more compact form of an object identifier in a repository.

One of two international standards bodies responsible for

developing international data communications standards. The
International
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) works closely with
Electrotechnical
the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to define
Commission
standards of computing. They jointly published the ISO/IEC SQL-
92 standard for SQL.

One of two international standards bodies responsible for

developing international data communications standards.
International Organization International Organization for Standardization (ISO) works closely
for Standardization with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to define
standards of computing. They jointly published the ISO/IEC SQL-
92 standard for SQL.

Rules that computers follow to provide private and secure

Internet Protocol security communication over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, through the
use of cryptographic security services.

Internet-enabled A publication setting that enables replication to Internet Subscribers.

interprocess A mechanism through which operating system processes and

communication threads exchange data and messages.

IPsec See Other Term: Internet Protocol security

ISO One of two international standards bodies responsible for

developing international data communications standards.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) works closely
with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to define
standards of computing. They jointly published the ISO/IEC SQL-
 92 standard for SQL.

The property of a transaction that controls the degree to which data

is isolated for use by one process, and is guarded against
isolation level interference from other processes. Setting the isolation level defines
the default locking behavior for all SELECT statements in your
SQL Server session.

item-level role assignment A security policy that applies to an item in the report server folder.

a security template that defines a role used to control access to or

item-level role definition
interaction with an item in the report server folder namespace.

A specified series of operations, called steps, performed sequentially

job
by SQL Server Agent.

To combine the contents of two or more tables and produce a result

join
set that incorporates rows and columns from each table.

join column A column referenced in a join condition.

A comparison clause that specifies how tables are related by their

join condition
join columns.

A filter used in merge replication that extends the row filter of one
join filter
table to a related table.

A comparison operator in a join condition that determines how the

join operator two sides of the condition are evaluated and which rows are
returned.

join path A series of joins indicating how two tables are related.

junction table A table that establishes a relationship between other tables.

1. In SQL Server, a subset of the storage engine that is referenced in

kernel some error messages. 2. In Windows, the core of the operating
system that performs basic operations.

A column or group of columns that uniquely identifies a row

key (primary key), defines the relationship between two tables (foreign
key), or is used to build an index.

The attribute of a dimension that links the non-key attributes in the

key attribute
dimension to related measures.

key column 1. In an Analysis Services dimension, an attribute property that

 uniquely identifies the attribute members. 2. In an Analysis Services
mining model, a data mining column that uniquely identifies each
case in a case table.

(KPI) A quantifiable, standardized metric that reflects a critical

key performance indicator
business variable (for instance, market share), measured over time.

A lock that is used to lock ranges between records in a table to

key range lock prevent phantom additions to, or deletions from, a set of records.
Ensures serializable transactions.

A cursor that shows the effects of updates made to its member rows
keyset-driven cursor by other users while the cursor is open, but does not show the
effects of inserts or deletes.

A reserved word in SQL Server that performs a specific function,

keyword such as to define, manipulate, or access database objects. For
example: SELECT, FROM, and AND.

KPI See Other Term: key performance indicator

latch A short-timed lock of an object

The amount of time that elapses when a data change is completed at

latency
one server and when that change appears at another server.

LCID A number that identifies a Windows-based locale.

lead byte The first byte of a 2-byte code point in a double-byte code page.

leaf In a tree structure, an element that has no subordinate elements.

leaf level The bottom level of a clustered or nonclustered index.

leaf member A dimension member without descendants.

A type of outer join in which all rows from the left-most table in the
left outer join
JOIN clause are included.

The name of a set of members in a dimension hierarchy such that all

level members of the set are at the same distance from the root of the
hierarchy.

In Analysis Services, a folder that contains shared objects, such as

library shared dimensions, that can be used by multiple objects within a
database.
 In Analysis Services, a chart that compares the accuracy of the
lift chart
predictions of each data mining model in the comparison set.

Functionality provided by the Win32 API for Unicode simple case

linguistic casing
mapping of Turkic and other locales.

In Analysis Services, a reference in a cube to a dimension in a

linked dimension
different cube.

In Analysis Services, a reference in a cube to a measure group in a

linked measure group
different cube

A report that references an existing report definition by using a

different set of parameter values or properties. A linked report is a
linked report report server item that provides an access point to an existing report.
Conceptually, it is similar to a program shortcut that you use to run
a program or open a file.

A definition of an OLE DB data source used by SQL Server

distributed queries. The linked server definition specifies the OLE
DB provider required to access the data, and includes enough
linked server addressing information for the OLE DB provider to connect to the
data. Any rowsets exposed by the OLE DB data source can then be
referenced as tables, called linked tables, in SQL Server distributed
queries.

An OLE DB rowset exposed by an OLE DB data source that has

linked table been defined as a linked server for use in SQL Server distributed
queries.

A table that has associations with two other tables, and is used
linking table
indirectly as an association between those two tables.

A data region on a report layout that repeats with each group or row
list data region in the report dataset. A list can be used to create free-form reports or
forms, such as invoices, or in conjunction with other data regions.

A cube created and stored with the extension .cub on a local

local cube
computer using PivotTable Service.

A server that is configured as both a Publisher and a Distributor for

local Distributor
SQL Server Replication.

A group in Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 containing user

local group accounts and global groups from the domain group in which they
are created and any trusted domain.
local login identification The identification (ID) a user must use to log in to a local server.

A view that joins horizontally partitioned data from a set of member

local partitioned view tables across a single server, making the data appear as if from one
table.

1. In SQL Server connections, an instance of SQL Server running on

the same computer as the application. 2. In a Transact-SQL
statement, when resolving references to database objects, the
local server instance of SQL Server executing the statement. 3. In SQL Server
distributed queries, the instance of SQL Server executing the
distributed query. The local server then accesses any linked servers
referenced in the query.

local subscription See Other Term: client subscription

local variable A user-defined variable that has an assigned value.

The Windows operating system attribute that defines certain

locale
behaviors related to language.

locale identifier A number that identifies a Windows-based locale.

A view that joins horizontally partitioned data from a set of member

localization tables across a single server, making the data appear as if from one
table.

lock A restriction on access to a resource in a multiuser environment.

The process of converting many fine-grain locks into fewer coarse-

lock escalation
grain locks.

A backup of transaction logs that includes all log records that were
log backup
not backed up in previous log backups.

log chain A continuous sequence of transaction logs for a database.

A file or set of files that contain records of the modifications made

log file
in a database.

log provider A provider that logs package information at run time.

In Replication, the executable that monitors the transaction of each

database configured for transactional replication, and copies the
Log Reader Agent
transactions marked for replication from the transaction into the
distribution database.
log sequence number A unique number assigned to each entry in a transaction log.

The process of copying, at regular intervals, log backup from a read-

log shipping write database (the primary database) to one or more remote server
instances (secondary servers).

A configuration of servers that includes one primary server, one or

log shipping configuration more secondary servers (each with a secondary database), and a
monitor server.

A job that performs one of the following log shipping operations:

backing up the transaction log of the primary database at the
primary server (the backup job), copying the transaction log file to a
log shipping job secondary server (the copy job), or restoring the log backup to the
secondary database on a secondary server (the restore job). The
backup job resides on the primary server. The copy and restore jobs
reside on each of the secondary servers.

logical name A name used by SQL Server to identify a file.

The operators AND, OR, and NOT. Used to connect search

logical operators
conditions in WHERE clauses.

A merge replication feature that allows you to define a relationship

logical record between related rows in different tables so that the rows are
processed as a unit.

A security mode that determines the manner in which an instance of

login security mode
SQL Server validates a login request.

In Integration Services, a reference table for comparing, matching,

lookup table
or extracting data.

LSN A unique number assigned to each entry in a transaction log.

machine DSN Stores connection information for a database in the system registry.

1. Code that runs within the common language runtime (CLR). Also
managed code
referred to as safe code.

In a database mirroring session, a failover initiated by the database

owner, while the principal server is still running, that transfers
manual failover
service from the principal database to the mirror database while they
are in a synchronized state.

many-to-many dimension A relationship between a dimension and a measure group in which a

single fact may be associated with many dimension members and a
 single dimension member may be associated with a many facts.

A relationship between two tables in which rows in each table have

multiple matching rows in the related table. For example, each sales
many-to-many relationship
invoice can contain multiple products, but each product can appear
on multiple sales invoices.

A relationship between two tables in which one row in one table can
many-to-one relationship
relate to many rows in another table.

The system database that records all the system-level information

master database
for an instance of SQL Server.

The file installed with earlier versions of SQL Server used to store
master file the master, model, and tempdb system databases and transaction
logs and the pubs sample database and transaction log.

A server that distributes jobs and receives events from multiple

master server
servers.

A data region on a report layout that provides functionality similar

to crosstabs and PivotTable reports. At run time, as the report data
and data regions are combined, a matrix grows horizontally and
matrix data region
vertically on the page. Values in matrix cells display aggregate
values scoped to the intersection of the row and column groups to
which the cell belongs.

A mixed-width character set, in which some characters consist of

more than 1 byte. An MBCS is used in languages such as Japanese,
MBCS
Chinese, and Korean, where the 256 possible values of a single-byte
character set are not sufficient to represent all possible characters.

MDAC See Other Term: Microsoft Data Access Components

MDX See Other Term: Multidimensional Expressions (MDX)

In a cube, a set of values that are usually numeric and are based on a
measure column in the fact table of the cube. Measures are the central values
that are aggregated and analyzed.

All the measures in a cube that derive from a single fact table in a
measure group
data source view.

media header A label that provides information about the backup media.

media set An ordered collection of backup media written to by one or more

 backup operations using a constant number of backup devices.

1. An item in a dimension representing one or more occurrences of

member data. 2. In Master Data Services, the physical representation of
master data, such as a customer or a bike.

A modeling concept that describes how interface members are

member delegation
mapped from one interface to another.

Information about an attribute member, for example the gender of a

member property
customer member or the color of a product member.

A type of column that contains long strings, typically more than 255
memo
characters.

A type of replication that allows sites to make autonomous changes

merge replication to replicated data, and at a later time, merge changes and resolve
conflicts when necessary.

An asynchronous messaging framework distributed with Windows

Message Queuing
Server.

Specifies the name of the message and the type of validation Service
message type
Broker performs on incoming messages of that type.

Information about the properties of data, such as the type of data in

a column (numeric, text, and so on) or the length of a column;
information about a file, such as its title, description, date created,
metadata
and date last modified; or information about the structure of data or
information that specifies the design of objects such as cubes or
dimensions.

A function that performs an action by using a COM object, as in

method
SQL-DMO, OLE DB, and ActiveX Data Objects (ADO).

Consists of ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), the Remote Data Service

(RDS), Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC, Open Database
Microsoft Data Access
Connectivity (ODBC), ODBC drivers for Microsoft SQL Server,
Components
Microsoft Access and other desktop databases, as well as Oracle
databases.

An object that contains the definition of a data mining process and

Mining Model
the results of the training activity.

A data mining object that defines the data domain from which the
mining structure
mining models are built.
 In a database mirroring session, the copy of the database that is
mirror database
typically fully synchronized with the principal database.

In a database mirroring configuration, the server instance on which

mirror server
the mirror database resides.

A media set that contains two to four identical copies (mirrors) of

mirrored media set
each media family.

The process that helps protect against the loss of data caused by disk
mirroring failure by maintaining a fully redundant copy of data on a separate
disk.

Mixed Mode See Other Term: login security mode

model In Master Data Services, a container for model objects.

A database installed with SQL Server that provides the template for
model database
new user databases.

A relationship between two or more models in which one model is

model dependency
dependent on the information of another model.

A group of objects in a project. You can move objects between

module modules in a project, thus organizing those objects for a dispersed
development environment.

An arithmetic operator that provides the integer remainder after a

modulo
division involving two integers.

In a log shipping configuration, a server instance on which every log

monitor server
shipping job in the configuration records its history and status.

A differential backup that includes files that were last backed up in

multibase differential
distinct base backups.

A character encoding in which the code points can be 1, 2, or more

multibyte character set
bytes.

A method for delivering notifications that formats a notification

multicast delivery
once and sends the resulting message to multiple subscribers.

Multidimensional A syntax used for defining multidimensional objects and querying

Expressions (MDX) and manipulating multidimensional data.

A storage mode that uses a proprietary multidimensional structure to

multidimensional OLAP
store a partition's facts and aggregations or a dimension.
 A database paradigm that treats data as cubes that contain
multidimensional structure
dimensions and measures in cells.

A modeling term that describes how an interface receives the

multiple inheritance
characteristics of more than one parent interface.

multiple instances Multiple copies of SQL Server running on the same computer.

The process of automating administration across multiple instances

multiserver administration
of SQL Server.

multithreaded server An application that creates multiple threads within a single process
application to service multiple user requests at the same time.

The ability of a computer to support many users operating at the

multiuser same time, while providing the computer system's full range of
capabilities to each user.

An installation of SQL Server that is given a name to differentiate it

named instance from other named instances and from the default instance on the
same computer.

An interprocess communication (IPC) mechanism that SQL Server

named pipe
uses to provide communication between clients and servers.

A set of dimension members or a set expression that is created for

named set reuse, for example, in Multidimensional Expressions (MDX)
queries.

A naming convention that identifies the destination objects of that

naming relationship
relationship by name.

Bulk copy data files in which the data is stored using the same
native format internal data structures SQL Server uses to store data in SQL Server
databases.

A hierarchy in which at every level there is a one-to-many

natural hierarchy relationship between members in that level and members in the next
lower level.

A SELECT statement that contains one or more subqueries, or

nested query
another term for subquery.

A data mining model configuration in which a column of a table

nested table
contains a table.

Net-Library A SQL Server communications component that isolates the SQL

 Server client software and the Database Engine from the network
APIs.

When used with merge replication system tables, a name for another
nickname Subscriber that is known to already have a specified generation of
updated data.

niladic functions Functions that do not have any input parameters.

A word that does not participate in a full-text query search, such as

noise word
"a", "and", and "the".

An index in which the logical order of the index key values is

nonclustered index different than the physical order of the corresponding rows in a
table.

A column in a nonclustered index that does not participate as a key

column. Instead, the column is stored in the leaf-level of the index
Nonkey index column
and is used in conjunction with the key columns to cover one or
more queries.

In a tree structure, an element that has one or more subordinate

elements. In Analysis Services, a dimension member that has one or
nonleaf
more descendants. In SQL Server indexes, an intermediate index
node that points to other intermediate nodes or leaf nodes.

nonleaf member A member with one or more descendants.

nonnullable parameter A parameter which cannot take a NULL value.

An inconsistency that occurs when a transaction reads the same row

nonrepeatable read more than once, and a separate transaction modifies that row
between reads.

A Microsoft Clustering algorithm method that uses a probabilistic

Non-scalable EM method to determine the probability that a data point exists in a
cluster.

A Microsoft Clustering algorithm method that uses a distance

Non-scalable K-means
measure to assign a data point to its closest cluster.

non-uniform memory
A multiprocessor architecture that divides a system into nodes.
access

normalization rules A set of database design rules that minimizes data redundancy and
results in a database in which the Database Engine and application
 software can easily enforce integrity.

NULL An entry that has no explicitly assigned value.

null key A null value that is encountered in a key column.

The attribute of a column, parameter, or variable that specifies

nullability
whether it allows null data values.

nullable property A property which controls if a field can have a NULL value.

NUMA See Other Term: non-uniform memory access

numeric expression Any expression that evaluates to a number.

object In databases, one of the components of a database.

References to other objects when the behavior of the first object can
object dependencies
be affected by changes in the object it references.

1. A unique name given to an object. 2. In Metadata Services, a

object identifier unique identifier constructed from a globally unique identifier
(GUID) and an internal identifier.

object variable A variable that contains a reference to an object.

1. The location of a set of data that can be accessed by using an

ODBC driver. 2. A stored definition that contains all of the
ODBC data source
connection information that an ODBC application requires to
connect to the data source.

A dynamic-link library (DLL) that an ODBC-enabled application,

ODBC driver
such as Excel, can use to access an ODBC data source.

OLAP See Other Term: online analytical processing

OLE Automation
A programming environment that can drive Automation objects.
controller

A Component Object Model (COM) object that provides

OLE Automation objects
Automation-compatible interfaces.

An application that exposes programmable automation objects to

OLE Automation server
other applications, which are referred to as automation clients.

OLE DB A COM-based application programming interface (API) for

accessing data. OLE DB supports accessing data stored in any
 format for which an OLE DB provider is available.

Formerly, the separate specification that addressed OLAP

OLE DB for OLAP extensions to OLE DB. Beginning with OLE DB 2.0, OLAP
extensions are incorporated into the OLE DB specification.

In relational databases, a relationship between two tables in which a

single row in the first table can be related to one or more rows in the
one-to-many relationship
second table, but a row in the second table can be related only to one
row in the first table.

In relational database, a relationship between two tables in which a

single row in the first table can be related only to one row in the
one-to-one relationship
second table, and a row in the second table can be related only to
one row in the first table.

online analytical A technology that uses multidimensional structures to provide rapid

processing access to data for analysis.

A restore in which one or more secondary filegroups, files

online restore belonging to secondary filegroups, or pages are restored while the
database remains online.

A data processing system designed to record all of the business

online transaction transactions of an organization as they occur. An OLTP system is
processing characterized by many concurrent users actively adding and
modifying data.

The layer of the SQL Server Database Engine that transfers client
Open Data Services
requests to the appropriate functions in the Database Engine.

Open Database A data access API that supports access to any data source for which
Connectivity an ODBC driver is available.

A sign or symbol that specifies the type of calculation to perform

operator within an expression. There are mathematical, comparison, logical,
and reference operators.

A bitmap filter that is applied dynamically during query

optimized bitmap filter
optimization.

ordered set A set of members returned in a specific order.

An object in a repository that is the origin in a directional

origin object
relationship.

outer join A join that includes all the rows from the joined tables that have met
 the search conditions, even rows from one table for which there is
no matching row in the other join table.

The characteristic of some data mining algorithms that assigns

overfitting importance to random variations in data by viewing them as
important patterns.

A situation where permissions that are set on one object enable

ownership chain
managing access to multiple objects.

A collection of control flow and data flow elements that runs as a

package
unit.

packet A bundle of data that is organized in a group for transmission.

1. A string, typically added when the last plaintext block is short. 2.

padding
The space allotted in a cell to create or maintain a specific size.

In a virtual storage system, a fixed-length block of contiguous

page virtual addresses copied as a unit from memory to disk and back
during paging operations.

An operation that restores one or more data pages, and is used to

page restore
repair isolated damaged pages.

The process of moving half the rows or entries in a full data or index
page split
page to a new page to make room for a new row or index entry.

PAL See Other Term: publication access list

In Transact-SQL queries, the act of using parameters or parameter

parameterization
markers instead of constant values.

parameterized report A published report that accepts input values through parameters.

A row filter available with merge replication that allows you to

parameterized row filter restrict the data replicated to a Subscriber based on a system
function or user-defined function.

A member in the next higher level in a hierarchy that is directly

parent
related to the current member.

A backup of all the data in the primary filegroup, every read/write

partial backup
filegroup, and any optionally specified read-only files.

A restore of only a part of a database that consists of its primary

partial database restore
filegroup and possibly one or more secondary filegroups.
 A partial backup that is differential relative to a single, previous
partial differential backup
partial backup (the base backup).

particle A very small piece or part; an indivisible object.

1. In replication, a subset of rows from a published table, created

with a static row filter or a parameterized row filter. 2. In Analysis
Services, one of the storage containers for data and aggregations of
a cube. Every cube contains one or more partitions. For a cube with
partition multiple partitions, each partition can be stored separately in a
different physical location. Each partition can be based on a
different data source. Partitions are not visible to users; the cube
appears to be a single object. 3. In the Database Engine, a unit of a
partitioned table or index.

A function that defines how the rows of a partitioned table or index

partition function are spread across a set of partitions based on the values of certain
columns, called partitioning columns.

A database object that maps the partitions of a partition function to a

partition scheme
set of filegroups.

An index built on a partition scheme, and whose data is horizontally

partitioned index divided into units which may be spread across more than one
filegroup in a database.

In merge replication, a snapshot that includes only the data from a

partitioned snapshot
single partition.

A table built on a partition scheme, and whose data is horizontally

partitioned table divided into units which may be spread across more than one
filegroup in a database.

partitioning The process of replacing a table with multiple smaller tables.

The column of a table or index that a partition function uses to

partitioning column
partition a table or index.

In database mirroring, refers to the principal server or the mirror

partner
server.

The order of evaluation (from highest to lowest calculation pass

number) and calculation (from lowest to highest calculation pass
pass order
number) for calculated members, custom members, custom rollup
formulas, and calculated cells in a multidimensional cube.

pass-through query A query passed uninterpreted to an external server for evaluation.

 A SELECT statement that is passed directly to the source database
pass-through statement
without modification or delay.

A collection of policy settings that define the password requirements

password policy
for a Group Policy object (GPO).

A data flow element that connects the output of one data flow
path
component to the input of another data flow component.

The database at the peer that will serve as both a publication

peer database
database and subscription database.

A type of transactional replication. The relationships between nodes

in a peer-to-peer replication topology are peer relationships rather
peer-to-peer replication
than hierarchical ones, with each node containing identical schema
and data.

A rule associated with an object to regulate which users can gain

permission
access to the object and in what manner.

A computed column of a table that is physically stored, and whose

persisted computed column values are updated when any other columns that are part of its
computation change.

The saving of an object definition so it will be available after the

persistence
current session ends.

perspective A user-defined subset of a cube.

The insertion of a new row or the deletion of an existing row in a

phantom range of rows that were previously read by another task, where that
task has not yet committed its transaction.

The overall structure of a database, including all components of the

physical design structure
database.

physical name The path where a file or mirrored file is located.

Requests for database pages that cause SQL Server to transfer the
physical reads
requested pages from disk to the SQL Server buffer pool.

A composite restore process in which a database is restored in

piecemeal restore
stages, where each stage corresponds to a restore sequence.

pivot 1. To rotate rows to columns, and columns to rows, in a crosstabular

 data browser. 2. To choose dimensions from the set of available
dimensions in a multidimensional data structure for display in the
rows and columns of a crosstabular structure.

The currency against which exchange rates are entered in the rate
pivot currency
measure group.

plaintext Data in its unencrypted or decrypted form.

The act of using the USE PLAN query hint to force the SQL Server
plan forcing
query optimizer to use a specified query plan for a query.

A SQL Server module that attaches query hints to queries in

plan guide
deployed applications, without directly modifying the query.

The process of recovering only the transactions within a log backup

point-in-time recovery that were committed before a specific point in time, instead of
recovering the whole backup.

A polling query is typically a singleton query that returns a value

polling query Analysis Services can use to determine if changes have been made
to a table or other relational object.

In full-text search, the process of creating and maintaining a full-text

population
index.

position The current location of processing in a cursor.

An update, insert, or delete operation performed on a row at the

positioned update
current position of the cursor.

A control flow element that connects tasks and containers into a

precedence constraint
sequenced workflow.

The maximum total number of decimal digits that can be stored,

precision
both to the left and right of the decimal point.

A performance optimization that can be used with filtered merge

precomputed partition
publications.

A data mining column that the algorithm will build a model around
predictable column
based on values of the input columns.

A data mining technique that analyzes existing data and uses the
prediction results to predict values of attributes for new records or missing
attributes in existing records.
 A set of 1 to 4 bytes that prefix each data field in a native-format
prefix characters
bulk-copy data file.

The number of prefix characters preceding each noncharacter field

prefix length
in a bcp native format data file.

Full-text query searching for those columns where the specified

prefix search
character-based text, word, or phrase, is the prefix.

In a log shipping, a read-write database whose transaction log is

primary database backed up at regular intervals for restoring onto one or more
secondary databases.

In a snowflake schema in a data warehouse, a dimension table that is

primary dimension table
directly related to and usually joined to the fact table.

A column or set of columns that uniquely identify all the rows in a

primary key
table.

In a log shipping configuration, the server instance where the

primary server
primary database resides.

primary table The "one" side of two related tables in a one-to-many relationship.

An entity (such as a login, user, group, or role) that can be granted

principal
access to a securable resource.

In a log shipping configuration, the server instance where the

principal database
primary database resides.

In database mirroring, the partner whose database is currently the

principal server
principal database.

A system that manages data obsolescence in a cube by which

proactive caching objects in MOLAP storage are automatically updated and processed
in cache while queries are redirected to ROLAP storage.

The part of the SQL Server memory pool that is used to store
procedure cache execution plans for Transact-SQL batches, stored procedures, and
triggers.

1. In a cube, to populate a cube with data and aggregations. 2. In a

process data mining model, to populate a data mining model with data
mining content.

producer Collects events in a specific event category and sends the data to a
 SQL Server Profiler queue.

In Analysis Services, a chart that displays the theoretical increase in

profit chart
profit that is associated with using each model.

A dialog box that displays information about an object in the

properties page
interface.

A named attribute of a control, field, or database object that you set

to define one of the object's characteristics, such as size, color, or
property
screen location; or an aspect of its behavior, such as whether it is
hidden.

property mapping A mapping between a variable and a property of a package element.

A tabbed dialog box where you can identify the characteristics of

property page
tables, relationships, indexes, constraints, and keys.

In Integration Services, determines the protection method, the

protection level
password or user key, and the scope of package protection.

A standard set of formats and procedures that enable computers to

protocol
exchange information.

1. An OLE DB provider. 2. An in-process dynamic link library

provider
(DLL) that provides access to a database.

provision To install, to supply, to grant, or to provide.

Full-text query searching for those occurrences where the specified

proximity search
words are close to one another.

An account that is used to provide additional permissions for certain

proxy account actions to users which do not have these permissions but have to
execute these actions.

publication A collection of one or more articles from one database.

The primary mechanism for securing the Publisher. It contains a list

publication access list of logins, accounts, and groups that are granted access to the
publication.

A database on the Publisher from which data and database objects

publication database
are marked for replication and propagated to Subscribers.

In merge replication, the amount of time a subscription can remain

publication retention period
unsynchronized.
published data Data at the Publisher that has been replicated.

A server that makes data available for replication to other servers,

Publisher detects changed data and maintains information about all
publications at the site.

A server running an instance of Analysis Services that stores the

publishing server
source cube for one or more linked cubes.

The table at the Publisher in which data has been marked for
publishing table
replication and is part of a publication.

A subscription created and administered at the Subscriber. The

pull subscription Distribution Agent or Merge Agent for the subscription runs at the
Subscriber.

A backup containing only the transaction log covering an interval

pure log backup
without any bulk changes.

push subscription A subscription created and administered at the Publisher.

A configuration option that can be used to prevent system resources

query governor
from being consumed by long-running queries.

The SQL Server Database Engine component responsible for

query optimizer
generating efficient execution plans for SQL statements.

A structure that describes a set of questions that can be asked using

question template
a particular relationship or set of relationships.

A SQL Server Profiler queue that provides a temporary holding

queue
location for server events to be captured.

In a database mirroring session for which a witness server instance

is set, a relationship established only when at least two of the server
quorum
instances in the session are connected to each other. Quorum is
required to make the database available.

ragged hierarchy See Other Term: unbalanced hierarchy

A way of partitioning a table or index by specifying partitions to

range partitioning
hold rows with ranges of values from a single partitioning column.

A query that specifies a range of values as part of the search criteria,

range query
such as all rows from 10 through 100.

rank For full-text and SQL Server Books Online searches, a value
 indicating how closely rows or topics match the specified search
criteria. For Metadata Services and Analysis Services, a value
indicating the relative positions of elements such as dimension
members, hierarchy levels, or tuples in a set.

A function that returns ranking information about each row in the

ranking function window (partition) of a result set depending on the row's position
within the window.

In Integration Services, a native format for fast reading and writing

raw file
of data to files.

A service that provides a simple way for a smart device application

to access (pull) and send (push) data to and from a remote SQL
RDA
Server database table and a local SQL Server Mobile Edition
database table.

RDBMS See Other Term: relational database management system

RDL See Other Term: Report Definition Language

A group of related fields (columns) of information treated as a unit.

record
A record is more commonly called a row in a relational database.

The ActiveX Database Objects (ADO) object that is used to contain

recordset a result set. It also exhibits cursor behavior depending on the
recordset properties set by an application.

recover To put back into a stable condition.

A phase of database startup that brings the database into a

recovery
transaction-consistent state.

recovery branch A range of LSNs that share the same recovery branch GUID.

The point (LSN,GUID) at which a new recovery branch is started,

recovery fork point
every time a RESTORE WITH RECOVERY is performed.

The maximum amount of time that the Database Engine should

recovery interval
require to recover a database.

A database property that controls the basic behavior of backup and

recovery model
restore operations for a database.

The sequence of data and log backups that have brought a database
recovery path
to a particular point in time (known as a recovery point).
 The point in the log chain at which rolling forward stops during a
recovery point
recovery.

A report item that can be used as a container for multiple report

rectangle
items or as a graphical element on a report.

1. A hierarchy of data in which all parent-child relationships are

represented in the data. 2. In Master Data Services, a derived
recursive hierarchy hierarchy that includes a recursive relationship. A recursive
relationship exists when an entity has a domain-based attribute that
is based on the entity itself.

The phase during recovery that applies (rolls forward) logged

redo phase
changes to a database to bring the data forward in time.

A relationship between a dimension and a measure group in which

the dimension is coupled to the measure group through another
reference dimension
dimension. This behaves like a snowflake dimension, except that
attributes are not shared between the two dimensions.

reference table The source table to use in fuzzy lookups.

referenced key A primary key or unique key referenced by a foreign key.

A state in which all foreign key values in a database are valid. For a
foreign key to be valid, it must contain either the value NULL, or an
referential integrity
existing key value from the primary or unique key columns
referenced by the foreign key.

A relationship from a column or combination of columns in a table

reflexive relationship
to other columns in that same table.

The series of operations that clears data from a cube, loads the cube
refresh data
with new data from the data warehouse, and calculates aggregations.

A collection of 128 leaf level pages in logical order in a single file.

region
Used to identify areas of a file that are fragmented.

A database or database management system that stores information

in tables as rows and columns of data, and conducts searches by
relational database
using the data in specified columns of one table to find additional
data in another table.

relational database
A system that organizes data into related rows and columns.
management system

relational OLAP A storage mode that uses tables in a relational database to store
 multidimensional structures.

1. A link between tables that references the primary key in one table
to a foreign key in another table. The relationship line is represented
in a database diagram by a solid line if referential integrity between
the tables is enforced, or a dashed line if referential integrity is not
enforced for INSERT and UPDATE transactions. The endpoints of
a relationship line show a primary key symbol to denote a primary
key-to-foreign key relationship, or they show an infinity symbol to
denote the foreign key side of a one-to-many relationship. 2. In
relationship
Metadata Services, a relationship is an association between a pair of
objects, where one object is an origin and the other object is a
destination. The association repeats for each subsequent pair of
objects, so that the destination of one relationship becomes the
origin in the next relationship. In this way, all objects in an
information model are associated through a chain of relationships
that extend from one object to the next throughout the information
model.

An object representing a pair of objects that assume a role in

relationship object
relation to each other.

A definition of a relationship between two interfaces, as defined in

relationship type
an information model.

A range of dates that is specified by using comparison operators and

relative date
return data for a range of dates.

Data stored in an OLE DB data source that is separate from the

remote data
current instance of SQL Server.

A service that provides a simple way for a smart device application

to access (pull) and send (push) data to and from a remote SQL
remote data access
Server database table and a local SQL Server Mobile Edition
database table.

A server configured as a Distributor that is separate from the server

remote Distributor
configured as the Publisher.

The login identification assigned to a user for accessing remote

remote login identification
procedures on a remote server.

A partition whose data is stored on a server running an instance of

remote partition Analysis Services, other than the one used to store the metadata of
the partition.

remote service binding A Service Broker object that specifies the local security credentials
 for a remote service.

A stored procedure located on one instance of SQL Server that is

remote stored procedure
executed by a statement on another instance of SQL Server.

A table stored in an OLE DB data source that is separate from the

remote table
current instance of SQL Server.

A fully processed report that contains both data and layout

rendered report
information, in a format suitable for viewing.

A component in Reporting Services that is used to process the

rendering extension
output format of a report.

rendering extension(s) A plug-in that renders reports to a specific format.

rendering object model Report object model used by rendering extensions.

In SQL Server Profiler, the ability to open a saved trace and play it
replay
again.

replicated data Data at the Subscriber that has been received from a Publisher.

The process of copying updated data from a data store or file system
replication on a source computer to a matching data store or file system on one
or more destination computers to synchronize the data.

Defines the relationship between servers and copies of data and

replication topology
clarifies the logic that determines how data flows between servers.

The blueprint for a report before the report is processed or rendered.

report definition A report definition contains information about the query and layout
for the report.

Report Definition A set of instructions that describe layout and query information for a
Language report.

report execution snapshot A report snapshot that is cached.

A collection of report snapshots that are created and saved over

report history
time.

report history snapshot A report snapshot that appears in report history.

A static report history that contains data captured at a specific point

report intermediate format
in time.
 Any object, such as a text box, graphical element, or data region,
report item
that exists on a report layout.

1. In Report Designer, the placement of fields, text, and graphics

report layout within a report. 2. In Report Builder, the placement of fields and
entities within a report, plus applied formatting styles.

A pre-designed table, matrix, or chart report template in Report

report layout template
Builder.

report link A URL to a hyperlinked report.

A metadata description of business data used for creating ad hoc

report model
reports in Report Builder.

A component in Reporting Services that is used to extend the report

report processing extension
processing logic.

The action of combining the report layout with the data from the
report rendering
data source for the purpose of viewing the report.

A location on the network where Report Builder is launched from

report server
and a report is saved, managed, and published.

A user with elevated privileges who can access all settings and
report server administrator
content of a report server.

report server database A database that provides internal storage for a report server.

report server execution The account under which the Report Server Web service and Report
account Server Windows service run.

A hierarchy that contains predefined and user-defined folders. The

report server folder namespace uniquely identifies reports and other items that are stored
namespace in a report server. It provides an addressing scheme for specifying
reports in a URL.

A Windows service that contains all the processing and management

Report Server service
capabilities of a report server.

Report Server Web service A Web service that hosts, processes, and delivers reports.

report snapshot A static report that contains data captured at a specific point in time.

report-specific schedule Schedule defined inline with a report.

ReportViewer controls A Web server control and Windows Form control that provides
 embedded report processing in ASP.NET and Windows Forms
applications.

A database containing information models that, in conjunction with

repository
the executable software, manage the database.

Object-oriented software that provides management support for and

repository engine
customer access to a repository database.

A COM object that represents a data construct stored in a repository

repository object
type library.

A set of standard tables used by the repository engine to manage all

Repository SQL schema
repository objects, relationships, and collections.

Repository Type A core object model that represents repository type definitions for
Information Model Metadata Services.

When a Subscriber publishes to another Subscriber data that it has

republish
received from a Publisher.

A Subscriber that publishes data that it has received from a

republisher
Publisher.

A set of criteria that the repository engine evaluates sequentially

resolution strategy when selecting an object, where multiple versions exist and version
information is unspecified in the calling program.

Any item in a report server database that is not a report, folder, or

resource
shared data source item.

A multi-phase process that copies all the data and log pages from a
restore specified backup to a specified database, and then rolls forward all
the transactions that are logged in the backup.

A sequence of one or more restore commands that, typically,

initializes the contents of the database, files, or pages that are being
restore sequence restored (the data-copy phase); rolls forward logged transactions
(the redo phase); and rolls back uncommitted transactions (the undo
phase).

result set The set of rows returned from a SELECT statement.

A bookmark that can be consumed from a rowset for a given table

reusable bookmark and used on a different rowset of the same table to position on a
corresponding row.
 To remove a previously granted or denied permission from a user
revoke
account, role, or group in the current database.

RID See Other Term: row identifier

A type of outer join in which all rows in the table on the right in the
right outer join
JOIN clause are included.

1. A SQL Server security account that is a collection of other

security accounts that can be treated as a single unit when managing
permissions. A role can contain SQL Server logins, other roles, and
Windows logins or groups. 2. In Analysis Services, a role uses
Windows security accounts to limit scope of access and permissions
role
when users access databases, cubes, dimensions, and data mining
models. 3. In a database mirroring session, the principal server and
mirror server perform complementary principal and mirror roles.
Optionally, the role of witness is performed by a third server
instance.

1. Definition of user access rights to an item. 2. In Reporting

role assignment Services, a security policy that determines whether a user or group
can access a specific item and perform an operation.

1. A collection of tasks performed by a user (i.e., browser,

role definition administrator). 2. In Reporting Services, a named collection of tasks
that defines the operations a user can perform on a report server.

In a database mirroring session, the taking over of the principal role

role switching
by the mirror.

A single database dimension joined to the fact table on a different

role-playing dimension
foreign keys to produce multiple cube dimensions.

roll back To reverse changes.

To apply logged changes to the data in a roll forward set to bring the
roll forward
data forward in time.

roll forward set The set of all data that is restored by a restore sequence.

The file rollover option causes SQL Server to close the current file
rollover file
and create a new file when the maximum file size is reached.

A Service Broker object that specifies the network address for a

route
remote service.

row In an SQL table, a single occurrence of the object modeled by the

 table.

A function that generates summary values, which appear as

row aggregate function
additional rows in the query results.

In replication, a filter that allows you to restrict the data replicated to

row filter
a Subscriber based on a WHERE clause.

1. A column or set of columns used to distinguish any single row

row identifier
from every other row in the table. 2. In a heap, a pointer to the row.

row lock A lock on a single row in a table.

1. With cursors, the process in which the timestamp column of a

row is used to determine whether data has been modified after being
read into a cursor. If the data row does not have a timestamp
column, row versioning is not used. 2. With transaction isolation,
when a row versioning-based isolation level is enabled, the process
row versioning in which the Database Engine maintains versions of data rows
affected by data manipulation language (DML) execution. By
choosing the appropriate isolation level, applications use row
versions to query and retrieve a transactionally consistent snapshot
of the data as it existed at the start of the transaction or query
without acquiring locks on the data.

Data of type varchar, nvarchar, varbinary, or sql_variant that is

stored off the main data page of a table or index because the
row-overflow data
combined widths of these columns exceeds the limit of 8,060 bytes
per row.

rowset A set of rows in which each row has columns of data.

A core object model that represents repository type definitions for

RTIM
Metadata Services.

1. A database object that is bound to columns or alias data types,

and specifies which data values are acceptable in a column. CHECK
constraints provide the same functionality and are preferred because
rule
they are in the SQL-92 standard. 2. In Analysis Services, a rule
specifies restrictions such as Unrestricted, Fully Restricted, or
Custom for security read and read/write role permissions.

The process of executing one of the application rules (event

rule firing chronicle rules, subscription event rules, and subscription scheduled
rules) defined in the application definition file.

rules Indicates what values are valid to be stored in a table. This is

 referred to as domain integrity.

Code that runs within the common language runtime (CLR). Also
safe code
referred to as managed code.

A marker that allows an application to roll back part of a transaction

savepoint
if a minor error is encountered.

A character encoding in which each character is represented by 1

SBCS
byte.

scalar A single-value field, as opposed to an aggregate.

An aggregate function, such as MIN(), MAX(), or AVG(), that is

scalar aggregate specified in a SELECT statement column list that contains only
aggregate functions.

The line on a linear gauge on which tick marks are drawn --

scale bar
analogous to an axis on a chart.

An automatic backup performed by SQL Server Agent when

scheduled backup
defined and scheduled as a job.

In the SQL-92 standard, a collection of database objects that are

schema owned by a single user and form a single namespace. A namespace
is a set of objects that cannot have duplicate names.

A specially defined rowset that returns metadata about objects or

schema rowset
functionality on an instance of SQL Server or Analysis Services.

A snapshot that includes schema for published tables and objects

schema snapshot required by replication (triggers, metadata tables, and so on), but not
user data.

scope An extent to which a variable can be referenced in a DTS package.

A collection of Transact-SQL statements used to perform an

script
operation.

The ability to move around a cursor in directions other than

scroll
forward-only.

In a WHERE or HAVING clause, predicates that specify the

search condition conditions that the source rows must meet to be included in the SQL
statement.

secondary database In log shipping, a read-only database that was created by restoring a
 full backup of the primary database (without recovery) on a separate
server instance (the secondary server).

In a log shipping configuration, the server instance where the

secondary server
secondary database resides.

securable Entities that can be secured with permissions.

A proposed open standard for establishing a secure communications

channel to prevent the interception of critical information, such as
Secure Sockets Layer
credit card numbers. Primarily, it enables secure electronic financial
(SSL)
transactions on the World Wide Web, although it is designed to
work on other Internet services as well.

A component in Reporting Services that authenticates a user or

security extension
group to a report server.

In Windows-based computers, an account (such as a user, security

security principal group, device, or computer) that can be granted or denied access to
resources.

A data mining technique that analyzes data to discover mutually

segmentation
exclusive collections of records that share similar attributes sets.

The SELECT statement clause that defines the columns of the result
select list
set returned by the statement.

A join in which records from a table are combined with other

self-join records from the same table when there are matching values in the
joined fields.

Semantic Model Definition A set of instructions that describe layout and query information for
Language reports created in Report Builder.

A measure that can be summed along one or more, but not all,
semiadditive measure
dimensions in a cube.

A cursor that can reflect data modifications made to underlying data

sensitive cursor
by other users while the cursor is open.

Sequence container Defines a control flow that is a subset of the package control flow

A collection of destination objects of a sequenced relationship

sequenced collection
object.

sequenced relationship A relationship in a repository that specifies explicit positions for

 each destination object within the collection of destination objects.

The highest transaction isolation level. Serializable transactions lock

serializable all rows they read or modify to ensure the transaction is completely
isolated from other tasks.

An aggregate value that is calculated on the data source server and

server aggregate
included in a result set by the data provider.

server collation The collation for an instance of SQL Server.

server cursor A cursor implemented on the server.

server name A name that uniquely identifies a server computer on a network.

A subscription to a merge publication with an assigned priority

server subscription
value used for conflict detection and resolution.

A Service Broker object that defines a name for a specific task or set
service of tasks, and the contracts that other services can use to accomplish
that task.

The name by which a client uniquely identifies an instance of a

service principal name
service.

A program that uses Service Broker functionality. A service

service program program may be a Transact-SQL stored procedure, a SQLCLR
stored procedure, or an external program.

In database mirroring, the interactions that occur during mirroring

session among the principal server, mirror server, and witness server (if
present).

A text file, using the Windows .ini file format, that stores
configuration information allowing SQL Server to be installed
Setup initialization file
without a user having to be present to respond to prompts from the
Setup program.

A number that indicates the relative significance of an error that is

severity level
generated by the SQL Server Database Engine.

In Reporting Services, refers to a static report instance: data and

shadow copy
layout, as it exists at a specific point in time.

shared data source item Data source connection information that is encapsulated in an item.

shared dimension A dimension created within a database that can be used by any cube
 in the database.

shared lock A lock created by nonupdate (read) operations.

shared schedule Schedule information that can be referenced by multiple items

showplan A report showing the execution plan for an SQL statement.

A member in a dimension hierarchy that is a child of the same

sibling
parent as a specified member.

A database recovery mode that minimally logs all transactions

simple recovery model sufficiently to ensure database consistency after a system crash or
after restoring a data backup.

A character encoding in which each character is represented by 1

single-byte character set
byte.

single-user mode A state in which only one user can access a resource.

A subset of the data in a cube, specified by limiting one or more

slice
dimensions by members of the dimension.

A smart tag exposes key configurations directly on the design

smart tag surface to enhance overall design-time productivity in Visual Studio
2005.

SMDL See Other Term: Semantic Model Definition Language

snapshot See Other Term: report snapshot

A transaction isolation level in which each read operation performed

snapshot isolation level by a transaction returns all data as it existed at the start of the
transaction.

Snapshot replication distributes data exactly as it appears at a

snapshot replication specific moment in time and does not monitor for updates to the
data.

A share available for the storage of snapshot files. Snapshot files

snapshot share
contain the schema and data for published tables.

An extension of a star schema such that one or more dimensions are

snowflake schema
defined by multiple tables.

solve order The order of evaluation (from highest to lowest solve order) and
calculation (from lowest to highest solve order) for calculated
 members, custom members, custom rollup formulas, and calculated
cells in a single calculation pass of a multidimensional cube.

The set of rules in a collation that define how characters are

sort order evaluated in comparison operations, and the sequence in which they
are sorted.

An Integration Services data flow component that extracts data from

source
a data store, such as files and databases.

source adapter A data flow component that extracts data from a data store.

A browsing technique in which a source object is used to retrieve its

source and target
target object or objects through their relationship.

A way of storing and managing different versions of source code

source control files and other files used in software development projects. Also
known as configuration management and revision control.

source cube The cube on which a linked cube is based.

1. In data warehousing, the database from which data is extracted

for use in the data warehouse. 2. A database on the Publisher from
source database
which data and database objects are marked for replication as part of
a publication that is propagated to Subscribers.

The single object to which all objects in a particular collection are

source object connected by way of relationships that are all of the same
relationship type.

An Analysis Services partition that is merged into another and is

source partition
deleted automatically at the end of the merger process.

A file that is handled in a way that requires much less disk space
sparse file
than would otherwise be needed.

The relative percentage of a multidimensional structure's cells that

sparsity
do not contain data.

A language used to insert, retrieve, modify, and delete data in a

SQL
relational database, designed specifically for database queries.

A set of SQL Server collations whose characteristics match those of

SQL collation commonly-used code page and sort order combinations from earlier
versions of SQL Server.

SQL expression Any combination of operators, constants, literal values, functions,

 and names of tables and fields that evaluates to a single value.

An SQL statement, such as SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE,

SQL query
DELETE, or CREATE TABLE.

The mechanism to validate an attept to connect to an instance of

SQL Server Authentication
SQL Server by specifying a SQL Server login ID and password.

SQL Server Event A central instance of SQL Server that manages SQL Server Agent
Forwarding Server events forwarded to it by other instances.

An account stored in SQL Server that allows users to connect to

SQL Server login
SQL Server.

An SQL or Transact-SQL command, such as SELECT or DELETE,

SQL statement
that performs some action on data.

In a restore operation, a file used during the undo phase to hold a

standby file
"copy-on-write" pre-image of pages that are to be modified.

A server instance containing a copy of a database that can be

standby server brought online if the source copy of the database becomes
unavailable.

A join between a fact table (typically a large fact table) and at least
star join
two dimension tables.

star query A star query joins a fact table and a number of dimension tables.

A relational database structure in which data is maintained in a

star schema single fact table at the center of the schema with additional
dimension data stored in dimension tables.

In Reporting Services, a set of values that the report always uses to

static connection string
connect to the same data source each time the report runs.

A cursor that shows the result set exactly as it was at the time the
static cursor
cursor was opened.

A filter available for all types of replication that allows you to

static row filter restrict the data replicated to a Subscriber based on a WHERE
clause.

In Full-Text Search, for a given language, a stemmer generates

stemmer inflectional forms of a particular word based on the rules of that
language.
stolen page A page in Buffer Cache taken for other server requests

A precompiled collection of Transact-SQL statements that are

stored procedure
stored under a name and processed as a unit.

A set of contiguous bytes that contain a single character-based or

string
binary data value.

string functions Functions that perform operations on character or binary strings.

A media set that uses multiple devices, among which each backup is
striped media set
distributed.

A language used to insert, retrieve, modify, and delete data in a

Structured Query Language
relational database, designed specifically for database queries.

subreport A report contained within another report.

Subscriber A database instance that receives replicated data.

A server running an instance of Analysis Services that stores a

subscribing server
linked cube.

subscription A request for a copy of a publication to be delivered to a Subscriber.

A database at the Subscriber that receives data and database objects

subscription database
published by a Publisher.

subscription event rule A rule that processes information for event-driven subscriptions.

subscription expiration
See Other Term: publication retention period
period

One or more Transact-SQL statements that process information for

subscription scheduled rule
scheduled subscriptions.

A selection of tables and the relationship lines between them that is

subset
part of a larger database diagram.

surface area The number of ways in which a piece of software can be attacked.

A single key that is used with symmetric encryption algorithms for

symmetric key
both encryption and decryption.

synchronization 1. In replication, the process of data and schema changes being

propagated between the Publisher and Subscribers after the initial
snapshot has been applied at the Subscriber. 2. In database
 mirroring, when a mirroring session starts or resumes, the process in
which log records of the principal database that have accumulated
on the principal server are sent to the mirror server, which writes
these log records to disk as quickly as possible to catch up with the
principal server.

A tool used to ensure that a file or directory on a client computer

synchronization manager
contains the same data as a matching file or directory on a server.

A set of five databases present in all instances of SQL Server that

system databases
are used to store system information.

A set of built-in functions that perform operations on and return the

system functions
information about values, objects, and settings in SQL Server.

system role assignment Role assignment that applies to the site as a whole.

system role definition Role definition that conveys site-wide authority.

A set of SQL Server-supplied stored procedures that can be used for

system stored procedures actions such as retrieving information from the system catalog or
performing administration tasks.

system tables Built-in tables that form the system catalog for SQL Server.

A value that is used internally by Integration Services to store

system variable
information about the running package and its objects.

1. A two-dimensional object, which consists of rows and columns,

that stores data about an entity modeled in a relational database. 2.
table
A data region on a report layout that displays data in a columnar
format.

A report item on a report layout that displays data in a columnar

table data region
format.

table lock A lock on a table including all data and indexes.

A data retrieval operation where the Database Engine must read all
table scan
the pages in a table to find the rows that qualify for a query.

A constraint that allows various forms of data integrity to be defined

table-level constraint on one column (column-level constraint) or several columns (table-
level constraints) when the table is defined or altered.

tablix A Reporting Services RDL data region that contains rows and
columns resembling a table or matrix, possibly sharing
 characteristics of both.

tabular data stream The SQL Server internal client/server data transfer protocol.

A log backup taken from a possibly damaged database to capture the

tail-log backup
log that has not yet been backed up.

A SQL Server backup operation that writes to any tape device

tape backup
supported by the operating system.

An Analysis Services partition into which another is merged, and

target partition
which contains the data of both partitions after the merger.

A server that receives jobs from a master server; in multiserver

target server administrations, a server that connects to and receives jobs from a
master server.

A collection of permissions that constitute a task (manage reports,

task
manage folders, etc)

TDS See Other Term: tabular data stream

A procedure placed in the temporary database, tempdb, and erased

temporary stored procedure
at the end of the session.

A table placed in the temporary database, tempdb, and erased at the

temporary table
end of the session.

An operating system component that lets the logic of multiuser

thread applications be performed as several separate, asynchronous
execution paths.

1. A dimension that breaks time down into levels such as Year,

time dimension Quarter, Month, and Day. 2. In Analysis Services, a special type of
dimension created from a date/time column.

In Full-Text Search, a word or a character string identified by the

token
word breaker.

In text mining or Full-Text Search, the process of identifying

tokenization meaningful units within strings, either at word boundaries,
morphemes, or stems, so that related tokens can be grouped.

trace file A file used by SQL Server Profiler to record monitored events.

tracer token A performance monitoring tool available for transactional

replication. A token (a small amount of data) is sent through the
 replication system to measure the amount of time it takes for
transactions to reach the Distributor and Subscribers.

trail byte The second byte of a 2-byte code point in a double-byte code page.

A set of known and predictable data used to train a data mining

training data set
model.

trait An attribute that describes an entity.

A group of database operations combined into a logical unit of work

transaction
that is either wholly committed or rolled back.

Data processing used to efficiently record business activities, called

transaction processing transactions, that are of interest to an organization (for example,
sales, orders, or money transfers).

transaction retention period See Other Term: distribution retention period

Rollback of a user-specified transaction to the last savepoint inside a

transaction rollback
transaction or to the beginning of a transaction.

A type of replication that typically starts with a snapshot of the

transactional replication
publication database objects and data.

The language containing the commands used to administer instances

of SQL Server, create and manage all objects in an instance of SQL
Server, and to insert, retrieve, modify and delete all data in SQL
Transact-SQL Server tables. Transact-SQL is an extension of the language defined
in the SQL standards published by the International Standards
Organization (ISO) and the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI).

A server cursor defined by using the Transact-SQL DECLARE

Transact-SQL cursor
CURSOR syntax.

1. In data warehousing, the process of changing data extracted from

source data systems into arrangements and formats consistent with
transformation the schema of the data warehouse. 2. In Integration Services, a data
flow component that aggregates, merges, distributes, and modifies
column data and rowsets.

transformation error output Information about a transformation error.

transformation input Data that is contained in a column, which is used during a join or
lookup process, to modify or aggregate data in the table to which it
 is joined.

transformation output Data that is returned as the result of a transformation procedure.

A protocol that provides communications privacy and security

between two applications communicating over a network. TLS
Transport Layer Security
encrypts communications and enables clients to authenticate servers
(TLS)
and, optionally, servers to authenticate clients. TLS is a more secure
version of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.

A stored procedure that executes in response to a data manipulation

trigger
language (DML) or data definition language (DDL) event.

A Windows network connection that can be opened only by users

trusted connection
who have been authenticated by the network.

Uniquely identifies a cell, based on a combination of attribute

tuple
members from every attribute hierarchy in the cube.

A process that ensures transactions that apply to more than one

two-phase commit
server are completed on all servers or on none.

A hierarchy in which one or more levels do not contain members in

unbalanced hierarchy
one or more branches of the hierarchy.

uncommitable transaction A transaction that remains open and cannot be committed.

underlying table A table referenced by a view, cursor, or stored procedure.

The phase during database recovery that reverses (rolls back)

undo phase changes made by any transactions that were uncommitted when the
redo phase of recovery completed.

A link between tables that references the primary key in one table to
unenforced relationship a foreign key in another table, and which does not check the
referential integrity during INSERT and UPDATE transactions.

Unicode defines a set of letters, numbers, and symbols that SQL

Unicode
Server recognizes in the nchar, nvarchar, and ntext data types.

Unicode collation A set of rules that acts as a sort order for Unicode data.

Unicode format Data stored in a bulk copy data file using Unicode characters.

An index in which no two rows are permitted to have the same

unique index
index value, thus prohibiting duplicate index or key values.
 A hidden 4-byte column that the SQL Server Database Engine
automatically adds to a row to make the index key for that row
uniqueifier unique. The uniqueifier is added to a row only when the clustered
index on the table is not created with the UNIQUE property and the
values in the index key for that row do not provide uniqueness.

A member of a dimension for which no key is found during

unknown member
processing of a cube that contains the dimension.

unmanaged code Code that does not run inside the CLR.

In Integration Services, the process of creating a more normalized

unpivot dataset by expanding data columns in a single record into multiple
records.

Code that does not run inside the CLR.Also referred to as

unsafe code
unmanaged code.

A lock placed on resources (such as row, page, table) that can be

update lock
updated.

A process that recalculates information about the distribution of key

update statistics
values in specified indexes.

An instance of SQL Server Express that is generated by the parent

user instance
instance on behalf of a user.

user-defined aggregate An aggregate function that is created by referencing a SQL Server

(function) assembly.

An aggregate function created against a SQL Server assembly

user-defined aggregate
whose implementation is defined in an assembly created in the .NET
function
Framework common language runtime.

1. In SQL Server, a Transact-SQL function defined by a user. 2. In

Analysis Services, a function defined in a Microsoft ActiveX library
user-defined function
created using a Component Object Model (COM) automation
language such as Visual Basic or Visual C++.

The process of confirming that the elements of an XML file are

validation (semantic)
logically valid.

validation (syntactic) The process of confirming that an XML file conforms to its schema.

value expression An expression in Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) that returns

a value. Value expressions can operate on sets, tuples, members,
 levels, numbers, or strings.

1. In Integration Services, stores values that can be used in scripts,

expressions, and property expressions to set column values and the
properties of package objects. 2. Defined entities that are assigned
variable values. A local variable is defined with a DECLARE@localvariable
statement and assigned an initial value within the statement batch
where it is declared with either a SELECT or SET@localvariable
statement.

An option on a Reporting Services chart that can be specified to

variable interval automatically calculate the optimal number of labels that can be
placed on an axis, based on the chart width or height.

Filtering columns from a table. When used as part of replication, the

vertical filtering table article created contains only selected columns from the
publishing table.

To segment a single table into multiple tables based on selected

vertical partitioning
columns.

A database that has become large enough to be a management

very large database
challenge.

A repository engine feature that is used to create relational views

view generation based on classes, interfaces, and relationships in an information
model.

Non-physical files that are derived from one physical log file by the
virtual log file
SQL Server Database Engine.

A displayed, aggregated cell value for a dimension member that is

visual total
consistent with the displayed cell values for its displayed children.

VLDB See Other Term: very large database

A standby server that contains a copy of a database that is

warm standby server asynchronously updated, and that can be brought online fairly
quickly.

In Reporting Services, a service that uses Simple Object Access

Web service Protocol (SOAP) over HTTP and acts as a communications interface
between client programs and the report server.

In merge replication, a feature that lets you replicate data by using

Web synchronization
the HTTPS protocol.
 A set of rules that determines how SQL Server sorts character data.
Windows collation A collation is specified by name in the Windows Control Panel and
in SQL Server 2000 during Setup.

A set of data access technologies that are included in the Microsoft

Windows Data Access Windows operating system starting with Windows Vista. These are
Components (Windows recent versions of the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC)
DAC) technologies, such as ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), Open Data
Base Connectivity (ODBC), and OLE DB.

Windows Management An interface that provides information about objects in a managed

Instrumentation environment.

In database mirroring, the server instance that monitors the status of

witness server the principal and mirror servers and that, by default, can initiate
automatic failover if the principal server fails.

WMI See Other Term: Windows Management Instrumentation

A subset of ANSI SQL with semantic changes adapted to Windows

WMI Query Language
Management Instrumentation (WMI).

In Full-Text Search, for a given language, a word breaker tokenizes

word breaker
text based on the lexical rules of the language.

The process of determining other forms of the word(s) specified in a

word generation
search.

In text mining or Full-Text Search, the process of separating strings

word-breaking
at word boundaries.

WQL See Other Term: WMI Query Language

write back To update a cube cell value, member, or member property value.

To change a cube or dimension so that users in cube roles with

write enable
read/write access to the cube or dimension can change its data.

A transaction logging method in which the log is always written

write-ahead log
prior to the data.

In SQL Server, the update of a cube cell value, member, or member

writeback
property value.

Xcopy A deployment feature, supported only by SQL Server Express, that

allows an application and a database file (.mdf) to be copied to
another computer, or to a different location on the same computer,
 without additional configuration.

A specification that describes an open standard that supports data

XML for Analysis
access to data sources that reside on the World Wide Web.

XMLA See Other Term: XML for Analysis

XSL See Other Term: Extensible Stylesheet Language

XSLT See Other Term: Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations

A message that was not processed by an orchestration. It is not in

zombie
the Suspended queue or anywhere else where it will be retried.