Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CALs are the licenses for the California-based developer's relational database management system. Few pieces of software are as mature as SQL Server. The original development back in the 1980s. Since then, Microsoft has shown great skill in the issue of further improving the strengths of the solution and eliminating the weaknesses. Users who buy one of the Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CALs will get a database management system that is prepared for modern challenges. This is especially true when it comes to dealing with large data sets.

The most important features of the Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CALs at a glance

• Improved Big Data processing
• Optimized real-time transaction processing (information from tables to entire databases can be held in main memory)
• Improved handling of column-based indexes
• Data files can be stored in Azure
• SQL Server database can be hosted on a virtual machine in Azure
• Encryption of backups during the backup process is possible
• Failover cluster instances have been expanded and optimized

Purchase one of the Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CALs: The basic thinking behind the software solution

When developing SQL Server 2014, Microsoft had two key processes in mind that are interrelated and that the software solution must account for: ever-growing data sets and the increasing popularity of cloud computing. As a result of digitalization, companies are accumulating more and more data that needs to be stored and analyzed. Physical storage is thus quickly reaching its limits. This applies to both capacity and practical use. It must be possible to retrieve a lot of data from anywhere. The cloud solves both problems: Large storage volumes are held centrally. Information can be queried from anywhere.

Microsoft SQL Server 2014 is the "lubricant" that keeps these processes running smoothly. As a database management system, the software solution regulates the management of individual data. This means that it stores the information in the individual databases or makes it available. At the same time, it takes care of the creation, adaptation or deletion of new databases. To ensure that this works smoothly in conjunction with the "cloud", SQL Server 2014 has been partially merged with Microsoft's Azure cloud. For example, databases can be hosted on virtual machines in Azure.

Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CALs: Licenses Explained

Anyone interested in buying one of the Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CALs has a decision to make: Basically, there are licenses tied to a user (User CAL) or a device (Device CAL). User licenses can run on different devices, but cannot be used by different people. With device licenses it is the other way around. In larger companies with a shift system, for example, access authorizations that are bound to computers usually make sense. In small and medium-sized companies, in individual departments or for freelancers, the user license usually makes more sense.