Microsoft Server Software

Is it worth purchasing a SQL Server management tool or do I use the tools provided by SQL Server?

Is it worth purchasing a 3rd party SQL Server management tool or do I use the tools provided by Microsoft SQL Server? Do you have any 3rd party software system suggestions?

You probably won't need to buy anything else. Certainly not straight away at least.

The tools that come with Microsoft SQL Server cover practically everything you'll need and are very easy to use. You'll get good tools for monitoring performance and resolving problems, handling manual and automated backups, security set up, data migration tools for loading/unloading data and almost anything else.

If you're using an older version of SQL Server, you might want to look at a backup tool like SQL Lightspeed which can compress backups so they're a bit quicker and take up less space, but Microsoft has since added that capability so its no longer needed. Even with the older versions, you'll probably be able to live with the backup capability they give you, it'll just take a little longer.