Server Explorer

The Server Explorer provides a tree that allows you to explore various types of services on the current
computer (and other servers on the network). It’s similar to the Computer Management administrative
tool. Typically, you’ll use the Server Explorer to learn about available event logs, message queues,
performance counters, system services, and SQL Server databases on your computer.
The Server Explorer is particularly noteworthy because it doesn’t just provide a way for you to
browse server resources; it also allows you to interact with them. For example, you can create databases,
execute queries, and write stored procedures using the Server Explorer in much the same way that you
would using SQL Server Management Studio, the administrative utility that’s included with the full
version of SQL Server. To find out what you can do with a given item, right-click it. Figure 2-11 shows the
Server Explorer window listing the databases in a local SQL Server and allowing you to retrieve all the
records in the selected table.