Book excerpt: As Microsoft’s bestselling database manager, SQL Server is highly flexible and customizable, and has excellent support—the 2008 version offers several significant new capabilities. This book offers accurate and expert coverage on the updates to SQL Server 2008 such as its enhanced security; the ability to encrypt an entire database, data files, and log files without the need for application changes; a scalable infrastructure that can manage reports and analysis of any size and complexity; and its extensive performance data collection.