SSMS allow users to connect to a SQL Server database to query tables or views. But also, SSAS cubes. Or to develop a full database project, SSMS is the most used software, and it’s a free Microsoft tool! How to download the latest SSMS version, i.e., SSMS 18? In other words, this article shows how to download SQL Server Management Studio from the official MS website and how to install it.
Link to download Microsoft SSMS 18
First, SSMS stands for SQL Server Management Studio and it allows developers, engineers and business analysts to connect to multiple Microsoft databases services, for instance:
- Database Engines: is the RDBMS for Relational Database Management System that host and makes the databases run.
- Analysis Services: SSAS is the MS OLAP system for On Line Analytical Processing, to perform Business Intelligence analysis and manage multidimensional cubes.
- Integration Services: Microsoft integration tools, SSIS, to integrate and organize data in databases.
- Reporting Services SSRS is the Microsoft reporting tool.
- Azure-SSIS Integration Runtime (available since this the 18 version)
Indeed, the three Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence services are Integration, Analysis and Reporting Services. It is possible to manage these three BI components from the different tools in SSMS software. However, Visual Studio is the tool for developing database and business intelligence MS projects, the current latest version is Visual Studio 2019 at the time we write this article.
To download the SSMS 18 version follow this link to the official Microsoft page.
Tutorial to install SQL Server Management Studio 18
To finish, you need to proceed to the software installation, launch the SSMS-Setup-ENU.exe file for the English language version. Please note that SSMS 18 version is compatible with SSMS 16, the previous version. Indeed, the two versions allows the users to launch and use them on the same Windows machine at the same time. So you do not need to uninstall it if you need it. But it is recommended to keep only the latest version on your PC.
Moreover, to go further on the SQL databases topic, here is how to create a database from the graphical interface of SSMS.
