Hello,

I'm programming in many languages for many years using databases but I still don't know how to see connections to databases. I just find an example and expand it ;-) I surfed Internet a lot and surfed wiki's but it's still unclear to me.

My questions are:
- Where do I find a clear newbie tutorial (not something like 'sql-server is derived from bla bla' that doens't clear up things...)
- what exactly does an sql-server?
- does it control one single database, if not, how to add a database to a server?
- if I use a local database in my C# project, a *.mdf file, do I need a server to communicatie with it?
- if I want to use a MSAccess .mdb database, do I need a server or a provider?


who helps me out?

Thanks!
Henk

what exactly does an sql-server

Do you mean What is a SQL Server ?

Simple answer is, It is a software agent that responds to SQL command syntax and returns data based on that command from storage .

does it control one single database, if not, how to add a database to a server?

In the case of MS Access the .mdb file is both database and server.
For server systems MS SQL, MySQL, Oracle etc, these are more pwerful agents that can have several (hundred or thousands) of databases within their control.
How to add a database; You can either use a SQL command ( CREATE DATABASE dbName ) or any admin tool at your disposal.

the two last questions in one;
see Point 1
you need to configure the ADO (or ODBC) driver, This can be either via a DSN (Data Source Name) or a connection string and tells the driver where to find the database server that will answer its requests.