DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Partner Zones AWS Cloud
by AWS Developer Relations
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Partner Zones
AWS Cloud
by AWS Developer Relations
The Latest "Software Integration: The Intersection of APIs, Microservices, and Cloud-Based Systems" Trend Report
Get the report
  1. DZone
  2. Data Engineering
  3. Databases
  4. Collection: SQL Server Sample Databases

Collection: SQL Server Sample Databases

Need a sample database to test out your queries? Look at a collection of different ones you can make use of immediately.

Jonathan Danylko user avatar by
Jonathan Danylko
·
Dec. 11, 18 · Opinion
Like (6)
Save
Tweet
Share
71.63K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

Why create a whole database when you can use an existing one for testing purposes? Today, I've collected a list of sample databases for SQL Server.

There are times when you need a sample database to test out a query or benchmark the database or server in general.

What better way than to use production...err...I mean, a test database?

It's been a while since I've done a collection post, so I thought this would be perfect.

This collection of databases is meant to show how to properly design databases and how applications use them efficiently.

Oh, and they're also great test databases to beat on for performance scenarios.

Northwind Database

Nothing like an old classic to kick off the list.

The Northwind Database works with SQL Server 2005 and 2008 and was originally created for demonstration purposes for Microsoft Access. It eventually transitioned over to SQL Server.

AdventureWorks

AdventureWorks Cycles is another classic database representing a fictional company created and published by Microsoft.

The database shows how to design a SQL Server database using SQL Server 2008 and AdventureWorksDW is the data warehouse sample.

It works with 2005, 2008, 2008R2, 2012 RTM, and Azure.

Another version exists at Microsoft SQL Server Samples GitHub.

Contoso University

The Contoso University is an updated database to show how a schooling database would look like.

It's a simple database example. There is also a sample script of how to create it.

Since the script is simple enough, it should work on every SQL Server.

StackOverflow Database

I first found out about this through Brent Ozar's post on How to Download the StackOverflow database via BitTorrent.

The database is segmented into three downloads:

  • Large (41GB expands to 312GB)
  • Medium (10GB expands to 50GB)
  • Small (1GB expands to 10GB)

Each one has certain tables included like badges and post history. It's probably best to determine what data you find relevant and download the appropriate version.

Chinook Database

Finally, we have the Chinook database which represents a digital media store, including tables for artists, albums, media tracks, invoices, and customers.

This database supports not only SQL Server, but DB2, EffiProz, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL Server Compact, and SQLite Data Model.

Conclusion

This was a collection I felt necessary to create because of all of the different flavors of databases you can use to test without damaging your own database.

Did I miss a database? Which one is your favorite? Post your comments below and let's discuss.

Database MySQL

Published at DZone with permission of Jonathan Danylko, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • Introduction To OpenSSH
  • What Is Advertised Kafka Address?
  • Implementing PEG in Java
  • How We Solved an OOM Issue in TiDB with GOMEMLIMIT

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: