The SharePoint 2010 Products are, at core, Web applications built on SQL Server databases. To best administer an environment and keep it performing well, administrators should understand the following:

• How to choose the best version of SQL Server for their environment
• How to best configure and monitor SQL Server for SharePoint 2010 Products
• Which databases they are running, and their characteristics
• Whether it’s appropriate to use remote BLOB storage to meet their business needs.

We have assembled key database, storage, and SQL Server content in one easy location—the SQL Server and SharePoint Server 2010 Databases resource center.

The resource center provides links to great core resources that you should be familiar with:

• SQL Server 2008 R2 and SharePoint 2010 Products: Better Together. This white paper highlights why SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise is a great platform to build your SharePoint environment on, and also includes an appendix that compares the SharePoint functionality that is supported by different SQL Server versions and editions, including SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, and SQL Server 2008 R2.
• Storage and SQL Server capacity planning and configuration (SharePoint Server 2010). This article describes how to plan for your storage and SQL Server needs, and how to configure SQL Server for best SharePoint Server performance.
• SharePoint databases are described graphically in the database model, and in more detail in Database types and descriptions.
• Plan for remote BLOB storage (RBS) helps you determine whether RBS can help meet your business needs.

The resource center is also a one-stop shop for SQL Server DBAs who manage SharePoint environments, with links to information about integrating SharePoint with Reporting Services, and PowerPivot for SharePoint.

Please let us know if the resource center is helpful, and if you there is any additional content you’d like to see about managing SharePoint databases.