How to connect to a local server in SQL Server?

To connect to a local SQL Server server, you can use either SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or the SQL Server command line tool, such as sqlcmd.

The steps to connect to a local server using SSMS are as follows:

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio.
2. Choose “Database Engine” from the drop-down menu under “Server Type”.
3. Enter “localhost” or “.” (indicating local server) in the “Server Name” field.
4. Log in using either Windows authentication or SQL Server authentication.
5. Click on the “connect” button.

The steps to connect to a local server using sqlcmd are as follows, assuming that the SQL Server command line tools have already been installed:

1. Open the command prompt.
2. Enter the following command to connect to the local server:

sqlcmd -S localhost -E

Alternatively, you can log in using SQL Server authentication.

sqlcmd -S localhost -U username -P password

In this case, “localhost” refers to the name of the local server, “-E” indicates logging in using Windows authentication, and “-U” and “-P” are for the username and password, respectively.

Once connected successfully using either SSMS or sqlcmd, you will be able to access the local SQL Server server and perform the necessary operations.