SQL Server Networking is a technology that is used for the installation of SQL Servers in a network. In general, every application installed on a server has a corresponding client which uses SQL server to access the data. The major difference between SQL Server Native Configuration and SQL Server Network configuration is that in SQL Server Native Configuration the SQL Server allows only local users to connect to the server, whereas in SQL Server Network configuration of the SQL Server permits remote users to connect to the server as well. Most of the time the SQL servers are installed on the same server as the operating system, but sometimes they are installed on different servers. For example, in a multi-site database configuration the SQL server is installed on the site where the applications are installed, and in a site-based database configuration the SQL server is installed on each site that stores a copy of the data.

The three most common types of SQL server network configuration are local, remote, and site-wide. In a local configuration, the processes are segregated into separate processes. A remote connection is one in which multiple users connect to the server. A site-wide application is the most flexible and the most efficient for applications requiring seamless connectivity with many users, and it is used for e-commerce applications, web content management, internal server processes, and any other application that require secure communication between various modules.

Before setting up the SQL server network configuration, it is necessary to define the required protocols. The most important ones are TCP/IP, ICQ, Java Management Interface, and XML. The client applications use these protocols to communicate with the server instance. Some of these protocols, like TCP/IP and Java Management Interface are implemented in the operating system and they make the communications much easier and secure.