Microsoft Systems Management Server

Inventory information collected with Microsoft System Management Server can be stored in a Microsoft SQL Server database.

The System Management Server (SMS) provides a method for centrally managing software and hardware for corporate networks. It provides an integrated system to:

Maintain inventory of hardware, software, and configurations of computers
in a network.
Distribute and install software.
Manage network applications.
Monitor network data flow. The SMS incorporates Microsoft SQL Server as a back-end database server. It uses SQL Server to store its inventory database.

SMS collects and maintains hardware and software inventory for an entire enterprise. This inventory information is stored in a SQL Server database, and there is one such inventory database per site.

The central site is the topmost site or is the root of the site hierarchy. An SMS system is composed of a central site that stores system-wide information and can have any number of sites beneath it. The central site requires a SQL Server database.
A primary site is any site that has its own site database. A site without a database is called a secondary site. A primary site can have one or more primary sites beneath it as well as one or more secondary sites beneath it.
A secondary site cannot store its inventory information. A secondary site forwards all its inventory and status information to a primary site above it in the site hierarchy. Also, a secondary site can have no sites beneath it.