Depending on the application "(local)" could be just an alias for 'localhost'. In SQLServer, '(local)' and '.' mean that the connection will be made using the named pipes (shared memory) protocol within the same machine (doesn't need to go through the TCP/IP stack). That's the theory.

LocalDB is a special, low impact version of the SQL Server engine, that is not installed as a Windows Service, but launched (made to run) on demand by the ADO.NET client opening a connection to it. It is intended for single user scenarios, and not for any production use - for production you should use SQL Server Express (or higher)

Microsoft SQL Server Express LocalDB is a feature of SQL Server Express targeted to developers. It's available on SQL Server Express edition with Advanced Services. LocalDB installation copies a minimal set of files necessary to start the SQL Server Database Engine.

Mar 7, 2017 · "Data Source" and "Server" are synonyms, so no difference. localhost specifies the default SQL Server instance on your machine. (LocalDb)\MSSQLLocalDB is the default LocalDB instance on your machine

Jun 1, 2016 · (local) - I don't like it because it is SQL Server specific and has special characters. localhost - is fine if you always want to connect to the local instance of SQL-Server and when using it in a script want to make it portable between many servers.

Feb 24, 2024 · LocalDB can act as an embedded database for a small application and SQL Server Express can act as a more robust, full-featured remote database engine for larger applications.

Mar 23, 2019 · - Data Source= (local); – This means that we want to connect to the SQL Server instance located on the local machine. The confusion occurs with this last option, since people think that “local” is a keyword referring to the local machine account, when in fact the special keyword is " (local)", including the parentheses.

Apr 2, 2020 · When SQL Server runs query with Linked Server, it will use the least optimal execution plan due to lack of knowledge of those remote tables. Meaning, your local SQL Server is clueless on remote table indexes and statistics, so it might use incorrect joining mechanism and might be grossly inefficient.

Jan 12, 2025 · LocalDB and SQL Server are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. LocalDB is ranked #17 with an average rating of 8.5, while SQL Server is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3. LocalDB holds a 2.8% mindshare in SQL, compared to SQL Server’s 18.6% mindshare.

Nov 8, 2016 · Yes. All developers should have a local instance of SQL Server AND a shared SQL server instance. They exist for different purposes. Both are needed.