A linked server configuration enables SQL Server to execute commands against OLE DB data sources on remote servers. With a linked server, you can create very clean, easy-to-follow SQL statements that allow remote data to be retrieved, joined and combined with local data.

The ability to issue distributed queries and perform commands with transactions on heterogeneous sources are one of the keys to using Linked Servers. Stored Procedures 'sp_addlinkedserver', 'sp_addlinkedsrvlogin' will be used to add a new Linked Server and 'sp_linkedservers' is used to list all the Linked Servers defined on the Server.