SQL Server - Metadata / Data Dictionary

About

When you need information, you can use this tables to retrieve informations about the database.

Articles Related

Metadata tables

• INFORMATION_SCHEMA.Tables
• INFORMATION_SCHEMA.Columns
• INFORMATION_SCHEMA.VIEWS

Or

• sysobjects
• syscolumns

Documentation / Reference

• SQL Server 2008 Books Online (November 2009) Information Schema Views (Transact-SQL)