Each database can contain one or more schemas. A schema is a namespace for database objects. All data objects in a SQL Server 2008 database reside in a specific schema.
SQL Server 2008 implements the ANSI schema object. A database schema is a defined namespace in which database objects exist. It is also a fully configurable security scope. In previous releases of SQL Server, the namespace was defined by the owner of an object, and it wasn’t uncommon to see everything in thedatabase in the dbo schema. In SQL Server 2008, the ownership of an object is separated from an object’s namespace. An individual user may be granted ownership of a schema, but the underlying objects belong to the schema itself. This adds greater flexibility and control to the management and securing of database objects. Permissions can be granted to a schema, and those permissions will be inherited by all the objects defined in the schema.
