**Course Title:** SQL Mastery: From Fundamentals to Advanced Techniques **Section Title:** Introduction to SQL and Databases **Topic:** Install a database management system (DBMS) and write basic queries to retrieve data. **Lab Overview:** In this hands-on lab, you will install a database management system (DBMS) and write basic queries to retrieve data. You will learn how to set up a DBMS, create a database, and execute SQL queries to extract data. By the end of this lab, you will have a solid understanding of how to install a DBMS and perform basic data retrieval operations. **Installing a Database Management System (DBMS):** For this lab, we will use MySQL as our DBMS. MySQL is a popular open-source DBMS that is widely used in the industry. You can download the MySQL Community Server from the official MySQL website: * [MySQL Community Server Download](https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/) **Installation Instructions:** 1. Download the MySQL Community Server installer for your operating system. 2. Run the installer and follow the prompts to install MySQL. 3. Once installed, launch the MySQL Workbench application. 4. Create a new connection to your local MySQL server. **Creating a Database:** Once you have installed MySQL and launched the MySQL Workbench application, you can create a new database by executing the following SQL statement: ```sql CREATE DATABASE sql_mastery; ``` **Switching to the Database:** To switch to the `sql_mastery` database, execute the following SQL statement: ```sql USE sql_mastery; ``` **Creating a Table:** Create a new table called `employees` with the following structure: ```sql CREATE TABLE employees ( id INT PRIMARY KEY, name VARCHAR(255), email VARCHAR(255), department VARCHAR(255) ); ``` **Inserting Data:** Insert some sample data into the `employees` table: ```sql INSERT INTO employees (id, name, email, department) VALUES (1, 'John Doe', 'johndoe@example.com', 'Sales'), (2, 'Jane Smith', 'janesmith@example.com', 'Marketing'), (3, 'Bob Johnson', 'bobjohnson@example.com', 'IT'); ``` **Writing Basic Queries:** Now that you have a table with some data, you can start writing basic queries to retrieve data. **Example 1: Retrieve All Employee Records** ```sql SELECT * FROM employees; ``` This query will retrieve all columns (`id`, `name`, `email`, and `department`) for all employee records. **Example 2: Retrieve Employee Records by Department** ```sql SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department = 'Sales'; ``` This query will retrieve all columns (`id`, `name`, `email`, and `department`) for all employee records where the `department` is 'Sales'. **Example 3: Retrieve Employee Records by Name** ```sql SELECT * FROM employees WHERE name = 'John Doe'; ``` This query will retrieve all columns (`id`, `name`, `email`, and `department`) for all employee records where the `name` is 'John Doe'. **Conclusion:** In this lab, you installed a database management system (DBMS), created a database, and wrote basic queries to retrieve data. You learned how to create a table, insert data, and execute SQL queries to extract specific data. With this knowledge, you can now apply these concepts to real-world scenarios. **What's Next:** In the next topic, we will cover 'Using SELECT statements for querying data' from: Data Retrieval with SQL: SELECT Queries. **Do You Have Any Questions?** Leave a comment below or reply to this topic if you have any questions or need further clarification on any of the concepts covered in this lab.