Microsoft's SQL Server is a proprietary SQL-based DBMS, using its own variant of standard SQL (T-SQL—like MySQL's variants, the differences are generally trivial, at least for simple to somewhat complex needs). 

MS-SQL also has clustering and replication options for high availability and load scenarios, with the same need for discrete servers to maximize the effectiveness of horizontal scaling.

There are at least two Python options for connecting to and working with MS-SQL databases:

• pymssql: This specifically leverages the Tabular Data Stream (TDS) protocol used by MS-SQL, and allows more direct connection to a backend engine
• pyodbc: This provides database connectivity through the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) protocol, which Microsoft has placed its confidence in as of mid-2018