SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is backward compatible, and it is always recommended to use the latest version even if you are connecting to older versions of SQL Server such as SQL Server 2008.
Explanation
At the time of writing this tutorial, SSMS 18.4 was the latest release in November 2019, and we will be using this version in this tutorial. Version 18.4 will work with SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2019.
Also, it is fine to have slightly older versions, such as 17.X, since these later versions support a lot of the newer features and also support Azure SQL database. If possible, it is always best to use the latest version.
To find the version in SSMS, select menu items Help > About and the following will open.
