Yes but consider the traffic going to and from the server. I've found that the problem isn't the machine its the pipeline into the machine.

This is a particular problem if you have some analysis software that sends complex requests to your server.

Ideally I would buy two servers of similar spec and have half the databases live on each but have regularly updated copies of the other half available. That way if a machine blows up (a pretty rare occurence) you can simply switch to the other machine whilst repairs are carried out.

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2) Do I need to consider any specific management software to manage the server?

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Initially I would say no. As time goes on you need to think about back-up softare.

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3) How many clients can log on to SQL Server at one time if we have one "per-processor license" also keeping speed in mind?

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Ditto the certification exam for Microsoft licensing That said, the literature that I have available says that for use in an intranet/extranet environment licensing is on a per processor basis. This makes sense because if you were running a SQL Server driven public web-site then how do you know how many people access the server?

If your server is non intranet/extranet then it gets very complicated. Basically any device accessing the SQL Server counts as a connection even if it goes through some form of multiplexing system. Oh, and the server itself counts as one of the five connecting machines in the default five license set up.

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Is it a big deal for a SQL Server to host more than one Database that are being used for retail product order entry as well as data analysis reporting OR Is it just common to do that?

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I think you need to ask what the affect would be on your business if the order taking system went down or suffered degraded performance.

Your business could probably wait for a report but wouldn't want to stop taking orders.

You can manage both on a decent server, but you may have to have a strict schedule that restricts reporting hours to times outside the hours that your retail operation is active.

AOB

RAM is cheap and doesn't affect your licensing costs. The amount that SQL Server supports depends on the version of SQL Server and the version of W2K.

Do you have a development SQL server? I've got an old PII that I use as a personal development server so costs needn't be astronomic.

I went on the MS SQL6.5 courses and this really gave my knowledge a jump start. From my perspective I gained enough knowledge to begin to ask the right questions. In addition whilst on the courses the other people on the course had a wide variety of experience and industry viewpoints so I gained from them as well.

I know courses are expensive but good ones will give you a huge boost.