October 11, 2005 at 5:53 am
Hi there
I'm not exactly a newbie, but have now outgrown my Developer edition (and don't want to push the license too far!) and want to move my consulting business into 'deeper data' activities. So my question is which edition to invest in? The basic parameters of the decision are:
2 employees - hope to need capacity to grow(!)
Analysis Services required
Probably sensible to have some upgrade path to 2005 (but I could live without this).
I haven't yet bought a server.
So far, I'm attracted to Small Business Server Premium, as it has a great price (under £400) and includes SQL Server, but I cannot figure out if it has Analysis Services. Also I don't really understand the upgrade path... it looks as if Software Assurance will take you to 2005 Workgroup Edition, which definitely does not have AS.
So what to do? Full-blown Windows Server 2003 plus SQL Server Standard Edition seems like a massive investment - around £2,000. Perhaps a better approach would be to take the evaluation versions, then if the business idea doesn't work out in 6 months, I can just de-install it and sell the hardware.
Thanks in advance for any ideas anyone has.
October 11, 2005 at 6:09 am
Hi John,
Are you planning on building solutions for others, hosting them yourself or just working on problems for people?
If it's one or three then you should be fine with the developer edition (effectively Enterprise), if it's the second option then you're right that you'd be better off moving to standard edition, there's also a but here that i'll not go into right now.
I suppose it all depends on what you plan on doing and how much of an investment you are willing to make. The upgrade route to 2005 is basically software assurance, which means you'll have to shell out extra cash over the next couple of years. Failing that, why not wait till after the launch in september, buy a 2005 license and then use it to run SQL 2000 (or 2005 if you prefer (again depends on what you're doing)).
This is just my take on things and i'm sure others will have differing (and equally valid) opinions.
Mike
October 11, 2005 at 6:44 am
Hi Mike
Thanks for your comments. You're right - it is just 1 & 3 in fact. However there is some pretty heavy lifting going on now in terms of data crunching and big datasets, so I do need to move it off the laptop.
Am I right in thinking that Developer has some kind of performance throttle, so I wouldn't necessarily get the benefit of running the database on better hardware?
A server would work best for me in terms of backups, shared drives, remote access resources and the other benefits (such as developing my skill set and staying up late at night!).
I finally got through to Microsoft while you were posting. They told me that SBS does come with AS, which is great. But they said that Software Assurance covering SBS would not cover the SQL upgrade path to 2005. But perhaps for such a cheap package I can live with that - the main thing I really like from the CTP is the Management Studio, which is a big improvement on EM and QA!
jc
October 12, 2005 at 12:49 pm
Developer edition has no 'throttles' - it's basically Entetrprise Edition under the covers.
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
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