sql server 2005 question

jimbo007

I'm developing a database for a company who uses sql server 2005 standard edition with asp.net.
I was using sql server 2005 express edition, but i've upgraded (or i'm in the process of upgrading) to developer edition.
I know that the developer edition is the same as enterprise edition, but can it be used to build a standard edition database, or will i be using features that won't work on company's server when i deploy it..?

thanks!

stakey

Developer edition is basically enterprise edition with some limitations, ie. memory and CPU (AFAIK database size limit of 4 gigabytes (GB) and support for 1 CPU and up to 1 GB of RAM). Developer Edition has all the same features as SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition, but is to be used by developers to test their software. I believe there *maybe* some limitations to the number of connections it can handle. Not sure about that.

bonkey

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/features/compare-features.mspx

fasty

I find that almost all of the differences between MS SQL 2005 products have a bigger impact on the DB administrator than application developers.

jimbo007

stakey wrote:

Developer edition is basically enterprise edition with some limitations, ie. memory and CPU (AFAIK database size limit of 4 gigabytes (GB) and support for 1 CPU and up to 1 GB of RAM). Developer Edition has all the same features as SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition, but is to be used by developers to test their software. I believe there *maybe* some limitations to the number of connections it can handle. Not sure about that.

That's the thing, from this link:

bonkey wrote:

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinf...-features.mspx

they don't include developer edition in the comparison. All that they say on the site regarding developer edition is that it's the same as enterprise.

If it has the limitations that you described, stakey, is it any different from express edition? Or did you mean express edition?

this post clears up a few things for me.. http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=173513

The problem I had with express edition is that it (seemed to) only supported one connection (unless i was doing something wrong! ).
I wanted an asp.net page to be able to access the database through ado.net, and at the same time connect to the database from a simulation engine sitting on a server through odbc.

I tried finding a way around this using user instances which I didn't get working, see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb264564.aspx
but I had to revert to using access, which works fine, but ultimately I need to get sql server 2005 working for this..

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks for the help!
J.

amen

I think you are over complicating your life.

The various SQL Servers version are basically the same bar some limitations on memory/database size, partitioning etc

A lower version such as Express may not support all the feautes of a higher version such as Enterprise but the higher versions will support/run the lower version database.

In your case Developer can be considered to be the same as the Enterprise Edition thus providing all the features of an Enterprise Edition.

Enterprise Edition supports several additional features that are not supported in your customers Standard Edition.

These additional features are primarily concerned with the performance of SQL Server, Partitioning and Business Intelligence and are part of the SQL product and are not something you would normally access during the design/implementation of a database.

As such any database you design using Developer Edition should work without issue in Standard Edition.

Is this a paying contact and how much SQL Server Experience do you have?
It is easy to get a Database application up and running in SQL Server/Oracle etc but a lot harded to provide or improve performance later on especially as the database grows especially if you have a bad schema (not saying you do).

As for the connection issue you shouldn't need to be looking at user instances. This will only cause you more headaches.

AFAIK there is no connection limit in SQL Express (There was in the MSDE version).

You need a hand post back here.

How big is your database going to get?
How many concurrent users?

jimbo007

Enterprise Edition supports several additional features that are not supported in your customers Standard Edition.

These additional features are primarily concerned with the performance of SQL Server, Partitioning and Business Intelligence and are part of the SQL product and are not something you would normally access during the design/implementation of a database.

As such any database you design using Developer Edition should work without issue in Standard Edition.

That was the first answer I was looking for, thanks.

Is this a paying contact and how much SQL Server Experience do you have?

Reasonable amount of experience with database development, not so much with SQL Server. This is an exploratory research project to see if the concept works, based around the use of the simulation engine. Therefore there's no issue yet around database design, concurrent users is a big issue with the simulation engine but I have the design for that solved and mostly implemented.

My only issue now is that using SQL Server Express, my web application connects to the database fine through ADO.NET, the simulation engine connects fine through ODBC, but when both try and connect at the same time (i.e. when I "run" the simulation using the web based application) the simulation engine won't pull data from the database after the web application writes data to it. It won't connect, and I can't figure out why. The web application seems to lock the database, therefore I started playing with User Instances to see if that would work. I can see it working in theory, but it doesn't seem to in practice. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, or if SQL Server 2005 Express allows this.

So my next step is to upgrade to developer to see if this works.

bonkey

jimbo007 wrote:

That's the thing, from this link:

they don't include developer edition in the comparison. All that they say on the site regarding developer edition is that it's the same as enterprise.

They tell you on the page in question that : SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition and Evaluation Edition are not listed in the tables. These editions have the same feature set as the Enterprise Edition; the only difference between these editions is the licensing policies.

I thought it was pretty clear...the difference in functionality between Standard and Enterprise is the difference in functionality between Standard and Developer.

Having said that...your question has since been (re)asnwered.

The problem I had with express edition is that it (seemed to) only supported one connection (unless i was doing something wrong! ).

Shouldn't be limited that way. Did you try connecting the management tools at the same time as your app?

Any thoughts on this?

Can you post up the relevant bits of code? If the connections are where the problems are being caused (i.e. it fails on OpenConnection, not on ExecuteQuery or somesuch), then probably just the connection-relevant bits are whats needed.

amen

can you post some code?
maybe you are holding a lock on the table preventing the read.

what you are describing should work

jimbo007

bonkey wrote:

Did you try connecting the management tools at the same time as your app?

No, these were disconnected.

I'll be going at this problem again in about two weeks time, so I'll post up the code then, I can't fully remember the process I went through to get as far as I did, so I won't waste your time until I get back to it again..

Cheers for the help!