Can SQL Server Express be used to effectively administrate a SQL Server Standard/Enterprise installation? - sql

We have a number of MS SQL Server 2005 installations (both Standard and Enterprise editions) on our webservers. From time to time I need to administrate them from home. Right now I'm using Remote Desktop to connect to my work machine, but I'd prefer to install SQL Server Management Studio on my home machine so that I can work more efficiently. I don't have a spare license, so I was wondering... if I installed MS SQL Server 2005 Express on my home machine, could I use it to effectively administrate the higher-end installations on our servers?

See this question:
What's the difference between SQL Server Management Studio and the Express edition?
Also, if you have any trouble doing anything from Managment Studio Express, there are third-party tools out there that have no trouble connecting to SQL Server.
Personally, I've noticed a few things missing out of the box:
Import/Export
Activity Monitor
Job monitor
However, the question I linked to indicated you may be able to restore most of that for use when you connect to a full sql server edition.

If you do a client tools only install of the standard edition (ie. just SSMS) and don't install the database, agent, etc. then I'm pretty sure you don't need another license and won't be violating the EULA. If you want a full install the SQL Server developer edition is only $49 and comes with everything.
http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/developer.aspx

I'm not sure if you can create backup schedules and maintenance plans in Management Studio Express.

Related

Microsft SQL Server Developer Free Edition is a local database?

I was wondering if the Microsoft SQL Server the Free Edition is a SQL server than i can connect to from any other PC even if i shutdown the main PC which has the SQL server installed on, or it is just a local SQL server and the PC should always be online to allow other connections to?
You can have either a server installation like the free Express edition. It can be installed on a server or any other machine (even the client machine itself). It also bring the SQLLocalDB which is a light version of the Express Edition. In all cases the computer that hosts the database needs to be available for access (in your case as mentioned turned on).
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=101064
If you have the need that the database should be available without having to turn on a computer, you want to take a look at the Azure SQL database versions which are the cloud based versions of SQL Server. Depending on the needs you can pick from different flavours like the serverless tier:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/serverless-tier-overview?view=azuresql

Where can I find the limitations of SQL Express in SQL Management Studio?

I'm working on a PC which I'm not sure whether the SQL Server installed is either the Express Version or the Full Version. I am aware that the express editions have limitation og 1GB Ram, 4GB Hard DIsk and etc.
Where can I find this information in SQL Management Studio?
Thank you for your help.
If you go to Help|About in Management Studio, it may tell you whether you have the Express edition of Management Studio. Another way to tell is the amount of items you have under Object Explorer - for example the Express Edition of Management Studio does not have a SQL Server Agent node at the top level under a server.
Management Studio can't tell you what version the engine is without running a query against the instance you're talking about (since you can use the same copy of Management Studio to connect to many different local and remote instances). Connect to the instance and run this query:
SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('Edition');
If you can't figure out how to connect to the instance, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services and tell us what you see under SQL Server or MSSQL.
I think this should do it:
select ##VERSION

Database Migration from SQL Server 2008 Express to SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise

The production server in my company is currently running on SQL Server 2008 Express Edition. Now we want to change the version to SQL Server 2008 Enterprise R2. The server is currently running on Windows Server 2008 Enterprise OS.
We want to first uninstall the Express Edition on the Server & Install the 2008 R2 Enterprise on it. We don’t prefer the DATABASE UPGRADE option.
Please suggest how can I go ahead with the installation.
To preserve the same server name and instance name (or default, i.e. MSSQLSERVER), you will need to remove the Express instance first.
There are many configuration settings to keep track of - custom listening ports, surface area configuration, master-db collation, logins, roles, permissions, schemas, installed CLR modules etc. This is not something you will want to attempt with just an answer from ServerFault or StackOverflow. I sincerely and strongly urge you to hire a consultant for this task.
Of course if you have a very small company running just 1 express database on SQL Server defaults, by all means
detach the databases
uninstall express
install enterprise (using defaults for everything)
attach the databases
I cannot but re-stress, please hire a consultant

Do I have both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 installed?

When in 'SQL Server Configuration Manager' I see, under 'SQL Server Services', 2 items that look like SQL Server's:
SQL Server (sqlexpress)
SQL Server (mssqlserver)
Does that mean I have 2 versions installed at the same time? The 'SQL Server (mssqlserver) is currently stopped).
You have two instances. They might or might not be the same version (meaning 2005/2008).
Express is just an SKU / edition from the myriad of different editions.
You can have the same version or multiple versions/SKUs installed as different instances on the same machine.
So unless someone wittingly set up a new instance with the name "sqlexpress", you probably have two kinds of products installed (both can be 2008 or both can be 2005 or they can be different - it is just that one of them is presumably the Express SKU while the other is say Standard.)
You can get more information on the instances by using ##VERSION.
It looks like you got SQL Server Express installed with Visual Studio and then later installed SQL Server 2008. I've done this before and the best solution I found was to completely uninstall SQL Server Express and SQL Server 2008. Remove all the files in the Microsoft SQL Server directory in Program Files, then reinstall SQL Server 2008. If you still have problems getting the 2008 instance to be the default, you may also need to uninstall Visual Studio.
In the future, if you're going to install the development (or other) version of SQL Server locally, I suggest making sure you install it before Visual Studio. The VS install won't install SQL Server Express if it detects an existing SQL Server instance on the system.
BTW, you can verify if this is true by using the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel item.
SQLExpress is the light/free edition, usually used for developers or very lightweight applications.
MSSQLServer is the full blown SQL install.
So yes you have 2 "SQL Server" installs, but they are different products, I can't say which versions based on your provided data.
You have two SqlServer instances installed on your system. One is SqlServer Express Edition and the other one a Sql Server. I can't say which version or edition.
Maybe you can find some more information in the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft).
I'd vote against removing either one--SQL server does fine with multiple instances and they are good for different things. For example, lots of open source projects presume a local copy of sql express at .\SQLEXPRESS for development use. Whereas you can't write analysis service stuff with SQL Express.
Or, its not a problem. Those aren't the droids your looking for. Move along.

SQL Profiler on SQL Server 2005 Professional Edition

I want to use SQL Profiler to trace the queries executed agains my database, track performance, etc. However it seems that the SQL Profiler is only available in the Enterprise edition of SQL Server 2005. Is this the case indeed, and can I do something about it?
You don't need any SQL license to run the client tools (Management Studio, Profiler, etc). If your organization has a copy of the installation media for Developer, Standard, or Enterprise, you can install the client tools on your local machine under the same license.
If you're working solo, I would recommend purchasing SQL Developer edition, it's only $50.
If you are open to using third party profilers, I have used xSQL Profiler and it performed well enough.
The SQL Profiler tool is only available with the Standard and Enterprise version of SQL Server, however, all version can be profiled using the tool.
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/features/compare-features.mspx
Client tools are not licensed separately. So you can download the evaluation edition of SQL 2008 R2 and use the client tools from it (the client tools will still work even once the eval expires and the engine is no longer usable).
You must be licensed in some way for each sql server you connect to but that is not the same as requiring a license to use the tools.
You can use SQL Profiler on both Standard and Enterprise editions, but you will need certain rights to run it (you need to have sa rights or be granted ALTER TRACE permissions)