Evaluating MS SQL Server Express
I'm currently evaluating options for a database project. A prototype has already been developed using MS Access to design user entry forms and reports. Ultimately, the application will have about 100 users - but initially it will be just a handful. Still, there is a worry that Access will fall over as these users arrive.
It will be a number of months before a SQL Server infrastructure will be put in place - so we are evaluating MS SQL Server Express as an interim development & testing platform.
Initial impressions are positive. Older versions of SQL Server's free MSDE engine had a limiter or 'governor' which crippled the DBMS so that it was only allowed to server a handful of simultaneous requests. But SQL Server Express is unfettered in this regard. It is limited in terms of database size (4gb) and access to server RAM (1gb) - but these limits will not be a hinderance in this scenario.
| Limitation | MSDE Limit | SQL Server Express Limit |
|---|---|---|
|
Concurrent workload governor (throttle) |
Yes |
No |
|
Database size limitation |
2 GB |
4 GB |
|
RAM support |
2 GB |
1 GB |
|
SMP support |
2 (or 1 if MSDE is run on Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition) |
1 |
| Note: |
|---|
| In MSDE, the Workload Governor (also known as the throttle) caused performance limitations as the number of concurrent users increased. SQL Server Express does not have a Workload Governor. |
I'll be installing the SQL Server Express tomorrow and evaluating it in more detail. The last time I did something like this was with MSDE - so it will be interesting to note the changes.
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