June 10, 2008 at 10:16 am
hello everyone,
just wanted to find out what are your thoughts on using Express edition
in Production environment
I know that there are some limitations such as number of CPUs and Memory that can be utilized
also, no sql agent, no ability to create a maint jobs etc
PLEASE, don't be shy, share your thoughts :):)
June 10, 2008 at 10:41 am
It depends on what "in production" means. If "production" consists of one database server serving as the back-end for a webpage or two, then express would probably work just fine. If you are talking several servers, servicing many users, running many transactions, you would naturally be more leary of using express.
That's the most obvious - I'm sure there may be more technical reasons associated with the differences in versions, but in my personal opinion, express should be used for nothing but development work.
"Got no time for the jibba jabba!"
-B.A. Baracus
June 10, 2008 at 10:48 am
"...in my personal opinion, express should be used for nothing but development work." - AH
Actually, I'd use Dev Edition for development.
Express edition should be used for personal databases. It's great for a database of movies you own, books, D&D characters, whatever. Not being able to schedule maintenance plans and backups (unless you're using some third party or homegrown solution for those), is the main reason.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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June 10, 2008 at 11:40 am
GSquared (6/10/2008)
Actually, I'd use Dev Edition for development.
Actually, I would agree with this... by "development work", I was more referring to testing things out on a personal level (table design, etc) - not development work for IT Development groups, for all of the reasons that GSquared mentioned, but I should have made that more clear.
Bottom line: Express is free for a reason. :hehe:
"Got no time for the jibba jabba!"
-B.A. Baracus
June 10, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Hi
I have made use of MSDE and now SQL Express 2005 for an application, some details:
* Size of Databases between 30 - 150MB - yes MB
* Average Number of clients 4 per site
* VB6 Front-end application
There are very few transactions on the system per day
This is ideal for the type of client which is a small booking event company and they are extreemly happy with the system and the performance.
IF you have multiple sites that need a back-end engine for data storage then Express has its place.
But if you are doing medium to large size company dev for a large DB for a reasonable main front-end system then Developer Edition is ideal.
The main reason for not using Express in a Dev environment is the feature set, the last thing you want is to be hindered by features that do not exist in the Express but do in higher editions.
Thanks
Kevin
June 16, 2008 at 8:02 am
Kevin (6/10/2008)
HiI have made use of MSDE and now SQL Express 2005 for an application, some details:
* Size of Databases between 30 - 150MB - yes MB
* Average Number of clients 4 per site
* VB6 Front-end application
There are very few transactions on the system per day
This is ideal for the type of client which is a small booking event company and they are extreemly happy with the system and the performance.
IF you have multiple sites that need a back-end engine for data storage then Express has its place.
But if you are doing medium to large size company dev for a large DB for a reasonable main front-end system then Developer Edition is ideal.
The main reason for not using Express in a Dev environment is the feature set, the last thing you want is to be hindered by features that do not exist in the Express but do in higher editions.
Thanks
Kevin
Actually, for a low-end production system, I'd be more inclined to either have the database hosted by a third party, or possibly to use Workgroup Edition, which can at least schedule backups and maintenance. Express is fine for personal databases, but I'd never use it for anything where data loss would cost money.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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June 16, 2008 at 10:26 am
thank you, GSquared
Workgroup ed sound like a good idea
June 16, 2008 at 10:38 am
Express is a production database, but on a personal level. It's designed to be used on a desktop, so if you have a production app that stores data on a workstation, think disconnected, laptop app, it works great.
If you want something on a server, get Workgroup, Standard, or Enterprise.
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June 16, 2008 at 10:44 am
I developed an access control system that has been working on MSDE for 5 years now.. The database is about 150MB in size, biggest table contains 1.5M rows, there are around 500 transactions daily. Database is polled every second, intranet website is fed from it and there's some reporting going on. No major problems.
Piotr
...and your only reply is slàinte mhath
June 16, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Piotr Rodak (6/16/2008)
I developed an access control system that has been working on MSDE for 5 years now.. The database is about 150MB in size, biggest table contains 1.5M rows, there are around 500 transactions daily. Database is polled every second, intranet website is fed from it and there's some reporting going on. No major problems.Piotr
It definitely can be used for that. My contention is that it probably shouldn't. You can use a good paperweight to drive nails, but a hammer is better. Functionally, the difference is the addition of a simple handle (lever).
MSDE and SQL Express don't do scheduled maintenance plans or backups. I'm hoping/assuming that you used a third party application, or built your own solution, for those things. But by that time, you've probably spent comparable money/time to what you'd spend on getting a Workgroup Edition license (about $300), which gives you those things, and a little more.
It's not that Express/MSDE can't be used in production. It's just a question of, "is it worth it?"
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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June 16, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Well I agree, one could've used bigger version of SQL server. Yes, I created custom maintenance plan. A few scripts ran by windows scheduler.
The reason I used 'free SQL Server' was that clients were reluctant to pay for anything what they didn't fully understand is for. And MSDE was working good enough.
I am not going to prove anything, just replied to a question. Personally, I consider Express edition still too heavy for personal use and difficult to manage (All these services/surfaces) for user, but for small websites or intranet sites it is perfect.
Regards
Piotr
...and your only reply is slàinte mhath
June 16, 2008 at 9:24 pm
I used once SQL Express on one of the web servers with low database activity. We had just a couple of export/import tasks, the rest were select statements. Usually it's not recommended to install SQL Server on the web server, but I "locked down" SQL by using only "Shared memory" protocol and by configuring very limited access to the tables (only through the stored procedures and selects only). I think as a "light" version of SQL (and free) it could be used on the web server. Although you have to be very careful by making this decision. The only reason we did it - we didn't want to give access from the web server which was on the other side of the firewall to the internal SQL Servers.
June 17, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Piotr Rodak (6/16/2008)
Well I agree, one could've used bigger version of SQL server. Yes, I created custom maintenance plan. A few scripts ran by windows scheduler.The reason I used 'free SQL Server' was that clients were reluctant to pay for anything what they didn't fully understand is for. And MSDE was working good enough.
I am not going to prove anything, just replied to a question. Personally, I consider Express edition still too heavy for personal use and difficult to manage (All these services/surfaces) for user, but for small websites or intranet sites it is perfect.
Regards
Piotr
Sounds good to me. You had choices to make, and you made them, and it sounds like you got the results you wanted out of it. In the end, that's all that really matters.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
June 18, 2008 at 8:22 pm
I use Express 2005 as a production server, along with a freeware scheduler called SQLScheduler. This server holds several databases the largest of which is around 3gigs and has one table with nearly 10 million rows. The only updates are early am using bulk inserts, I miss SSIS.The front end is Access 2003 and uses pass through dynamic queries and stored procedures and performance is very good probably due to the fact that indexes are dropped, the load is done and indexes are rebuilt. These databases are used by about 120 people in 3 countries searching through extracts from 14 consolidated Oracle and Millennium financial occurences and for reporting. The server is sitting on a much stronger machine than Express uses due the server being acquired for a failed portal project. The optimal setup it isn't but its been running for over 2.5 years without a problem and the price was right.
Jim
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