upgrading sql 7.0 to sql 2000

[swoodring]

I am looking into getting sql 2000 for next years budget. We are currently on SQL 7.0. We currently use sql server for our datawarehouse along with a package call business objects in order to do our reporting. I'm trying to determine the cost and what version to get. To me it looks like I would be ok with the standard version but not sure. Any advice on versions.

Then on Microsofts page I see prices per processor and also server/per set CAL license pricing. Can someone explain the pricing to me. Do we have to pay for both? For example say we have 4 processors on our server and we have 10 users that access it for read only and - through business objects and one user(me) that accesses it for updating the datawarehouse what would be the price for us for the standard version.

 

[tlbroadbent]

Per processor and per server/Per seat CALs licensing a mutually exclusive. You buy one type of licensing only.

If you only have ten users and do not have users that connect from the Internet, get standard version with CALs for your users. It will be much cheaper than per processor licensing. I estimate that per server/per seat licensing would cost 1/5 to 1/4 the cost of per processor licensing under the scenario you gave.

You need to discuss this with Microsoft or a retailer to get the exact numbers and make sure your usage is in line with the EULA. Terry L. Broadbent
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[swoodring]

Actually I found out we currently have 2 processors - I thought it was 4 but its only 2. I am also hoping to get a new server so will have to decide whether to upgrade the # of processers or not. By adding 1 or 2 more processors will it make a big difference in the performance. We currently use it to load up the db at night and during the day its used for querying/reporting. I Have a question with per processors licenses. If we have 2 processors - I guess sql tries to make it most efficient by distributing work load between both processors. Am I correct on this? So even though sql is not using both processors all the time it would still count as 2 processor licenses. Am I correct on this? One thing I forgot to mention is that we probally will be adding 10 more users that will be querying the db through business objects.

 

[tlbroadbent]

You license by the processors in the machine, not how many are concurrntly used. SQL actually uses processors in parallel. Full cost of a processor license is about $5000 USD. 1 Server license with 10 CALs sell for about $2200. I don't recall the cost for additional per server/per seat CALs. There was an Excel calculator available on the MS SQL website that would calculate the cost of various configurations. I'm not sure if it is still available.

As I mentioned, you should discuss this with someone who sells licesnses to get all the numbers straight. There is a certain break even point where the numbers of users justifies buying processor licensing. Exactly where that break off point falls depends on the number of procesors, discounts you might receive, etc. Terry L. Broadbent
FAQ183-874 contains tips for posting questions in these forums.
NOTE: Reference to the FAQ is not directed at any individual.

 

[swoodring]

Thanks for your help. Actually I was on microsofts page and for standard edition they have per cal licenses for with 5 cal as 1489 and with 10 as 2249. And that with 25 cal not being available for standard edition. But if we were to go to enterprise and went the per cal say it looks like we can get it with 25 cal for 11099. Since we are looking at have a total of 24 users by end of next year we can either go with standard by the processor or per seat cal with 25 cal. But I'll get in touch with someone who sells the licesnes.

 

[tlbroadbent]

Microsoft has a licensing white paper available for download. I had forgotten about it but just found it in My Documents. Here is an extract from that document.

The listing below indicates the number of seats you would need, to make buying Processor License(s) less expensive than buying Server Licenses. Therefore, if you have more seats than shown in the list, you should buy the Processor Licenses.

· SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition—purchase Processor License if:
· 1 processor computer: with more than 80 seats
· 2 processor computer: with more than 198 seats
· 4 processor computer: with more than 435 seats
· 8 processor computer: with more than 909 seats

· SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition—purchase Processor License if:
· 1 processor computer: with more than 24 seats
· 2 processor computer: with more than 53 seats
· 4 processor computer: with more than 112 seats
· 8 processor computer: with more than 229 seats

Hope this helps. Terry L. Broadbent
FAQ183-874 contains tips for posting questions in these forums.
NOTE: Reference to the FAQ is not directed at any individual.

 

[swoodring]

that helps. You don't by chance have the link to that whitepaper do you.

 

[tlbroadbent]

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/pricing/licensing.doc

Terry L. Broadbent
FAQ183-874 contains tips for posting questions in these forums.
NOTE: Reference to the FAQ is not directed at any individual.