What Type of SQL Server should I buy?

[scripter73]

Hi,

I think you should know I'm a web developer, not a DBA.

My company currently uses Access DB for many of our web applications. Needless to say, we've encountered alot of slow response and down time by using this database.

A few of my applications have suffered as a result, and I recommended that we upgrade to SQL Server. I've used SQL Server in the past, but I've neither installed it or maintained it.

My question for you the SQL Server users is: "What should I buy?" I know what I'm looking for, but I don't know about licensing, seats, versions, etc. When I call vendors about it, they're impatient, just wanting me to pick something. I don't want to get the wrong product for my company.

Basically, here's what I want:
* Ability to load SQL Server on about 3 servers in our company and have our programmers (about 5-10) use it.
* Not sure about the client-side aspect of SQL Server.
* I want to be able to access the SQL Server administration side from my desktop.

Any ideas? Oh, I'm running Win NT 4.0 on my servers.
I was looking at

http://www.provantage.com,

and they have the following products:
*SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition w/5 Client Access License (CAL)?
*SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition w/10 Client Access License (CAL)
*SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition w/1 Processor License

Help!!! What does all of this mean? Also, is there a "client-side" SQL Server and "server-side" SQL Server difference?

Thanks in advance for your help,
scripter73

 

[tlbroadbent]

I recommend reading the product overview materials on the Microsoft web site.

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/evaluation/overview/default.asp

You should also download (or order) and install the evaluation copy of SQL 2000 before buying. You get 120 days to evaluate the product. This can really help you decide what to do.

You will need to buy Processor licensing because of the web access to your databases. So that question is easily answered. The bigger questions are...

1- Which version - Standard or Enterprise?
Review product specs to determine which way to go. We run only standard edition in our shop with 9 servers, supporting dozens of databases and over 3000 total users - internal and external.

2- How many copies?
You mentioned three servers but will you need SQL Server on all three? It depends on the configuration, number of databases, etc.

There are also a Developer Edition, Desktop edition and the MSDE engine. If you have Access 2000, you can load MSDE and run it. It is a stripped down version of SQL Server with most essential functionality intact.

When you get SQL Server you can load the client adminstration tools wherever needed. You will be able to administer SQL Server from your PC. Terry Broadbent
Please review faq183-874.

"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance -- it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J Boorstin

 

[deeshubby]

I'm also a web developer new to working w/DB.
I've recently put together a new version of our company intranet using Access 2000, and Dreamweaver UltraDev writes my SQL statements and hooks up my pages for me.

Everything's working great here on my personal web server, but I will also need to consider converting to something robust(our company is around 1200 across the U.S... and I'm thinking we only need to support 400 concurrent connections).

MY MOST PRESSING QUESTION:
If I go w/MS SQL.. will my Access SQL statements work?

If you need to, click to view a sample conncetion and SQL statement, that UltraDev wrote for me to insert a record:

http://www.geocities.com/hardingalumni/sample.html

 

[wushutwist]

Will your Access SQL work with SQL Server? It really depends on how extensively you are using SQL. Access has some pretty non-standard SQL syntax. I would say that most of your SQL will probably work but there will be some problems in other statements. For example Access uses * as the wildcard symbol whereas everyother database in the known universe uses %. Anyways can't you just recreate the pages for SQL Server using UltraDev? I've never used UltraDev but it seems like a reasonable feature. Wushutwist