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flchico
Starting Member
46 Posts |
 Posted - 2006-10-04 : 10:37:08
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| Hi,If I have an application that has at most 20 users with an average of 3-4 concurrent requests to the server and the databases size is 1 gig probably to grow to at most 1.5 gigs in the next 5 years why would I choose Express over MSDE? MSDE can take advantage of more than 1 gig of memory and can use 2 CPUs. I really don't see any benefit whatsoever in my case to go to SQL Express, in fact all I see is drawbacks. I hear about upgrading all over the place but I just don't see any good reason in my situation. Am I missing something here? |
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nr
SQLTeam MVY
12543 Posts |
Posted - 2006-10-04 : 10:47:14
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| If you don't need it then the only reason would be product lifetime and gaining experience.There might be a time when you do need a facility that is available in v2005.In general it pays to be conservative with new products. I usually wait for sp2 before considering converting old systems that are working happily but develop new systems earlier - with a new system you can find and code round "features".People still have v6.5 systems running.But then most people don't use anything that wasn't available in word v2.==========================================Cursors are useful if you don't know sql.DTS can be used in a similar way.Beer is not cold and it isn't fizzy. |
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harsh_athalye
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
5581 Posts |
Posted - 2006-10-04 : 10:48:54
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| The comparison is not just limited to size it supports or no. of CPUs. It's about features. Even the core sql engine has brought significant enhancements to the transact-sql like this:1. CLR integration2. New XML data type3. Common Table Expression (more useful for recursive queries)4. ranking functionsand lot more.If you are sure, you are not going to use any of these features now (or in future), you can continue with your current option.Harsh AthalyeIndia."Nothing is Impossible" |
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flchico
Starting Member
46 Posts |
Posted - 2006-10-04 : 10:59:56
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| Thanks for the responses,I was thinking of using Express b/c a company that I do work for bought a new server and it came installed with Express.Actually for my application those advanced features are not needed, speed is the most important factor (apart from things working correctly of course) and it seems to me that going to SQL Express will be taking me in the opposite direction since MSDE supports more memory and more CPUs.I guess my surprise is that why would an "upgrade" seem to downgrade such an important part since a lot of the apps that msde/express targets should be pretty close to my app? |
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psdhillon
Starting Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 2006-10-10 : 11:26:39
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MSDE will not work in Windows VISTA ! |
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PSamsig
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
384 Posts |
Posted - 2006-10-10 : 14:56:14
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| Not all aspects of Express is a 'down grade' from MSDE.The number of CPUs is limited to chips, not cores, and the future seems to go in the direction of multi core. The maximum database size has increased, you may end up needing that.The gouvenor is dead and gone, and eventhough you say 3-4 concurrent requests, you may be surprised on how little that in reality is (i know I was).That only leaves RAM, 1 vs. 2 GB ... oh well, if you really plan on setting up a machine with 1+ CPU and 2+ RAM then i may actually deserve a real SQL Server?Only thing I have really been missing in Express is the Agent ... it is soooo ugly to make back up jobs in the Windows scheduler.-- Alice came to a fork in the road. "Which road do I take?" she asked. "Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat. "I don't know," Alice answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter." |
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flchico
Starting Member
46 Posts |
Posted - 2006-10-10 : 16:17:47
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| Good points PSamsig, I actually can't complain, I have a choice of either one. I just have to really analyze how much memory I need to be efficient, the server has 2 gigs but when I see the memory usage on the server usually there's only about 350-250 megs of memory left before even running my app. I'm not very familiar with memory management with SQL Server but it seems to me that with a small amount of connections (4-6) and even with optimized queries on some large tables it might have to swap to disk often with this little available memory, what do you think? |
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PSamsig
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
384 Posts |
Posted - 2006-10-10 : 19:02:54
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| I'm not really sure on how the OS and SQL server manage the memory between then, but I have a hunch that SQL server gives up what others may need (unless you configure it otherwise). In a 2GB machine, Express would be happy with 1GB and leave plenty to the OS and whatever application you run beside it.The need of RAM is often here said to ideally match the size of the database(s), but of course it depends on how often you have to access 'historical' data (given optimum indexes).I forgot to mention that with Express you also have a nice GUI administration program (which may work with MSDE too?).But why not give both a try, see which one performs best on your given hardware and data, if that comes out even, I would pick Express any day. Some of the new features are simply awesome, and soon everybody here will start giving answers assuming everybody else is running on a 2005 engine -- Alice came to a fork in the road. "Which road do I take?" she asked. "Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat. "I don't know," Alice answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter." |
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Advantages of SQL Express