September 4, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Hi guys, i have just completed my first SQL course and want to install SQL2008 on my home PC so that i can go over all the bits on my course and get my self up to scratch as I have another SQL course booked for the end of the month,
My laptop o/s is windows 7, I have downloaded the 130day SQL2008 from microsoft, but wasnt sure what i need to run it, do i need some sort of virtual server? can i use something like Xampp? (sorry if thats a daft question but i used xampp when i built a forum and tested it on my hd before)
Any help appreciated
September 4, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Graham, glad you're diving into the wonderful world of SQL Server! You can go a few routes:
1. Install it directly on your laptop OS (XP or higher)
Pros: Don't need to mess with managing VM's; "ready to go" (highly suggest setting SQL services to start manually rather than automatically. Only start services when you need to use the SQL Server otherwise default configuration for SQL Server is going to suck up all your memory);
Cons: Depending on resources on your laptop, could run poorly. Default configurations for SQL Server are set to take up all available memory so make sure to set min/mex memory settings accordingly for your environment.
2. Install it on a VM
Pros: Portable, you can copy VM and move it around if need be; Snapshots, many VM solutions let you take a snapshot of a VM so you can rollback to a certain point if need be. This is great if you're going to do an install and not sure if you want to stick with it or not. If install breaks something or you don't want it just revert back to snapshot and you're back like nothing happened. Also great for demo setups; Multiple environments, you can create multiple VM's and practice stuff like networking setups, HA/DR setups, etc. Very useful for practical learning; Learning how to setup/configure server OS environments is always good to know as there are many overlapping skills you need to know.; Like multiple environments you can install multiple OS types. For instance I have a VM with Server 2008 and SQL 2008, I also have a VM with Ubuntu Linux with PostgreSQL on it for other projects. I can run both and learn multiple skillsets;
Cons: Learning virtualization is pretty easy but if you've never done it before there are a few things to learn about (i.e. networking settings). Plenty of great resources out there to learn though, one of my favs is Brent Ozar's posts on the matter - http://www.brentozar.com/sql/virtualization-best-practices/ [/url]
I could go on and on. Finally there's option 3 - Free hosted environments. Check out http://sqlserverbeta.com for a free virtual server environment for you to play with. They offer a free VM with Windows 2008 with SQL Server 2008 R2 (as of now) installed. They even include all services (SSRS, SSAS, SSIS) as well as sample databases so you can explore all features to your heart's content.
Hope this helps! Also if you're looking to learn SQL Server, in general, check out my SQL University at http://sqlchicken.com/sql-university
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September 6, 2010 at 12:23 pm
hi mate
cheers for the help, do you know if there are any walkthroughs on getting SQL installed? i was hping it was a case of simply downloading SQL2008 and running it, but it says it doesnt run on Windows 7 which is why i thought about virtual server lol
September 7, 2010 at 12:16 am
Dear Friend,
Please refer the below URL ...
http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2008/06/12/sql-server-2008-step-by-step-installation-guide-with-images/
Varinder Sandhu
http://varindersandhus.blogspot.com/
Varinder Sandhu,
http://www.varindersandhu.in/
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