November 21, 2014 at 9:03 am
After being un- and underemployed for five years, I started a job this month at a school for the blind and visually-impaired (BVI). We have two campuses and work with people from 3 years old to age 23, and the staff actually outnumber the students. We have a small IT staff, the core (computer/network hands-on) count went from four to five when I started. No current DBA, and as far as I can tell (I don't have unlimited access yet) they only have one SQL Server database that I suspect is running under Express, unknown what version.
I'm developing a database that will be used by school districts across the state to enter BVI students in their districts that we don't know about to provide the students service. Maybe they need to come down to our campus occasionally for intensified training, maybe they need a Braille biology text book next year. Whatever. The point is to get them the services and training that they need to succeed, regardless of whether they stay in their home district or come down here (which doesn't cost the parents any money).
It's a fairly simple database, no problem there. Only four or so live data tables that I'll be auditing, lots of lookup tables. The server it will run on will be leased and run through a major hosting provider, it will not be in the cloud, though I'm considering it as a backup option. I intend to replicate to a local server just for paranoia's sake. Nothing terribly complicated. Since we're dealing with student and medical information, the database and backups will be encrypted. The front end will initially (probably) be Access runtime hosted on the server (my VB skills are so old it isn't funny, and I'm pretty good at Access), which the users will connect to through a VPN. I'll be studying VB and probably some other languages after I get this mostly developed and have more time, no idea if I'll replace the front end, though. I've found runtime Access is good for simple projects since all DRI, reporting views, etc. will be on the server.
It's a very small database. We're anticipating 2,000 records or so with a pretty low transaction volume, maybe 1,000 bytes per student record. The hosted VM is 120 gig and I think that'll be plenty of storage space. My specs are kind of vague, I have a preliminary design that I was given that they shopped around to some consultants before deciding to bring it in-house and hire me, but we haven't had a kick-off meeting yet so that I can talk to the stakeholders and refine it, that's two weeks away. I'm working on prototype #2 in SQL 2012, but that's all it'll be until after the meeting.
I have no experience with 2012 or 2014, 2008 was the latest that I did any DBA or significant development work on. I'm working with a developer edition of 2012 right now, and I've been reading the Introducing 2014 ebook.
So, the question is: I only see one compelling reason to go with 2014 Standard (I think Enterprise would be expensive overkill, but I don't know prices to us yet), and that's slightly longer legs. I initially thought the encrypted backups would be a deciding factor, but if the entire database is encrypted in 2012, the backup is also encrypted, so no bonus points to '14. We're not going to be doing any BI stuff with this, and it's not going to require a huge amount of horsepower. The only advantage for '14 that I see is that extended support will be two years further out, and I'll be long retired by then. The literature and experience base for 2012 is a developing fairly well, and I expect I'll be able to use a lot of that to do things in 2014. Cost isn't really an issue as it's included in the contract with the host provider, and since we're a school we get pretty deeply discounted from MS, and they don't own a copy yet.
Your thoughts are most welcome and appreciated.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
November 21, 2014 at 9:13 am
If you're talking transparent database encryption then Exprsss edition is not going to provide this. It's an Enterprise feature only
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November 21, 2014 at 9:25 am
What is it about 2012 that makes you think it will be a better solution for you in this case?
Why would you avoid going for 2014? Most of what you have read about 2012 will still be applicable with 2014.
The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
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November 21, 2014 at 9:55 am
Perry Whittle (11/21/2014)
If you're talking transparent database encryption then Exprsss edition is not going to provide this. It's an Enterprise feature only
I will not deploy Express for something like this. Their existing DB might be Express, I don't know, and I don't know what the DB is for.
If Enterprise is required for TDE, then that's what I'll argue for. I think that TDE, considering the DB will have student and medical info, is a must.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
November 21, 2014 at 9:57 am
Phil Parkin (11/21/2014)
What is it about 2012 that makes you think it will be a better solution for you in this case?Why would you avoid going for 2014? Most of what you have read about 2012 will still be applicable with 2014.
I'm looking for info to prove '14 has definite advantages if there is a significant price difference. Feature-wise, as far as I can see, they're largely identical, and an additional two years of extended support isn't a significant bonus.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
November 21, 2014 at 10:12 am
Wayne West (11/21/2014)
Phil Parkin (11/21/2014)
What is it about 2012 that makes you think it will be a better solution for you in this case?Why would you avoid going for 2014? Most of what you have read about 2012 will still be applicable with 2014.
I'm looking for info to prove '14 has definite advantages if there is a significant price difference. Feature-wise, as far as I can see, they're largely identical, and an additional two years of extended support isn't a significant bonus.
It sounds like you are trying to argue against 2014 and using 2012 instead because of the difference in price, yet you also state you don't know what the price is. Seems you are going about this backwards. Find out what the cost is first, then weigh the advantages against a known cost.
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November 21, 2014 at 10:16 am
Wayne West (11/21/2014)
Perry Whittle (11/21/2014)
If you're talking transparent database encryption then Exprsss edition is not going to provide this. It's an Enterprise feature onlyI will not deploy Express for something like this. Their existing DB might be Express, I don't know, and I don't know what the DB is for.
If Enterprise is required for TDE, then that's what I'll argue for. I think that TDE, considering the DB will have student and medical info, is a must.
OK, thta's fine. Just remember that TDE will not stop users accessing the data from the online database. TDE only protects the data at rest
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November 21, 2014 at 10:32 am
Perry Whittle (11/21/2014)
Wayne West (11/21/2014)
Perry Whittle (11/21/2014)
If you're talking transparent database encryption then Exprsss edition is not going to provide this. It's an Enterprise feature onlyI will not deploy Express for something like this. Their existing DB might be Express, I don't know, and I don't know what the DB is for.
If Enterprise is required for TDE, then that's what I'll argue for. I think that TDE, considering the DB will have student and medical info, is a must.
OK, thta's fine. Just remember that TDE will not stop users accessing the data from the online database. TDE only protects the data at rest
Yeah, I'm aware of that. I'm planning on a compartmentalized security model so people can only access student data for those who are in the district in which they work to try for some more control, that'll give me better privacy control. But I will have to work out a change procedure for when a student moves from one district to another, which also risks duplicates if the person doing the entry doesn't realize the student is already in the system.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
November 21, 2014 at 10:35 am
Sean Lange (11/21/2014)
Wayne West (11/21/2014)
It sounds like you are trying to argue against 2014 and using 2012 instead because of the difference in price, yet you also state you don't know what the price is. Seems you are going about this backwards. Find out what the cost is first, then weigh the advantages against a known cost.
I'm looking to equip myself with information in advance. I can't find significant advantages in what I've read thus far to justify IF[/b] '14 is more expensive than '12. I don't know how tight their budgeting is here.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
November 21, 2014 at 10:41 am
Wayne West (11/21/2014)
Sean Lange (11/21/2014)
Wayne West (11/21/2014)
It sounds like you are trying to argue against 2014 and using 2012 instead because of the difference in price, yet you also state you don't know what the price is. Seems you are going about this backwards. Find out what the cost is first, then weigh the advantages against a known cost.I'm looking to equip myself with information in advance. I can't find significant advantages in what I've read thus far to justify IF[/b] '14 is more expensive than '12. I don't know how tight their budgeting is here.
The point I was making is that it is usually just about the same price. This is kind of buying a new car. You have it narrowed down to 2 but you don't know the price so you are comparing features in case one of them is more expensive than the other one.
Take a look at this article. This may help you with the decision. http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/3248/choosing-between-sql-server-2012-and-sql-server-2014/[/url]
_______________________________________________________________
Need help? Help us help you.
Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.
Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/
November 21, 2014 at 10:43 am
November 21, 2014 at 5:11 pm
Sean Lange (11/21/2014)
Take a look at this article. This may help you with the decision. http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/3248/choosing-between-sql-server-2012-and-sql-server-2014/[/url]
Thanks for the link, Sean, that was the exact sort of information that I was looking for. I haven't cruised that site before, or if I have, it's been a very long time -- I think I should make it a regular destination.
I didn't know that MS had gone to core licensing as pretty much their exclusive model, it's been probably six years since I wrote up the specs for a server and they were still doing per-CPU at that point.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
November 22, 2014 at 7:37 am
The licensing costs between 2012 & 2014 are not severe such as they are between 2012/2014 and all the rest of the older versions of SQL Server. With that in mind, I'd just go for the 2014. It's not going to cost so much more that it hurts, and you'll have access to more and better functionality as well as a fantastic new cardinality estimator (first one since SQL Server 7 back in 1998).
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