SQL Express over network

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SQL Express over network

Jonathan-377575

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Points: 29
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October 24, 2006 at 8:29 pm

#170755

I want to design a custom application that will be installed on 5-6 client machines. I need a database backend.. can I do this with SQL Server Express. I have a Windows 2003 server to use for this project. I know nothing about SQL at this point. I am just trying to find out if I can do this with SQL Server express. The tables are going to be very simple, and the volume of data should be very low. I just need a place to dump outlook calendar appointments - so i was thinking about designing a custom outlook form and dumping the data from outlook into a sql database. Any recommendations of which version?

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Stephanie Giovannini SSCertifiable Points: 7422 More actions · Answer 1

Yes, I think you can use SQL Express. But, you have to change the default settings that it's installed with. It's installed initially with no network connectivity and only Windows authentication allowed. This site does a good job of explaining how to change these settings:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlexpress/archive/2004/07/23/192044.aspx

Tim Mitchell SSCoach Points: 15681 More actions · Answer 2

I concur with Stephanie that SQL Server Express would work well, especially if you're only dealing with a handful of clients. You are limited to a 4gb database size, 1gb of memory and a single processor, but the SQL engine is the same as that found in the commercial versions of the product. I have rolled out a number of applications on SQL Server Express, with very good results.

Tim Mitchell, Microsoft Data Platform MVP
Data Warehouse and ETL Consultant
TimMitchell.net | @Tim_Mitchell | Tyleris.com
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zanea SSC Rookie Points: 27 More actions · Answer 3

Hi there

Would i need to use the sql express connectivity components or would any ones do.

I did change to mix mode authentication but still cant connect the client to the db.

can see the sql server but the client does not pick up the db.

running sql express 2005.

Thanks

Zane

mgarchow SSC Rookie Points: 45 More actions · Answer 4

Jonathon,

We use SQL Server 2005 Express as the back end to our Access application. It works great over the network once its configured. Books Online (BOL) is a great reference to use to set it up.

We have a steady 10-15 users, and at times it can be up to 30. I find that when we have slow response times in Access, it is because of poorly written queries that pull too much data from the db.

I'm a novice with databases and SQL, but I would recommend that you learn how to create stored procedures asap if you dont know already. They are tremendously useful.

Matthew