February 27, 2015 at 6:15 am
My company uses Express on remote terminals (a couple hundred of them) that replicate up to Enterprise edition on our main server.
February 27, 2015 at 6:15 am
I use Express in several production environments. Some are mission critical. Like everything else in this world, it has it's place.
A couple of instances also include some clr assemblies and millions of rows. I handle backups and other maintenance tasks by having a scheduled task call a stored procedure periodically, which then runs other appropriate stored procedures.
Sometimes, queries need to be designed differently due to the memory and cpu limitations. In one case, I had a procedure which dealt with hierarchical data. On my dev machine with developer edition, the procedure ran in 5 seconds using 4 cpu's. With Express, it took several times longer. By refactoring, I got it to run in the same 5 seconds in either edition.
February 27, 2015 at 6:24 am
We use SQL Express for replicated databases used on a scaled out server platform. However, there has to be a "main" database in this architecture that has to be run on SQL Standard Edition or better.
I would use Express for a very small production system as long as I can figured out how to meet the SLA. Based on the comments from folks out here, that appears to be pretty elementary. 😀
Regards, Irish
February 27, 2015 at 6:26 am
We use a couple of instances of Express for lightweight applications (interestingly, the vendors of these applications recommended Express if the loads were suitable).
Smart move on MS part. Certainly it's no threat to their paying products (businesses need more capacity for most applications) but at the same time it's an excellent training tool and works where there is no justification for a larger version.
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
February 27, 2015 at 6:39 am
I've used SQL Server Express in several production applications. Where appropriate it is a great tool. The problem I've had is the (internal) customers have refused to accept the limitations and demand that I "do something" to make SQL Server Express work with their 3TB database application. To quote one, "It works fine on my desktop, why can't you make it work on the big server I just leased."
February 27, 2015 at 6:42 am
This is going to be a pretty much "me too" post, but still...
I see nothing against using Express in production (even though I'm not,) if the situation warrants it. It's just like anything else, you can use the tool that's appropriate, or a bigger tool.
But, it can be very easy, if your developers / management don't understand the limitations, to outgrow Express and get hit with sticker shock (such as happened at my last job.)
The story: Company is developing an EHR system to sell to customers, to be deployed at the customer sites. Management made the decision that Express would work fine for these customers, and that the 10GB DB limit wouldn't be a problem. This despite my argueing for a minimum recommendation for Standard edition, as the DB and tables themselves were poorly designed (I wasn't the designer, nor did I have any design input.) Time passes, I left that job, but in talking to a co-worker from there a couple months later at a company function (my wife does still work there,) he tells me that about 6 months after I left, the customers with Express were already hitting the 10GB limit. Needless to say, said customers were *very* unhappy at having to spring for Standard edition...
Ah well, that's the past. At least here we deploy Enterprise as a matter of course, even if we're not using all the features in it (right now. As we start migrating to 2012, I'm thinking I may push to have our Production DBs live on Always-On groups to make my patching easier for one, and migrating to new servers easier for two, and nudging our uptime a tick higher for three.)
Jason
February 27, 2015 at 6:44 am
I see it as great replacement for desktop edition.
Helped several people ditch other Open Source SQL solutions for SQL Express.
The current versions very robust for a free product.
February 27, 2015 at 7:06 am
Where I work, our production SQL server is the Enterprise edition as the underlying database to Microsoft Dynamic's Axapta application. But, for our POS location machines (also a part of MS Dynamic's Axapta) we are using Express as their local database. Synchronization is done by the main Axapta product so we do not need to have SQL Agent running on the POS machines. Plus, MS had us use SQL Express. So I would say for certain situations Express can be a correct choice.
Dan Beggs
February 27, 2015 at 7:14 am
I worked for a very small company that used SQL Express for its internal processing. One of the restrictions Steve did not mention is that Express, under license, cannot be used for an outward facing web site. It can, however, supplement a Standard or Enterprise Edition instance. In our case, we used it to manage our internal hardware as my job was to write "the poor man's SCCM." It did fairly well, but I would have loved to have the option of running my own agent jobs and creating SSIS packages. I had to go to the manager running the main server.
--- Remember, if you don't document your work, Apollo 13 doesn't come home.
February 27, 2015 at 7:24 am
As a replacement for access?
Everyone's talked about the database, but what about the front end developement. What do you use, and how long does it take to make a form? report? I'm interested in trying Express, but I'm not sure how to go about doing the front end work.
February 27, 2015 at 7:31 am
Ron, all three of my projects at my last job had aspx front-ends. It connects the same as other versions of SQL server. I've not tried it on MVC yet as I moved into middleware before I could become well-versed in it.
--- Remember, if you don't document your work, Apollo 13 doesn't come home.
February 27, 2015 at 7:37 am
graham.mcphee (2/27/2015)
From a licensing point of view are you allowed to use the SQL express edition in a production environment?
Yes.
Dave
February 27, 2015 at 7:37 am
We use express in production as a local database for applications that need to continue to run even if the network or main database server instance is down. The data gets replicated up to the main server if/when available.
February 27, 2015 at 7:37 am
RonKyle (2/27/2015)
As a replacement for access?Everyone's talked about the database, but what about the front end developement. What do you use, and how long does it take to make a form? report? I'm interested in trying Express, but I'm not sure how to go about doing the front end work.
Of course, the overkill would be to use Access to develop the front end for a SQL Server Express database 😉
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
February 27, 2015 at 7:41 am
I would consider SSEE for a 10 user line of business application that doesn't require GB of reference data or ad-hoc queries. However, it would have to be a business that requires a proprietary workflow and custom reporting. For something like a small hotel or rental company with a cookie cutter business model, there are 3rd party web based SaaS applications that compete in this space.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
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