SQL Server Licensing question

Hi guy's, I have a Developer version of SQL server 2005 which from what I understand reading the EULA is that you can't use it as a production database, fair enough, however, as part of my disaster recovery plan I am setting up a secondary windows 2003 R2 std box along side our sbs 2003 box which will be located in a different part of the building so in the event of a fire we will have a server that will host active directory and a replicated copy of our main business database, this replicated copy will only be accessed in the event of a disaster and that is it, if I use the developer version of SQL from my understanding I will not be violating the EULA as the database will just be sitting there purely as a backup.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated and thank you in advance.

 

How big is the database? Have you looked at the capacity of SQL Express? That might get you around the problem!

I think if you have a replication server that forms a key component of your backup to the production environment, the accountants at Microsoft would see that as production server. However, they'll be no clients attached to it, so you'll only need the server license.

However, if it were me, I'd be tempted to have a development database that was as close to production as possible. You know how much better your testing will be if the load on the development database is similar to that on your production system. Then I'd have to think of the best way to keep my development database as close to the production data base as possible. I know! I'll use replication. Perfect. And if one day the production server failed, I suppose I could use the development server for a short while, until I could either recover the old production server, put in a replacement, or transfer the full license to the development server.

 

Thanks for the replies, SQL Express is my last option, just a shame I could not convince my developers to use MySQL et al, would have saved a whole lot of money overall however we a stuck with Microsoft and it's overpriced licensing. The database grows about 1GB per year so we will be good for 2-3 years from initial replication, I can't justify another couple of grand on Sql Server and my IT budget for this year is now depleted.

 

I have to say I am a fan of MySQL. It's a good product. I recently saw a presentation by a guy from one of the big online gambling organisation who had migrated to MySQL from Oracle. One of his comments that stuck in my mind was that the key thing he liked about MySQL was that it just did what it said it would do. That is, it just got on with the job of being a database. It wasn't bloated out with a myriad of unnecessary services and facilities.

And that is the crux of the choice between MS SQL and MySQL. What do you need. If you just want to store data in a relational database, MySQL is a great choice.

However, if you need additional services like control of multi-user access based on windows user rights, sophisticated reporting services, built in support for complex transactions created via visual tools and integrated with a common framework, then MS SQL is a good choice.

I have to say, I think SQL is one of Microsoft's best products. But its a beast. It will hog all the resources on the system it runs on unless you manage it carefully. Its also relatively expensive - not as bad as Oracle, I believe - but certainly compared to the likes of MySQL and Postgres.

So hopefully your developers need the extra goodies MS SQL comes with. Take some time to learn to manage it and you'll have a good solid platform in place. Give it the resources it wants, and manage it, and it will perform solidly for years.

However, if the developer choose it purely on familiarity (which is all too common) then I think they've landed you with a bigger and more complicated job than they needed to, and I sympathise with you.

 

Update

Evening guy's, just a quick update on my question re SQL Server licensing, I have had a chat with a canny French chap at Microsoft Licensing with regard to having another instance of SQL on my disaster recovery box and he informed me that I can install SQL server from my SBS 2003 Premium technologies CD on the other server and as long as it is only used in passive mode i.e. no queries executed against it etc, I do not need to purchase an additional license, so I have installed and created the instance of SQL server and setup replication so on a daily basis we have a replicated copy of our production DB on the disaster recovery box ready just in case the worst happens, unfortunately we could not do this with Exchange server as SQL is the only Microsoft Server product you can configure in this manner so to cope with email communication during a system failure etc I have installed the open source product "H-Mail server" which integrates in to active directory and works a treat, used an old Compaq PC as a standby security appliance which again is a replica of our main UTM Security appliance which I created from a backup, so my final task is to create new app config files pointing to the disaster server which can be deployed quickly to all the client PC's to allow them to operate from the disaster box and finally a GPRS modem to give us comms with the outside world.
Thanks for the help guys and have a merry Christmas and all the best for 2009.

 

Proliant, thank you for posting back with that information. Good stuff.

Glad to read you've successfully install hmail. I'm hoping to move our e-mail systems over to hmail in the next month or two, so good to hear of someone getting on well with it.

 

I was under the impresion that you can only install sql twice, if it's running in a active/pasive cluster. I would double check that reply from microsoft ... i have been told completely diffrent things from microsoft in regards to licensing.

 

Hi Bilbus, I had spoken to Claude from the Microsoft Licensing help desk and he assured me that I could setup SQL Server in this manor, he also sent me an email to confirm this so if the Microsoft police come knocking I have something to backup my story.

 

oh good to hear! Keep that letter