[sims] Which version of SQL?

[Edu-IT]

Is the Standard full edition of SQL going to provide everything needed for SIMS?

[Michael]

I believe SQL 2008 Standard is fairly common for running SIMS these days. SQL 2008 Express should be avoided due to the memory limitations. SQL 2008 Standard is only limited by the memory available to the OS itself, be it 4GB, 8GB, 16GB etc...

[jinnantonnixx]

Download comparison chart from here

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=23365

 

Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2008

 

Most of the differences won't affect the average installation. SIMS will run fine on a standard version. You'll need the advanced version if your site needs certain features that are only available on the advanced version, such as DB snapshots and witness-less mirroring.

Edited April 25, 2013 by jinnantonnixx

[vikpaw]

But if you're changing go for 2012, assuming you don't need discover or other things, or at least keep them on a separate 2008 instance so SIMS is partially future proofed.

[localzuk]

@Rawns has had trouble getting SIMS to play nice being split across 2 databases - ie. SIMS in 2012 and Discover/SOLUS3 in 2008 R2. We were going to go down this route when we moved recently, but decided against it due to the KISS principle... Stick with 2008 R2 until 2012 is fully supported.

 

Also, people should stop using '2008' and use 2008 R2 - they are 2 different products.

 

Standard edition is all you need also, unless you're a primary school then Express will work fine - we used it up until this last migration.

[Rawns]

Correct. Been doing a lot of in house testing trying to get sims and discover working with sims on 2012 and discover on 2008 R2. Spent ages trying to get the transfer to work but it just refused to work. I've still not heard of anyone who has got this working either!

[vikpaw]

Capita in their test setup of course!

[Jobos]

Digging up an old thread but I'm setting up a new virtual sims server over the holidays and not sure which version of sql 2012 to go with. It's for a primary school 3 admin and 10 teacher machines. Discover not used yet but expect it's use more over the coming year. Teachers doing registers only.

 

Thanks in advance

[localzuk]

I'd say Express is ideal for that size school. We only switched to full a a couple of months ago, and we're triple that size.