Choosing an Edition of SQL Server 2000

Abstract: This document outlines the differences in the various editions of Microsoft™
SQL Server® 2000.
The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft
Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft
must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a
commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of
any information presented after the date of publication.
This White Paper is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT.
Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without
limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored
in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose,
without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other
intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as
expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of
this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights,
or other intellectual property.
 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Microsoft, Active Directory, Visual Studio, Windows, and Windows NT are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States
and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks
of their respective owners.
Contents
Choosing an Edition of SQL Server 2000............................................................1
Contents..........................................................................................................i
Introduction.......................................................................................................1
SQL Server 2000 Server Editions Explained........................................................1
SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition....................................................................2
Scalability Requirements..............................................................................2
Availability/Uptime .....................................................................................3
Performance...............................................................................................3
Advanced Analysis.......................................................................................3
SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition......................................................................4
SQL Server 2000 Workgroup Edition...................................................................4
SQL Server 2000 Editions for Special Uses.........................................................5
SQL Server 2000 Personal Edition.......................................................................6
SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition ...................................................................7
SQL Server 2000 Evaluation Edition....................................................................7
SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition.................................................................8
SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine.......................................................................8
Obtaining SQL Server 2000..............................................................................10
Conclusion........................................................................................................11

i
Introduction
Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 is more than a relational database management system;
it is a complete database and analysis product that meets the scalability and reliability
requirements of the most demanding enterprises. It is appropriate for a broad range of
solution types, including e-commerce, data warehousing, and line-of-business
applications.
Of course, SQL Server 2000 contains many features that help businesses manage and
analyze data, but one "feature" that might not be so obvious is the selection of SQL
Server 2000 editions. There are eight different editions to choose from. That might seem
like a lot of different products to worry about, but understanding the differences and
appropriate uses for these various editions is actually quite simple.
The different editions are designed to accommodate the unique performance, runtime,
and price requirements of organizations and individuals. For example, your organization
may require not only that its database and analysis solution run on the largest, most
powerful computers in your company's data center, but also that this solution be able to
"scale down" to desktops, laptops, and even devices like the Pocket PC. SQL Server
2000 achieves this goal while maintaining maximum application compatibility across
platforms. Understanding these options allows organizations to make the most cost-
effective and technically appropriate choice for their particular needs.
In this paper, you'll learn more specifically about the differences among the various
editions of SQL Server 2000, and how you can save time and money by choosing the
right one for the job.

SQL Server 2000 Server Editions Explained

This paper begins by making a statement that will go a long way toward helping you
understand the different offerings in the SQL Server 2000 family:
SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition, SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition, and SQL Server
2000 Workgroup Edition are the only editions of SQL Server 2000 that can be installed
and used in live (deployed) server environments.
What does this mean? Simply, if you are building a database or analysis application that
accesses SQL Server 2000, you must use SQL Server 2000 Workgroup, Standard or
Enterprise editions. Other editions cannot be used in deployed, server solutions, because
of technical and licensing restrictions. The terms "deployed" and "live" are intended to
differentiate such a solution from one that is "under development" or "in testing." It is
also worth noting that the Enterprise and Standard editions can only be installed on
server operating systems, namely Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition,
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition, 64-
bit versions of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise and Datacenter Editions, Windows®
2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. SQL
Server 2000 Workgroup Edition can also be installed on the same operating systems as
Standard or Enterprise Edition but can also be installed on Windows XP. For more
information, see http://www.microsoft.com/sql).
So, the central choice most organizations must make is between three editions:
Enterprise, Standard or Workgroup.
1
SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition
This edition is comprehensive: it includes the complete set of SQL Server database and
analysis features and is uniquely characterized by several features that make it the most
scalable and available edition of SQL Server 2000. It scales to the performance levels
required to support the largest Web sites and enterprise online transaction processing
(OLTP) and data warehousing systems. Its support for failover clustering also makes it
ideal for any mission critical line-of-business application. Additionally, this edition
includes several advanced analysis features that are not included in SQL Server 2000
Standard Edition.
SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition also ships a 64-bit version that is designed to run on
highly-scalable Itanium-based servers. This version allows for a greater level of
scalability and faster performance with its ability to take advantage of large amounts of
direct addressable memory and the enhanced parallel processing capabilities of the
Itanium processor. In this paper, both the 32-bit and 64-bit Enterprise Editions of SQL
Server will be referred to as “Enterprise Edition” unless specifically calling out differences
between the 32-bit and 64-bit offerings.
There are four main areas in which the additional features of SQL Server 2000
Enterprise Edition are most evident:
• Scalability
• Availability/uptime
• Performance
• Advanced analysis
For each of these areas, the following guidelines will help you decide whether to
choose the Enterprise Edition or Standard edition. And, for a detailed list of features
included in the various editions of SQL Server 2000, see "Features Supported by the
Editions of SQL Server 2000" in SQL Server Books Online.

Scalability Requirements
Whether for data warehousing or for a transactional system, Enterprise Edition scales
best. It supports more memory (up to 64 gigabytes [GB] for 32-bit and 512 GB for 64-
bit) and processors (up to 32 processors on 32-bit systems and 64 processors on 64-bit)
than Standard Edition. Use Enterprise Edition for improved scalability if you:
• Need more than four CPUs in the database server. For more information, see
"Maximum Capacity Specification" in SQL Server Books Online.
• Need more than 2 GB of physical memory (RAM) in the database server.
• Will be dividing database workload across independent servers (that is, "scaling
out").
• Are using System Area Networking (SAN) connection technologies between servers
(for example, Compaq ServerNet II or Giganet cLAN).

2
Availability/Uptime
Enterprise Edition includes features that ensure the highest levels of availability for
mission critical applications. Use Enterprise Edition for improved availability/uptime if
you:
• Are installing a system that will use failover clustering to ensure that your
applications stay up and running even when disaster strikes. The 32-bit Enterprise
edition will support up to four nodes in a failover cluster, while the 64-bit Enterprise
Edition will support up to eight nodes in a failover cluster.
• Rely on log shipping to maintain a warm standby server.

Performance
Other enhancements ensure that the performance of Enterprise Edition exceeds that of
other editions. Because these features are optimizations for common operations, many if
not most applications will realize performance improvements running atop SQL Server
2000 Enterprise Edition. Use Enterprise Edition for improved performance if you:
• Need to speed up an application by taking full advantage of symmetric
multiprocessor (SMP) computers (that is, enhanced parallelism).
• Need to improve performance of applications that frequently use queries that
perform particular types of joins or aggregations, as in reporting applications (using
indexed views).
• Need to speed up transactional applications that do many database reads and full
table scans.

Advanced Analysis
In the area of data warehousing and online analytical processing (OLAP), Enterprise
Edition offers a variety of unique features including allowing OLAP cubes with very large
dimensions to be created, stored, and analyzed. Use Enterprise Edition for your data
warehousing and analysis tasks if you:
• Need to define OLAP partitions.
• Will be creating and updating large cubes with very large dimensions.
• Have extremely large dimensions that require relational OLAP (ROLAP) storage.
• Need to update cubes quickly, in real time.
• Need to link cubes or provide cube access over the Web.
The 64-bit Enterprise Edition provides the ability to support OLAP cubes with a very
large number of dimension members requiring memory usage higher than 3GB. With the
availability of more direct addressable memory on the 64-bit platform, faster data
aggregation and parallelism in partition processing are possible during cube processing.

3
SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition
Standard Edition is the data management and analysis platform for small and medium-
sized organizations. It includes the essential functionality needed for e-commerce, data
warehousing, and line-of-business solutions. Standard Edition’s integrated business
intelligence features provide organizations with the capabilities needed to manage and
analyze their data.
Reporting Services provides robust business intelligence features. Analysis Services
provides data mining features and the core OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing)
functionality.
Some of the features that Standard Edition includes are:
• Analysis Services
• Data Transformation Services (DTS)
• Enterprise Manager
• Full-Text Search
• Import/Export
• Replication (snapshot, transactional, and merge)
• Reporting Services
• Stored procedure development and debugging tools
• SQL Profiling and performance analysis tools
Before a version of SQL Server, make sure you review "Features Supported by the
Editions of SQL Server 2000" in SQL Server Books Online.

SQL Server 2000 Workgroup Edition

Workgroup Edition is the data management solution for small organizations or
workgroups within larger entities. It includes all of the core database features needed for
data management in an easy-to-use, simple to manage, and affordable package.
Workgroup Edition is ideal for the small organization for line-of-business (LOB), local
data store, and e-commerce solutions.
All of the management features that make SQL Server easy to support and simple to
manage are included in Workgroup Edition.
Workgroup Edition includes key features that allow you to easily manage and organize
your data:
• Enterprise Manager
• Full-Text Search
• Import/Export
• Replication (snapshot, transactional, and merge)
• Stored procedure development and debugging tools

4
Before choosing a version of SQL Server, make sure you review "Features Supported by
the Editions of SQL Server 2000" in SQL Server Books Online.

SQL Server 2000 Editions for Special Uses

Besides the three server editions of SQL Server 2000, five editions exist for special uses.
These are:
• SQL Server 2000 Personal Edition

• SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition (available on 32-bit and 64-bit platforms)

• SQL Server 2000 Evaluation Edition (also known as SQL Server 2000 Enterprise
Evaluation Edition)

• SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition

• SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (also known as MSDE)

5
SQL Server 2000 Personal Edition
SQL Server 2000 Personal Edition is ideal for mobile users who spend some of their time
disconnected from the network but run applications that require SQL Server data
storage, and for stand-alone applications that require local SQL Server data storage on a
client computer.
This edition is functionally equivalent to the Standard Edition, with the following
exceptions:
• It includes a concurrent workload governor that limits its scalability; performance
degrades when more than five Transact-SQL batches are executed concurrently.

• It can use a maximum of two processors in an SMP computer (only one processor if
running Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition).

• It cannot act as a transactional replication publisher (subscriber only).

In addition to running on the server operating systems of the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
and Windows 2000 operating system families, Personal Edition runs on nonserver
operating systems including Windows 2000 Professional, Windows NT Workstation 4.0,
Windows Millennium Edition, and Windows 98. Full-Text Search and SQL Server 2000
Analysis Services (including OLAP, data mining, and data warehousing features) are
included in Personal Edition but cannot be installed on Windows 98 or Windows
Millennium Edition.

6
SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition
This edition allows developers to build any type of application on top of SQL Server. It
includes all of the functionality of Enterprise Edition but with a special development and
test end-user license agreement (EULA) that prohibits production deployment (for
complete details, see the SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition EULA at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql. For maximum flexibility during development, it will install
to the aforementioned server operating systems as well as Windows 2000 Professional
and Windows NT Workstation 4.0.
SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition is the only edition of SQL Server 2000 that gives the
licensee the right to download and install SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition (SQL
Server CE) from http://www.microsoft.com/sql. The Developer Edition licensee also has
the right to redistribute SQL Server CE-based applications to an unlimited number of
devices at no additional cost beyond the purchase price of SQL Server 2000 Developer
Edition. Devices running SQL Server CE that access or otherwise use the resources of a
SQL Server must be properly licensed. For more information, see
http://www.microsoft.com/sql.
SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition is the ideal choice for Independent Software Vendors
(ISVs), consultants, system integrators, solution providers, and corporate developers
developing and testing applications because it is cost effective, runs on a variety of
platforms, and can be upgraded for production use to SQL Server 2000 Enterprise
Edition.

SQL Server 2000 Evaluation Edition

SQL Server 2000 Evaluation Edition (also known as SQL Server 2000 Enterprise
Evaluation Edition) is a time-limited version of SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition that
is licensed for demonstration, testing, examination, and evaluation for a period of 120
days. This means that Evaluation Edition is not for production use; solutions must be
deployed on SQL Server 2000 Enterprise or Standard Edition. Evaluation Edition will not
function after the 120-day limit has been reached. The only cost for this edition is a
minimal shipping and handling fee. The advantage of the Evaluation Edition is that you
can evaluate the complete set of features in SQL Server 2000, which can be useful
whether you are already familiar with SQL Server or are completely new to the product.
Like Developer Edition, Evaluation Edition will install to the aforementioned server
operating systems as well as Windows XP, Windows 2000 Professional and Windows NT
Workstation 4.0. This gives developers and database administrators additional flexibility
in evaluating the product, as it can easily be installed on laptops or desktop systems
running these nonserver operating systems.
For more information about the Evaluation Edition, see http://www.microsoft.com/sql.

7
SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition (SQL Server CE) is the compact
database for rapidly developing applications that extend enterprise data management
capabilities to devices. SQL Server CE is a full-fledged member of the SQL Server 2000
family, with tools, application programming interfaces (APIs), and SQL grammar that
developers and database administrators with existing SQL Server skills will recognize.
SQL Server CE is the only edition of SQL Server 2000 that provides relational database
management capabilities on Windows CE-based devices.
The SQL Server CE engine provides an essential set of relational database features,
including an optimizing query processor and support for transactions and assorted data
types, while it maintains a compact footprint that preserves system resources. Remote
data access and merge replication, which work over Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
and support encryption, ensure that data from enterprise SQL Server databases is
reliably delivered and that this data can be manipulated offline and synchronized later to
the server. This makes SQL Server CE ideal for mobile and wireless scenarios.
SQL Server CE runs on devices that use Windows CE version 2.11 or later, including the
Handheld PC Pro (H/PC Pro), Palm-size PC (P/PC), and Pocket PC. SQL Server CE can
access SQL Server data in SQL Server version 6.5 or later, but can act as a merge
replication subscriber only with SQL Server 2000 databases. SQL Server CE has a device
footprint of approximately 1 megabyte (MB). Database size is currently limited to 2 GB.
For more information about SQL Server CE (or to download SQL Server CE if you are a
licensed SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition user), see http://www.microsoft.com/sql.

SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine

SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine is the successor to Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) 1.0,
which was based on SQL Server version 7.0. As such, SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine
is often referred to as MSDE 2000. The SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine is not related
to SQL Server 7.0 Desktop Edition.
Probably the most significant characteristic of the Desktop Engine is that it is a
redistributable version of the SQL Server relational database engine. Third-party
software developers can include it in their applications that use SQL Server to store
data. The SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine is made available as a set of Windows
Installer merge modules that can be included in the application setup. The Desktop
Engine is an ideal embedded or offline data store, because it is easy to install and has
the smallest footprint of any edition of SQL Server 2000.

8
The SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine does not include graphical management tools; the
application distributing the engine is usually coded to perform any needed database
administration. You can manage instances of the Desktop Engine from the SQL Server
2000 graphical tools if installed with another edition of SQL Server. Other items not
included in the Desktop Engine include analysis capabilities (such as OLAP, data mining,
and data warehousing features) and SQL Server Books Online. Desktop Engine also
limits database size to 2 GB and employs the same concurrent workload throttle
described earlier for Personal Edition.
Like all of the editions of SQL Server 2000 described so far in this paper, the Desktop
Engine supports multiple instance installations, lessening the likelihood that an instance
installed by an application of one vendor will conflict with subsequent MSDE-based
applications installed by applications by other vendors. Additionally, all of the APIs and
most of the functionality of the other editions of SQL Server 2000 are supported.
Desktop Engine includes the SQLServerAgent service for managing scheduled tasks.
Although the Desktop Engine does not include the management tools or wizards,
applications can fully administer an instance of the Desktop Engine using the SQL Server
administration APIs, such as SQL-DMO, the DTS and Replication programming objects,
or the general database APIs (such as ADO, OLE DB, and ODBC). Applications can use
the general database APIs to access data in the Desktop Engine, and the Desktop Engine
can participate alongside other editions of SQL Server 2000 in DTS transformations and
replication plans (except operating as a transactional replication publisher).
Redistribution rights exist for the Desktop Engine and can be found in the EULAs for the
products that include it (see the following section, "Obtaining SQL Server 2000"). If the
Desktop Engine is not used in a purely stand-alone manner—that is, if the Desktop
Engine is connecting to or otherwise utilizing the resources of a SQL Server (even if this
use occurs through middleware, across multiple computers, or through multiplexing,
where no direct connection is present)—then it is acting as a client to a SQL Server
server and must be properly licensed. In such a case, customers using the Processor
licensing model on the server enjoy unlimited connections to the server, and thus
require no further action for the Desktop Engine or any other clients. However,
customers using the Server/Client Access License (CAL) licensing model in this scenario
must have a CAL dedicated to any device using the Desktop Engine. For more
information, see Chapter 4, "Choosing How to License SQL Server." You can also visit
http://www.microsoft.com/sql.

9
Obtaining SQL Server 2000
SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition, SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition, and SQL Server
2000 Workgroup Edition are available through a variety of channels. Competitive and
version upgrades to SQL Server 2000 may lower your cost considerably. Additionally,
small business, enterprise, government, and academic discounts are available. For
complete information on how to obtain SQL Server 2000, please visit
http://www.microsoft.com/sql.
SQL Server 2000 Personal Edition is not a separate product but rather a client
component of SQL Server 2000 (included as part of Enterprise and Standard Editions),
designed to bring SQL Server functionality to nonserver hardware, including
workstations and laptops. SQL Server Personal Edition can be installed on any client
device to be used in conjunction with the server software. Licensing is governed by the
same rules as Enterprise and Standard Edition licensing.
SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition can be ordered online directly from Microsoft at
http://shop.microsoft.com/or from an authorized reseller
(http://www.microsoft.com/shop/reseller.htm). SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition is
also included in the MSDN Universal subscription
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions).
SQL Server 2000 Evaluation Edition can be ordered for a minimal fee from
http://shop.microsoft.com/devtools.
SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition is available for free download to licensed SQL
Server 2000 Developer Edition users. Please see http://www.microsoft.com/sql for more
information.
SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine is included in a directory called "MSDE" at the root of
the SQL Server 2000 Enterprise, Standard, and Developer Edition CD-ROMs. SQL Server
2000 Desktop Engine will also be included in upcoming Microsoft products, just as MSDE
1.0 shipped in products like Microsoft Visual Studio® 6.0 Enterprise Edition and Microsoft
Office 2000 Developer.

10
Conclusion
Whether you are a developer, IT professional, or a database administrator, whether you
are just developing and testing or are ready to deploy in production, there is a SQL
Server 2000 edition for you and your organization. The variety of SQL Server 2000
editions ensures that you pay a fair price for the functionality you need. You will likely
find that you use several editions of SQL Server 2000 on a single project: development
and testing on Developer Edition, deployment to servers on Enterprise Edition, with
replication subscriptions managed by Personal Edition running on laptops. And in the
future, maybe you will extend your solution to devices, relying on SQL Server 2000
Windows CE Edition for reliable, high performance database management. The important
issue is to consider up front what edition will work best for your organization; by making
the right choice you will end up saving time and money.
You have also learned how to obtain the various editions of SQL Server, but you may
have one lingering question: "What should I run SQL Server 2000 on?" To answer this
question, you must consider both the hardware and the operating system. Your
hardware vendor can help you pick an appropriate server computer for your solution,
and may even have sizing tools available for download from its Web site. For the
operating system, keep in mind several things. The deployable server edition of SQL
Server 2000 requires a server operating system, and it is optimized for Windows 2000.
Several features in SQL Server 2000 are dependent on features in the operating system
and thus are unavailable when SQL Server 2000 is run on Windows NT Server 4.0. For
example, Microsoft Active Directory™ integration requires Windows 2000 Server or
greater. Such issues need to be considered when you plan your SQL Server 2000
deployments.

This document contains information from the SQL Server 2000 Resource Kit. You can
purchase the kit at the Microsoft Press Web site.
http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/4939.asp

11