SQL Server Express 2008: Now in two flavors

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As I blogged about on Channel 9 earlier (I love that we can have text *and* video posts now), SQL Server 2008 RC0 is now available for download.

On the download page, you may have noticed that there are two versions of SQL Server Express

  1. SQL Server 2008 Express
  2. SQL Server 2008 Express with Advanced Services

While the SQL Server 2008 Editions page doesn't list the "Advanced Services" Express Edition, luckily Mike Wachal from the SQL Server Express team posted a detailed breakdown of the differences on the SQL Server Express blog.

The key features that are in Advanced Services that you won't get with regular Express are:

  • PowerShell integration by default
  • Synchronization Services installed by default

As well as a number of Reporting Services features

  • Ability to increase Reporting Services Memory Limit
  • Reporting Services Word/Rich Text Export
  • IIS Agnostic Report Deployment
  • Enhanced Gauges and Charting

It also appears that the regular SQL Server Express also supports installing the 32-bit version on a x64 platform (using WoW), but as both Express versions including 32-bit and 64-bit native installations, I'm not sure why you would want to install the 32-bit version on x64.

 

What hasn't changed

The physical limitations for SQL Server haven't changed between 2005 and 2008 (1 CPU, 1GB Memory, 4GB of user data per database), but the nice thing is that SQL Server Express will take advantage of multiple cores on a single CPU.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    June 11, 2008
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  • Anonymous
    July 24, 2008
    It's a shame Microsoft can't spell out the differences on their download page. I must say that the whole process to install SQL 2008 Express has been very confusing. First I installed SQL 2008 Express (after much gnashing of teeth trying to find the correct .Net framework), only to find there is no query reporting tool of any kind provided. More googling, and a vague statement on a Microsoft page that Express Advanced 2008 x86 Executable contains a "entry level data management and reporting platform" and I'm hopefull that I will at last be able to write a query against a database and get a recordset back.

  • Anonymous
    July 31, 2008
    Another addion is the limitation of running management stuio 2008 express in the same machine with a license 2005 management studio. I would like to be able to try without un-instaling my current license version.

  • Anonymous
    August 18, 2008
    It took almost 3 hours to install sql xprs 08 only to find that there wasn't query tool... that was frustrating xperience.