Server Farm and SQL Server

[Steve Scott]

I have Project Server 2007 installed as a single stand alone server for
evaluation purposes. By default it has installed SQL Server lite and it is
working ok.

If I want to set up a server farm installaion does it mean that I need to
have a full version of SQL Server installed on one of the servers?

thanks

 

[Stephen Sanderlin]

No - there is no reason that you would need a full license of SQL
Express unless you wanted to use features not included with that license
or reasonably expected to exceed the capacity limitations upon that
license.



FYI, I recommend against using the standalone install except in very
limited circumstances. It is better to use the Farm installation and
install SQL (Expess or otherwise) yourself, regardless of whether you
are performing a single-server or true "farm" install.

--

Stephen Sanderlin

Principal Consultant

MSProjectExperts



For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com

For Project Server Training: http://www.projectservertraining.com



Read my blog at: http://www.projectserverhelp.com/

Join the community at: http://forums.epmfaq.com

 

[Paul Conroy]

beware that with sql express you will not have access to OLAP or Reporting
Services.

 

[Stephen Sanderlin]

I'm sorry, but you are incorrect. SQL Reporting Services is available
for SQL Server Express in the SQL Server Express with Advanced Services
download
(http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/express/comparison.mspx).



Therefore, the only thing they would be missing would be Analysis
Services.

--

Stephen Sanderlin

Principal Consultant

MSProjectExperts



For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com

For Project Server Training: http://www.projectservertraining.com



Read my blog at: http://www.projectserverhelp.com/

Join the community at: http://forums.epmfaq.com

 

[Paul Conroy]

You're correct, but it's limited to being accessed from the local machine
which makes it useless as an enterprise solution.

 

[Stephen Sanderlin]

According to this
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms365166(SQL.90).aspx) article,
the Reporting Services server may only access local databases. It says
nothing about Report Manager being restricted to localhost access, nor
does any other Microsoft or third party document that I am able to find,
though perhaps I am missing something. If you have documentation that
clearly defines this as a limitation, can you please provide a link?



I believe the limitation you are referring to is in actuality problems
caused by the User Instances feature of SQL Server 2005 Express, which
is easily disabled by following the instructions here
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143684(SQL.90).aspx).



Further, nobody is asserting that the Express Edition (with or without
Advanced Services) is sufficient for an enterprise solution. The
limitations of the product (e.g. One CPU, 1GB of RAM, no job scheduler,
4GB size limit) make it unsuitable for all but very small EPM
deployments.



--

Stephen Sanderlin

Principal Consultant

MSProjectExperts



For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com

For Project Server Training: http://www.projectservertraining.com



Read my blog at: http://www.projectserverhelp.com/

Join the community at: http://forums.epmfaq.com

 

[Steve Scott]

Hi thanks for your replies..so can I just confirm that I ought to be able to
get to a working project Server environment without the use of a full SQL
Server. I expect the max usage to be around 60-80 timesheet users and no
more than 10 Pro users.