Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2023 May 18

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May 18

Licensing MS SQL Server ?

For many years I have had my own MS SQL Server. I got it through a MS program which was sort of training. You paid about 1,500 a year or so and MS would give you access to a bunch of software: servers, language compilers, etc. It was all raw, that is you had to build applications of your choosing. I used it to design a database in C# and SQL Server. They imposed limitations. You could not use that stuff commercially. I never did,

Well, now I have a need to really purchase a new SQL Server. I went to MS website and found that a standard edition will cost me 860 some dollars. This is not all. It turns out I need a license to run it. In order to purchase a license, I need to know how many cores my new SQL Server will have. I never had any ideas that SQL Server should have cores. Hardware, like a processor, yes, but the Server, no. Anyhow, a girl in service of MS quickly calculated that my SQL Server will cost me almost 6,000 dollars.

I used to like MS, not anymore. I have other complaints also, but let's focus on this. Why do they say in one place that I need to pay $860 and then hang a license on it? Is it a rip-off? I also do not understand the concept of cores when applied to software, not hardware. I need help. Thanks AboutFace 22 (talk) 00:13, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

Well the core count would apply to the hardware you run the software on. If you have a higher core count, the software can do more. This is how Microsoft make more money out of those that have a bigger hardware. Perhaps you can supply hardware with only one core, or whatever is the minimum for licensing. If you don't want to pay you can use something different, such as MySQL, but probably a lot of work to convert whatever uses it. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 02:05, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

I don't want to start a war, but given those figures have you considered moving to Linux and one of the databases such as MariaDB or PostgreSQL? For $6,800 you could get quite a lot of training and help moving your applications over. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 07:27, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

But for what purpose do you need an SQL server? Ruslik_Zero 16:24, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Rather than buying your own server, you could use a hosting service. For example, WinHost gives you an SQL server for between $5 and $45 per month, depending on what you need.[1] Msclusters has similar prices. [2] There are many similar services; just Google "microsoft sql server hosting". (I have not used any of them, so I am not recommending any particular one.) CodeTalker (talk) 01:16, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

I am answering the question by one of the previous contributors: "Why do you need an SQL Server?" The answer is familiarity. When I first got mine, many years ago I never heard about Internet, let alone "hosting services." Since then, My SQL Server has served me well. I have a database of my own design sitting on it. Switching to another system means a lot of trouble. I am old now and can work only a couple of hours a day. I don't want to learn a new system now. I know pretty much everything about the SQL Server. And I need to move my database to a new much faster computer.

AboutFace 22 (talk) 19:16, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

Can you not just buy new hardware and re-install the original MS SQL Server program on it? MinorProphet (talk) 05:12, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

If yes, please reply 'yes'. If no, why not? Have you lost the install CDs / 1.44MB floppies? No-one who knows anything about SQL server writes "I know pretty much everything about the SQL Server." Which version of MS SQL Server are you using? Or did you stop paying the license fee some time ago and are afraid that Bill Gates will personally appear at your front door demanding payment for the last 20 years of free SQL Server usage? MinorProphet (talk) 18:25, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

@AboutFace 22: There are two free editions of the Microsoft SQL Server: Developer and Express. You can try to use one of them. Ruslik_Zero 20:06, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

Thank you @minorProphet. Buying a new Dell compurer is a simplest part of the job. Using the old disk to install SQL server presents problems. My present SQL Server I downloaded from a MS website as a part of the program to familiarize the developers with what MS had available. Theatrically my SQL Server is free, although I always paid annual fees at that time. SO it still belongs to MS. I cannot use my SQL Server commercially and now I may need to do just that. $860 for a server that will buy me a peace of mind is not a big deal for me. I did not expect the server core variable getting on my way, otherwise I would have already bought it.

Well I want to tell you a horror story. Before I began working with MS SQL Server, many-many years back I played with MS Visual dBase which was a combination of a database and a programming language. I already finished my design spending perhaps hundred of hours, when MS one day said that they would discontinue support for Visual dBase. I had already hundreds of items stored in its columns. I had to redo everything from scratch with C#. and then I wrote a small program that copied/transferred items from dBase to SQL Server. I discussed the issue with MS and a woman said that my SQL Server belongs to them and I cannot use it commercially. I want no trouble.@Ruslik, I have developer. AboutFace 22 (talk) 01:00, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Why cannot you use the Express Edition? Ruslik_Zero 14:33, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

I've always thought that express edition unlike the developer edition is much simplified. I do need some level of sophistication. It is comforting. AboutFace 22 (talk) 16:45, 23 May 2023 (UTC)