[thelist] MDSE vs SQL Server

[Scott Brady]

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Paul Bennett <paul at teltest.com>
>(1) Is there a standard gui tool with sql server that will allow us to
>view the database schema?

Enterprise Manager.  It comes with SQL Server.  You can also get it by downloading the trial version of SQL SErver (Enterprise Manager doesn't expire).  I've been told you can download EM by itself, but have yet to find it.

>(2) Is there a "developer version" of sql server that we can purchase
>for testing? We would only use this server version for this project, and
>so are looking to minimize our cost outlay (read: "we are cheap"). The
>ms site has been no help so far. (May be because I was using Moz ;) )

Yes, there is a developer edition. But, it's between $450 and $500, so it's not exactly cheap.  The trial version is good for 120 days, so if you only need it for a short time, you can get away with using that if you won't need it on the production environment.

>(3) I have heard that the MSDE (which is bundled with some developer
>suites) is essentially the "guts" of SQL Server. Is this true or a
>fallacy? Is it possible to isolate this component (the MSDE) in order to
>use it as a test database server?

That, I don't know.

Scott
---------------------------
Scott Brady
http://www.scottbrady.net/