In Search of SQL Server 2000 Stnd Edition Demo

[mpoor]

I see from the Microsoft Web site that you can download a demo version of SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition. Does anyone know of a demo for the Standard Edition? I work for a very company that may never be able to afford the cost of the Enterprise Edition--however, I'm hoping we can make use the Standard. I'm currently using Access 2000. I have a 2 gig file which contains a single table with 5 fields and roughly 2 million records. No relationships, no forms, no reports, no data access pages. Just a straight table with 2 million records.

I keep running into problems related to the size of the table and/or database (system hangups, error messages when implementing simple queries,unable to change data types, etc.) When I test with a substantially smaller version of the file--runs great--no problems.

I ran this problem by an Access Guru friend of mine who said that it's probably due to Access 2000 file size limitation of 2 gig.

Just in case it's needed--below I've listed system specs on the two pc's that I use:

Sytem#1
O/S: Win98 SE
Memory: 384 MB
CPU: 650 Mhz
Hard Drive: Fat32, 5 gig Left
Software: Office 2K & others

System#2:
O/S: Win2K Member Server
Memory: 256mb
CPU: 650 mhz
Hard Drive: NTFS w/C:master & D:slave
Drive c: 2 gig left
Drive d: 5 gig left
Software: Access2K only

Any help that you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks... mp

 

[tlbroadbent]

Have you considered using MSDE? It is the desktop version of SQL Server. It will give you feel for SQL server.

You can also install the Enterprise trial version and uninstall after testing. The databases files created could be saved and attached if you decide to install the standard version.

By the way, do you regularly compact and repair your Access database? What data type and size do you have in the table? Can the table be split across multiple databases with links to a master database? Terry L. Broadbent - DBA
Computing Links:

http://tlbroadbent.home.attbi.com/prog.htm

faq183-874 contains "Suggestions for Getting Quick and Appropriate Answers" to your questions.

 

[mpoor]

Hi Terry, Thanks so much for your quick reply. I didn't realize that MSDE and SQL Server were similar. I'm not even familiar with MSDE so I checked it out on the web. But it looks like MSDE also has a 2 gig file limitation. So I don't think it will be a viable alternative for me in this particular situation.

I could install the trial version of Enterprise but I know we won't be able to purchase it. That's why I didn't even want to try it. I'd like to try the Standard Edition that--because I know we can afford that. If I knew the difference between the two, then trying Enterprise might help me out.

In regard to compacting and repair the databases. I compact and repair when I've got relationships, forms, reports and data access pages. But in these particular files, they are much simpler--they're just BIG (2 gig). They often consist of just a single table with several fields. All of the fields are text data type. I may do several queries on the table and then reduce the field sizes, from, say, 255 to 50 for example. But whenever I try to do this with the larger files I get errors (if I create a smaller version of the table it works just fine).

I could split the table between databases but the end result needs to be a single table exported as text in fixed width format. So I don't see how splitting the table will help--cause eventually it's go to come back together. But certainly I could be missing something so please advise if you seems like I am.

So, if MSDE isn't the tool for me because of a 2 gig file size limitation (and if that doesn't sound right let me know--I only checked one site--but that's what it said)would SQL be my next most logical option? What's the learning curve like? If it would take a long time to learn how to do simple queries and field size changes it may not be the answer for me at this juncture. I've had only limited exposure to programming--a little Filemaker Pro (which really doesn't count as programming), a tad of MS Access VBA and a single course in Intro to Visual Basic. That's it.

 

[tlbroadbent]

I have several thoughts.

1) You should compact your Access databases even if databses "only" contain data or perhaps mostly because they only contain data.

2) Splitting tables across servers doesn't limit the ability to export. You can link all tables in a master database and create one UNION query to extract all the data. The export could work from the query rather than the table(s).

3) MSDE has a 2 GB limitation in database size. For evaluation purposes, this should be fine. I would guess that the data you describe would easily fit in a 2GB MSDE database. However, I've been wrong many times.

4) One of the great things about MSDE is that Access 2000 integrates easily with it. You can still use Access for queries, exports, imports, etc. while using the power of the SQL Database Engine. Upsizing from the Access Jet Engine to MSDE is almost painless.

5) Transition from MSDE to SQL statndard edition is also painless.

Check out these resources.

About Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/off2000/html/acconAboutMSDE.asp

Creating and Deploying Access Solutions with the Microsoft Data Engine

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnoxpta/html/odc_modmsde.asp

Introduction to Microsoft Access 2000 Projects and the MSDE

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/techart/acaccessprojects.htm

SQL Server 2000 Databases on the Desktop

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/architec/8_ar_sa2_9gz4.asp

You may want to consider purchasing the Developer Edition. However, it has Enterprise Functionality with certain usage limitations.

I repeat that a free trial of Enterprise Edition still give you opportunity to analyze, use, test and beat up SQL Server. You can compare the editions at the following links.

Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2000

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/architec/8_ar_ts_1cdv.asp

Choosing an Edition of SQL Server 2000

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/planning/_Toc510840902

Terry L. Broadbent - DBA
Computing Links:

http://tlbroadbent.home.attbi.com/prog.htm

faq183-874 contains "Suggestions for Getting Quick and Appropriate Answers" to your questions.

 

[mpoor]

Wow, Terry... You are a wealth of knowledge. I can't begin to express my gratitude. I am anxious to check out both MSDE and review the links that you provided. Again, many, many thank yous... mp