[AccessD] Installing SBS2003 - was [dba-SQLServer] What is going on

Gustav Brock Gustav at cactus.dk
Sat Dec 23 08:00:06 CST 2006


Hi all, a follow-up warning

My colleague asked me to direct your attention to the fact that "Windows Server 2003 Web Edition" carries a ridiculous limitation for how much ram it will handle of 2 GB.
This has caused it to be nicknamed among pros as "Windows Personal Server 2003 Web Edition".

More seriously, this means that "Windows Server 2003 Web Edition" may be a perfect OS to run inside a virtual machine (client), while the limitation renders it useless for most applications for _hosting_ virtual machines. In fact, you may even need an expensive enterprise license for Windows Server 2003 for the host which, of course, forces one to look at Linux as the OS for the host.

I just counted. It's hard to believe, but this is my 9th Christmas joining the list, so:

  Merry Christmas to all!

/gustav

>>> Gustav at cactus.dk 02-11-2006 16:44 >>>
Hi John

I didn't catch your original post, but installing SBS is not "just to do it". Microsoft has training courses in nothing else than this discipline. That said, I'm sure you could handle it following some of the guides around and good advice but at a cost of many hours. 

However, the install wizard will not know what you want. You have to decide.

>From your post it seems like you need only the server OS and SQL Server 2005. That could be established much simpler with "Windows Server 2003 Web Edition" - which is part of your Action Pack - and "SQL Server 2005 Express" which is a free download.

For anyone else being tempted by all the fun stuff in SBS, stop for a moment and consider seriously the hard core Web Edition, which really is a piece of cake to install and leaves a totally clean desktop you will love. Also, consider seriously to run this in a virtual machine like the free edition of VMware Virtual Server - which itself runs perfectly on the Web Edition server. For deployment, a license for "Windows Server 2003 Web Edition" is only slightly more than that for WinXP - and no CALs as it is not a file server.

/gustav




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