Datasheet

SQL Server 2000 – Particulars and History
17
Hardware and OS Requirements
The stated minimum hardware requirements for SQL Server are pretty easy to reach these days:
❑ Pentium 166 or better (Alpha is no longer an option, and Microsoft has stated that there will
be no future development for that platform).
❑ At least 64MB memory, although 128MB is recommended for the Enterprise Edition.
You can get away with only 32MB for the Desktop Engine and Personal Editions on all but
Windows 2000 – where 64MB is required.
❑ Between 95MB hard disk space (minimum installation) and 270MB (full installation).
You will also need a further 50-130MB if you want to install Analysis Services, and another
80MB for English Query.
The Desktop Engine Edition requires only 44MB.
❑ Enterprise and Standard Editions run on Windows NT Server version 4.0 with Service Pack 5
(SP5) or later, Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition with SP5 or later, Windows 2000
Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server.
Developer Edition runs on the operating systems listed above for the Enterprise and Standard
Editions, as well as on Windows 2000 Professional and Windows NT Workstation 4.0 with
SP5 or later.
Personal Edition and Desktop Engine run on the operating systems listed above for the
Enterprise and Standard Editions, as well as on Windows 98 (Second Edition if the computer
doesn't have a network card), Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000 Professional, and
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 with SP5 or later.
This information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/sql/productinfo/sysreq.htm.
❑ VGA Video in 800 x 600 mode (some of the graphical tools require it)
❑ IE 5.0 or later
In reality, you'll want to have a bit beefier machine than the recommendation. Even for a stand-alone
development server, I recommend a minimum of 128MB of RAM and a Pentium II 500 or better
processor. For production systems, no less than 256MB of RAM even for the smallest systems – and
more likely 512MB to 2GB.
Building Database Connected Systems
At this juncture, we're ready to go into the holy-war territory of architectural issues. It seems like
everybody's got an idea of what the best architecture is for everything.
Before we even get too deep into this I'll give you my first soapbox diatribe.
The perfect architecture to use is the one that is right for the particular solution you are working towards.
There are very few easy answers in life, and what system architecture to use for a project is rarely one of
them. Don't allow anyone to mislead you into thinking, "You should always use n-tier architecture", or
that, "The mainframe is dead – anyone who installs a host-based system today is nuts!"