This article describes the software requirements regarding SQL Server 2008 required for deploying SharePoint Server 2010 and is a part of a series describing the complete installation of SharePoint Server 2010 on Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2. Please have a look at

• Installing SharePoint Server 2010 on Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2 - Part 1: Overview

There you can find an overview of the complete series and of course the farm topology and the deployment scenario.

Software requirements for database server

You need to meet the following requirements if you want to install SharePoint Server 2010 without the built-in database:

• SQL Server 2005 64-bit with Service Pack 3 (SP3)  and Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3,
• Beta: SQL Server 2008 64-bit with Service Pack 1 (SP1)  and Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1,
  RTM: SQL Server 2008 SP1 and Cumulative Update 2, CU 5 or later but NOT CU3 or CU4,
• SQL Server 2008 R2

Remarks:

• Setup doesn’t check your SQL Server edition. It is checked by the SharePoint Product and Technologies Configuration Wizard after setup.
• If you install SQL Server 2008 RTM on Windows Server 2008 R2 you need to apply SP1 for SQL Server 2008 after installation.

Resources

Here are the resources used in this article:

• [1] Determine hardware and software requirements

Next steps

Please take a look at Part 7: SQL Server 2008 R2 installation and configuration.