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. As you will see in this post the right version isn't as easy as it looks like. Next to the technical requirements you need to fulfill you have to keep in mind that the version of SQL Server has an impact on the functionality of SharePoint 2010.
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Which version of SQL Server do you need? Well you need at least the 64bit version of SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2. The different versions offer different features like backup compression, Remote Blob Storage (RBS), resource government, PowerPivot for SharePoint 2010 or database mirroring. Although the technical requirements for a SQL Server are quiet clear as written in this post below you need to think about the license and your use case.
You need to know the differences between an enterprise and a standard version regarding the functionality of SharePoint 2010. Based on that you need to know about your requirements and how you can match them using different versions. For example database snapshots are only available with SQL Server 2008 enterprise which eliminates possible problems during content deployment. So if you use that feature and rely on that you should consider using the enterprise version.
By the way you can use the express editions of SQL Server 2008 R2 or SQL Server 2008 to host a stand-alone installation of SharePoint 2010. Compared to SQL Server 2005 and SharePoint 2007 with a limit of 4GB database the limit with SQL Server 2008 Express is now 10GB.
If you need an overview of the complete series and of course the farm topology and the deployment scenario you can take alook at the link below. It is also appreciated if you leave a comment.
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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:
Next steps