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SQL Express as Database for GP2018

Posted on by 22,647

What are the pitfalls of using the SQL Express for a client that is low volume, low users and has not get the greatest speedy server anyway.

He is a little more concerned with the dollars rather than the version or the features available.

Comments please.

  • Suggested answer
    Beat Bucher  GP Geek  GPUG All Star Profile Picture
    Beat Bucher GP Gee... 28,019 Moderator on at
    RE: SQL Express as Database for GP2018

    Hi Bill,

    Agree with Gavin on that one.. A customer would really have to be in bad position (or ill advised) to setup GP on the Express version.. Not only is there a physical limit of 10GB (which I experienced first hand), but the total lack of Agent to schedule jobs makes it a bad candidate for a production environment, even if some claim you can find alternative options for it, it's never "integrated" and as smooth..

    Just think about the default jobs that are setup by GP at installation that are needed to clean up some Journal  posting tables, and then there is all the Workflow and AD integration jobs. Bad idea.

    Most of the time those customers who want to go with Express also don't have dedicated IT staff to take care of their server, which makes it even worse.

    I know that GP licenses used to come with some SQL Standard runtime version that was licensed to be used with GP only (and MR 2012 of course) but nothing else.. However, I'm not sure nowadays how that works out as I haven't seen anything about this in years..

  • Gavin Profile Picture
    Gavin 2,337 on at
    RE: SQL Express as Database for GP2018

    Hi Bill,

    My biggest concern would be that you don't get an SQL agent for ease and reliability of scheduling SQL native backups. However there are plenty of free tools that offer this functionality.

    There's also a 10GB per database limit with the later editions of SQL express so depending on volume this could cause issues further down the line.

    Other limitations would be how much CPU and memory the instance could use, as this is throttled in SQL express, but if performance isn't a concern this should be fine. 

    Finally, if SQL is going to be used solely for Dynamics GP databases you could also look into using the SQL runtime licence for SQL. Someone else may know more on this but I think as long as you only use SQL for GP databases you may get a more feature rich version of SQL. This is something that would need discussing with your GP Partner.

    Thanks

    Gavin

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