I've been hosting for several local businesses for about 6 years (just about 2 years on dedicated) but I’ve been upgrading my hosting and software in preparation to move my businesses online.

I’ve been trying to decide if mssql is a worth while investment. Do people actually use it? I've yet to have a client that needed it. I offer priority windows hosting where I only have a maximum of 30 domains on a server, so software prices can add up very quickly. -- But if people use it, I'll definitely want to offer it.

Thanks, any input is appreciated!

-Karl Jones

Hi Karl,

We offer MSSQL at no additional cost with most of our plans but very few customers take up the offer to use it.

We don't have it on each windows hosting server cluster but rather a single MSSQL server cluster that all databases are created on regardless of which hosting server cluster the customer has been put on (H-Sphere handles the distribution).

We've designed many web sites for customers and most of the time we put a MS Access database behind the site as the estimated traffic doesn't justify the overhead of a full MSSQL database. BUT you have to be sure upfront as converting a site to use MSSQL later can be a bit of work, partcilarly when your development staff all like to do their own quirky coding things :mad:

MS Access can handle a reasonable amount of hits now days and we prefer to use it as its easier to manage, backup, restore, etc but some more technically minded business customers still like to see the option of having MSSQL for their money.

I'd suggest you spend the money on setting up one cluster with MSSQL so that at least you can offer it and maybe avoid setting it up on every one of your hosting clusters to reduce the licensing costs a little.

Regards,
John

Thanks, I think I’ll follow your advice and put it on at least one server.

-Karl Jones