Hello,

I am looking for a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 in Europe.

What I need is this:
-The ability to create as many Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express databases as I want for development.
-The ability to create Microsoft SQL Server 2008 databases for finished projects and get charged accordingly.


I am not sure if something like this exists so any input is appreciated.

I believe you can get a VPS and install SQL Server Express on your VPS whereby you'll be able to create as many SQL Server Express databases on it as per your requirement. When you wish to go for full fledged SQL Server edition database, you can get hosted SQL Server database on dedicated database server of your web host.

That's how I do it now but it feels a little overkill to have a VPS for just SQL server Express. For the final result I mostly do what you say and get a shared hosting with a Sql server. The problem with that is that I always find it hard to find a good combination of shared hosting / Sql server. Most of the time the hosting is great but then they don't support Sql server or are really expensive.

A host that would let you have unlimited development environments would have to be really desperate or out of his mind.

Each development environment takes up resources whether they are active or not. When people are not charged for things, they tend not to throw anything away, "just in case".

Why don't you do the hosting off the VPS?

Why don't you do the hosting off the VPS?

That's what I am doing right now. I thought it was a little overkill to just have a VPS for hosting Sql Express. After reading plumsauce's comment I guess it makes sense that hosters don't just give away Sql Express databases. On the other hand Sql Express has some limitation which doesn't make it very suitable for real websites.

A plan for you might be to use a SQL Server provider, but limit your development environments to active projects. When you have finished with a project, detach the database, and compress the files into a zip format. If you ever need the development environment again, unzip and attach. You should familiarise yourself with sp_attachdb and sp_detachdb.

Another method is to always create your enviroments using tsql scripts. That way, as long as you have your scripts you can re-create the environment. Very handy for replicating a development environment to a production environment reliably and accurately. It takes some discipline, but it pays off in the end.

Why not develop and test your Express databases on your local PC? There is no need to develop things on a remote server when you can install Express on your own PC and develop and test it there.

A plan for you might be to use a SQL Server provider, but limit your development environments to active projects. When you have finished with a project, detach the database, and compress the files into a zip format. If you ever need the development environment again, unzip and attach. You should familiarise yourself with sp_attachdb and sp_detachdb.
end.

What do you mean with SQL server provider? Do you mean a Sql Server database for each project in development and limit the cost by only having active projects? That's how I mostly do it with my VHS when a project is finished I move the database to the client's hosting and remove it from my Sql Server Express.

I've also been looking at the Websitespark program from Mircosoft. Since I just became self employed it might be a good idea. I still have to read some more about it to see what's included. It seems you get 3 Sql server licenses which might be enough for the now.

Why not develop and test your Express databases on your local PC? There is no need to develop things on a remote server when you can install Express on your own PC and develop and test it there.

Yes, but it's hard to share the result with clients that way. They mostly want to see the website before it goes live. I also get a lot of jobs from a design company so they like to follow the work in progress.

I've also been looking at the Websitespark program from Mircosoft. Since I just became self employed it might be a good idea. I still have to read some more about it to see what's included. It seems you get 3 Sql server licenses which might be enough for the now.

The license is SQL Server 2008 Web Edition.
Unless you want to explore server admin work, it would be much easier to find a hosting package with SQL 2008 databases included.