SQL Express Considerations

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SQL Express is a free version of SQL Server. It is freely available from Microsoft. For up-to-date information on downloading SQL Express from Microsoft, go to http://www.mainboss.com/info/microsoft.htm

SQL Express will provide acceptable performance for small sites. Larger sites should buy one of the larger versions of SQL Server.

We should note that SQL Express lacks some features of paid-for versions of SQL Server. For example, SQL Express does not have automatic maintenance plans, Microsoft's facilities that simplify automatic backups and integrity checks.

The rest of this appendix describes considerations for installing and working with SQL Express.