IIS reqs for SQL 2005 on Windows 7 (or Vista)

Great link from Alastair Waddell listing these requirements.  Want to keep track of this in case I need it for future reference, so I’m going to post it in my blog.  Fuller instructions in Alastair’s blog, but here are the IIS features required, modified for Windows 7:

Component	Folder
Static Content	Common HTTP Features
Default Document	Common HTTP Features
HTTP Redirection	Common HTTP Features
Directory Browsing	Common HTTP Features
ASP.Net	Application Development
ISAPI Extension	Application Development
ISAPI Filters	Application Development
Windows Authentication	Security
IIS Metabase	IIS 6 Management Compatibility
IIS 6 WMI	IIS 6 Management Compatibility

Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920201

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SQL Server release & update calendar

Found a handy calendar on SQLServerPedia with info about releases of versions of SQL Server.  Here’s a sample:

SQL Server 2008 Release Date Calendar

Version Name	Version Number	Release Date	Mainstream Support Ends	Download
SQL Server 2008 SP1 Cumulative Update Package 2	10.00.2714	May 2009		Download SP1 CUP2
SQL Server 2008 SP1 Cumulative Update Package 1	10.00.2710	April 2009		Download SP1 CUP1
SQL Server 2008 SP1	10.00.2531	April 2009	Not Yet Scheduled	Download SP1

I have not used SQLServerPedia before, but it appears to be a SQL Server wiki sponsored by Quest Software. 

Wanted to be sure to blog this when I found it, so that I can find it again…..there are a number of things documented here that, at one time or another, I have had to search to find an answer to.  Nice to have all this in one place.

supported virtualization environments for SQL Server

It’s useful to know which virtualization environments Microsoft considers “validated” for use by SQL Server, whether or not you have a Premier support contract with Microsoft or not.  And they do of course provide a level of SQL Server support even if you run it in a non-validated virtualization environment.

This blog entry from Microsoft Customer Service and Support SQL Server Engineers gives details on support for SQL Server in a virtualized environment.  Here’s the summary at the end of the article:

If you use Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V or Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, you are supported for SQL Server 2005 and 2008.

If you choose to use a non-Microsoft virtualization solution, check to see that your configuration is SVVP certified. If it is, Microsoft CSS will support you and work with your vendor to help find a resolution to your issue.

If your configuration is not SVVP certified, be prepared for Microsoft CSS to ask you to reproduce your problem outside of the virtualization environment should you choose to seek assistance from CSS.

Here is a list of currently SVVP-certified products:

• Cisco WAAS Virtual Blades 4.1
  by Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Citrix XenServer 5 Embedded Edition
  by Citrix Systems, Inc
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2
  by Novell, Inc
• VMware ESX 3.5 Update 2
  by VMware, Inc..
• VMware ESX 3.5 Update 3
  by VMware, Inc.
• VMware ESXi 3.5 Update 3
  by VMware, Inc.
• XenServer 5
  by Citrix Systems, Inc

This list comes from here, which you can get to from the SVVP page by clicking Products under Additional Information in the left pane.  Note that there are hardware specs for each of the SVVP-certified products (click the link for the product you want to see).  No doubt this list will change as more products get certified.

Oh, it might also be worth mentioning that it appears that SVVP-certified products are certified to run Microsoft’s server software, as specified on the SVVP Products page, which currently includes Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 SP2, and Windows 2000 Server SP4 and later.  So it sounds to me like the SVVP certification is for the Windows OS, beyond just SQL Server.

Thanks to Michael Otey (again) for this tip, pointing me to the SQL Server Engineers Blog.

SQL Server licensing with muliple CPUs or virtualization

This article by Michael Otey deals with a couple questions about SQL Server 2005 licensing. 

The per CPU license is applied per CPU socket, rather than the number of cores.  So a server with a single quad-core CPU would need just one license, not four.

When virtualizing SQL Server, the number of CPUs on the host does not matter.  You need to license for the number of CPUs the virtual machine (VM) is configured to use.  So if you have a host with 4 CPU [sockets], running 3 separate VMs with SQL Server, and each one is configured to use one processor, you would only need 3 SQL Server per-CPU licenses, rather than 4.  Conversely, I suppose if you had 5 separate VMs with SQL Server each configured to use one processor, you would need 5 SQL Server per-CPU licenses.  And of course, if some of your VMs are using multiple CPUs, that increases the number of licenses needed.  For example, in the case with 5 SQL Server VMs, if 3 of those were using 2 CPUs each, then you would need 3×2+2×1=8 SQL Server per-CPU licenses.

Caveats:

• Michael’s article deals with SQL Server per-CPU licensing.  There are other licensing options by CAL (client access license).
• This article is now a couple years old, so I would advise checking for yourself on current licensing for SQL Server 2005, as well as 2008. 

With that in mind, I’ll add in here links to Microsoft’s SQL Server 2005 and 2008 licensing documentation, in case additional questions arise.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Licensing 
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Licensing (Word Doc)