For all editions, actual requirements vary based on the system configuration and the applications and features installed. Below are the basic requirements.
Hardware:
For the 32-bit edition:
• 1-GHz (or higher) Pentium III-compatible processor; 2-GHz recommended
• 1 GB RAM; 4 GB or more recommended
• 2 GB available hard-disk space (See more detailed hard-disk requirements for specific components.)
• DVD drive
• 1024x768-pixel (or higher) display
For the x64 edition:
• 1.4-GHz (or higher) AMD Opteron, AMD Athlon 64, Intel Xeon with Intel EM64T support, or Intel Pentium 4 with EM64T support processor; 2-GHz recommended
• 1 GB RAM; 4 GB or more recommended
• 2 GB available hard-disk space (See more detailed hard-disk requirements for specific components.)
• DVD drive
• 1024x768-pixel (or higher) display
For the Itanium IA64 edition:
• 1-GHz (or higher) Itanium processor
• 1 GB RAM; 4 GB or more recommended
• 2 GB available hard-disk space (See more detailed hard-disk requirements for specific components.)
• DVD drive
• 1024x768-pixel (or higher) display
Software:
For the 32-bit edition:
Operating systems:
• Windows XP Professional with SP3
• Windows XP Professional Reduced Media with SP3
• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with SP2
• Windows XP Media Center 2002/2004/2005 with SP3
• Windows XP Tablet with SP3
• Windows Server 2003 Enterprise, Standard, Datacenter, x64 Standard, x64 Datacenter, x64 Enterprise with SP2
• Windows Vista Ultimate, Enterprise, Business, x64 Ultimate, x64 Enterprise, x64 Business with SP2
• Windows Server 2008 Web, Standard, Standard without Hyper-V, Datacenter, Datacenter without Hyper-V, Enterprise, Enterprise without Hyper-V, Standard x64, Standard x64 without Hyper-V, Datacenter x64, Datacenter x64 without Hyper-V, Enterprise x64, Enterprise x64 without Hyper-V, Foundation x64 with SP2
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Web x64, Standard x64, Datacenter x64, Enterprise x64, Foundation x64, Essential Server Solutions x64
• Windows Server 2008 Foundation, Essential Server Solutions with SP2
• Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise, Professional, Ultimate x64, Enterprise x64, Professional x64
• Internet Explorer 6.0 with SP1 or later
For the x64 edition:
Operating systems:
• Windows XP Professional x64 with SP2
• Windows Server 2003 Standard x64, Enterprise x64, Datacenter x64 with SP2
• Windows Vista Ultimate x64, Enterprise x64, Business x64 with SP2
• Windows Server 2008 Web x64, Standard x64, Standard x64 without Hyper-V, Datacenter x64, Datacenter x64 without Hyper-V, Enterprise x64, Enterprise x64 without Hyper-V, Foundation x64, Essential Server Solutions x64 with SP2
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Web x64, Standard x64, Datacenter x64, Enterprise x64, Foundation x64, Essential Server Solutions x64
• Windows 7 Ultimate x64, Enterprise x64, Professional x64
• Internet Explorer 6.0 with SP1 or later
For the Itanium IA64 edition:
• Windows Server 2003 Enterprise or Datacenter for 64-bit Itanium-based systems with SP2 or later (Reporting Services component not supported for these operating systems); Windows Server 2008 Datacenter for 64-bit Itanium-based systems; Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise for 64-bit Itanium-based systems
• Internet Explorer 6.0 with SP1 or later
The 32-bit edition of SQL Server can be installed to the Windows on Windows (WOW64) 32-bit subsystem of a 64-bit server.
SQL Server 2008 is not supported on Windows Server 2008 Server Core installations.
• Under the Software Assurance programme, customers acquire the right to install any new release of products covered in the agreement during the term of their coverage.
• Bandwith requirement for network mirroring is minimised by single-thread database mirroring with log stream compression of data transmissions between participants.
• Predictable query performance through locking down query plans allows organisations to promote stable query plans across hardware server replacements, server upgrades, and production deployments.
• Partitions enable organisations to manage large growing tables more effectively by transparently breaking them into manageable blocks of data. SQL Server 2008 builds on the advances of partitioning in SQL Server 2005 by improving the performance on large partitioned tables.
• New Microsoft Word rendering enables users to view reports directly from within Word; the Excel renderer has been enhanced to accommodate the support of nested data regions, subreports, and merged cell improvements.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition is a complete data storage, management, analysis, and reporting platform for medium-size organisations and larger departments. It can be used as a back-end database server for internal applications or for powering a dynamic website.
The management interface is SQL Server Management Studio, a graphical management tool for all SQL Server components with rich scripting capabilities. SQL Server Management Studio includes Policy-Based Management, which can create policies that manage entities on the server, such as the instance of SQL Server, databases, and other SQL Server objects.
SQL Server offers development tools that are tightly integrated with the Microsoft .NET framework and Visual Studio to provide end-to-end application development capabilities.
The R2 release allows SQL Server to be a managed instance for Application and Multi-Server Management capabilities and adds the Backup Compression feature, which can reduce the size of data backups by up to 60 percent.
Licensing: This product includes one processor licence.
No client licences are required for SQL Server.
32-Bit and x64 Versions: The installation media for this product is a DVD-ROM that can be used for 32-bit, 64-bit AMD, 64-bit Intel Xeon, or 64-bit Intel Itanium platforms. The 32-bit version can be installed on the Windows on Windows (WOW64) 32-bit subsystem of a 64-bit server.
Installing this product requires a licence key and installation media. Within 14 days of placing your order, instructions for obtaining the licence key will be sent to your organisation's registered e-mail address and free installation media will be delivered to your organisation's registered address.
