Can we use SQL Express to send messages to SQL Standard using the Service Broker?

Question

We want to use SQL Express at our local sites but to still be able to push data back to our head office using the Service Broker. SQL Server at the head office is 2008 R2 Standard.

Looking at the feature lists of SQL Express 2008 R2 for Express it says "Client Only", what does this mean in relation to our needs?

Answer 1

The 'client only' means that two Express instances cannot communicate directly. They have to have a Standard instance in between acting as a forwarder. Express instances can both generate and consume messages.

• Messages originating on Express instances can be received on Standard or higher instances.
• Messages originating on Standard or higher instance can be received on Express
• Messages originating on Expres can be received on another Express instance only if it was routed to an intermediate Standard or higher instance using a forwarding endpoint, see Service Broker Message Forwarding. A single Standard instance can act as a forwarder to any numer of Express instances, limited only by processing capacity and network bandwidth.