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I need to minimize the cost of the platform, that will run SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition. I have a special licensed version of this SQL server to work with like 20 users (it's an 1C special conditions licensing to be used with 1C products only) with costs not too much. I don't want to buy Windows Server license because with this number of clients (20) I need to buy Enterprise version, which is about $5000.

  • SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard supports as I can see Windows 7 Professional.
  • Windows 7 Professional x64 supports up to 192Gb of memory so that's prettty enough.
  • 20 inbound connections limit does not apply to TCP-IP connections as I know.

What are the downsides of using Windows 7 x64 Professional as a host OS for SQL Server 2008 R2?

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A workstation OS (i.e. Win7) isn't designed to be running 24/7, whereas a Server OS (Windows Server) is. – Thomas Stringer Apr 30 '12 at 19:54
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If your business can afford SQL08 R2 licensing, you could likely afford a Windows Server license as well. I wouldn't run any Production system on a desktop OS for the same reason I wouldn't ever run a Prod system with the minimum requirement specs. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. – Eric Higgins Apr 30 '12 at 20:12
@EricHiggins I think the OP is looking for hard facts why it is not advisable. – Thomas Stringer Apr 30 '12 at 20:19
Windows Server Std. edition starts at about £600 or so with 5 CALs and supports 32GB of RAM. You're not going to save a lot of money by skimping on the costs of the O/S licence. SQL Server Std. Edition will not use more memory than that anyway. – ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells Apr 30 '12 at 20:25
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@FractalizeR buy additional CALs, you don't have to move to Enterprise. Alternatively, don't buy, rent. – Mark Storey-Smith Apr 30 '12 at 22:39
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1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote

Your going to run into occasional memory and thread handling issues. I run 2008 r2 Developer (which is basically enterprise) on Win7 Prof (64x) on a development machine* for writing code. I do not know the exact reason but SQL acts funky sometimes and you need to either restart service or box. Ex. No queries will be running and cpu will be pinned at 50% with SQL proc that if you check with ProcExplorer isn't doing anything. If this is something you can live with doing every so often then maybe you can get away with it. On the other hand if you need high up-time then spend the money on server edition.

*I run like this because Visual Studio runs like crap on server and I like a portable compact dev setup when I'm on site.

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Sounds like you may need to just tune your instance a bit. :) – Thomas Stringer Apr 30 '12 at 23:58
Nah it's fully patched and I'm pretty good with that stuff its just not designed for that purpose. If there was any argument to be had it is that VS (as it is a pig onto itself) is causing that issue. But I've seen it on many dev boxes and VM's I've setup. If you got that route you'll see for yourself. Win7 + SQL != Reliability – bumble_bee_tuna May 1 '12 at 0:26
Sounds very strange. I can understand issues on heavy load, but just glitches without even queries executed... Sounds really strange... And the thing is that Microsoft says, Standard version runs fine on Windows 7 home & Pro. – FractalizeR May 1 '12 at 10:07

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