SQL Server 2005 Features Comparison
Published: November 7, 2005 | Updated: May 22, 2006
Microsoft believe that software should provide you with choices that let you find the solution best tailored to your business' needs. To that end, they have redesigned the SQL Server 2005 product family to better meet the needs of each customer segment with four new editions: Express, Workgroup, Standard, and Enterprise. As a low-cost mainstream database, SQL Server 2005 will deliver unprecedented value and functionality compared with competitive solutions. The four new editions will offer a range of features, from high availability and robust scalability to advanced business intelligence tools, designed to empower the people across your organization through a more secure, reliable, and productive data management platform. Additionally, with the reduced application downtime, robust scalability and performance, and tight security controls, SQL Server 2005 represents a dramatic step forward in supporting the most demanding enterprise systems in the world. Because SQL Server is part of Windows Server System, you will also receive the added benefits of reduced total cost of ownership and faster development time through the increased manageability and integration that result from the common engineering strategy implemented across Windows Server System products. The table below presents details about each of the different editions.
Notes: In the following table, the "Comments" column provides comments on the specified feature. Numbers next to check marks indicate footnotes that appear at the bottom of the page. SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition and Evaluation Edition are not listed in the tables. These editions have the same feature set as the Enterprise Edition; the only difference between these editions is the licensing policies.
Scalability and Performance |
|||||
Feature | Express | Workgroup | Standard | Enterprise | Comments |
Number of CPUs | 1 | 2 | 4 | No Limit | Includes support for multicore processors. |
RAM | 1 gigabyte (GB) | 3 GB | Operating system maximum | Operating system maximum | Memory limited to maximum supported by operating system. |
64-bit Support | Windows on Windows (WOW) | WOW |
|
|
|
Database Size | 4 GB | No Limit | No Limit | No Limit |
|
Partitioning |
|
|
|
| Support for large-scale databases |
Parallel Index Operations |
|
|
|
| Parallel processing of indexing operations |
Indexed Views |
|
|
|
| Indexed view creation is supported in all editions. Indexed view matching by the query processor is supported only in Enterprise Edition. |
High Availability |
|||||
Feature | Express | Workgroup | Standard | Enterprise | Comments |
Database Mirroring |
|
|
|
| Advanced high availability solution that includes fast failover and automatic client redirection |
Failover Clustering |
|
|
|
|
|
Backup Log-shipping |
|
|
|
| Data backup and recovery solution |
Online System Changes |
|
|
|
| Includes Hot Add Memory, dedicated administrative connection, and other online operations |
Online Indexing |
|
|
|
|
|
Online Restore |
|
|
|
|
|
Fast Recovery |
|
|
|
| Database available when undo operations begin |
Manageability |
|||||
Feature | Express | Workgroup | Standard | Enterprise | Comments |
Auto Tuning |
|
|
|
| Automatically tunes database for optimal performance. |
Profiler |
|
|
|
|
|
SQL Server Management Studio Express | See Comments |
|
|
| Easy-to-use graphical management tool available as a separate download or included with the SQL Server Express w/Advanced Services download |
Management Studio |
|
|
|
| Full management platform for SQL Server; includes Business Intelligence (BI) Development Studio. |
Database Tuning Advisor |
|
|
|
| Automatically suggests enhancements to your database architecture to improve performance. |
Serviceability Enhancements |
|
|
|
| Dynamic management views and reporting enhancements. |
Full-text Search | See comments |
|
|
| Available for SQL Server Express in the SQL Server Express w/ Advanced Services download |
SQL Agent Job Scheduling Service |
|
|
|
|
|
Security |
|||||
Feature | Express | Workgroup | Standard | Enterprise | Comments |
Advanced Auditing, Authentication, and Authorization |
|
|
|
|
|
Data Encryption and Key Management |
|
|
|
| Built-in data encryption for advanced data security. |
Integration with Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer |
|
|
|
| Scans your system to check for common security vulnerabilities. |
Integration with Microsoft Update |
|
|
|
|
|
Programmability |
|||||
Feature | Express | Workgroup | Standard | Enterprise | Comments |
Stored Procedures, Triggers, and Views |
|
|
|
|
|
T-SQL Enhancements |
|
|
|
| Includes exception handing, recursive queries, and support for new data types. |
Common Language Runtime and .NET Integration |
|
|
|
|
|
User-defined Types |
|
|
|
| Extend the server with your own custom data types. |
Native XML |
|
|
|
| Includes XML indexing and full-text XML search. |
XQuery |
|
|
|
|
|
Notification Services |
|
|
|
| Allows the building of advanced subscription and publication applications. |
Service Broker |
|
|
|
|
|
Integration and Interoperability | |||||
Feature | Express | Workgroup | Standard | Enterprise | Comments |
Import/Export |
|
|
|
|
|
Integration Services with Basic Transforms |
|
|
|
| Provides graphical extract, transform, and load (ETL) capabilities. |
Integration Services Advanced Transforms |
|
|
|
| Includes data mining, text mining, and data cleansing. |
Merge Replication |
|
|
|
|
|
Transactional Replication |
|
|
|
|
|
Oracle Replication |
|
|
|
| Transactional replication with an Oracle database as a publisher |
Web Services (HTTP Endpoints) |
|
|
|
| Support for native Web services, Web Services Description Language (WSDL), and Web authentication |
Business Intelligence |
|||||
Feature |
Express |
Workgroup |
Standard |
Enterprise |
Comments |
Report Server | See Comments |
|
|
| Report Server is available for SQL Server Express in the SQL Server Express with Advanced Services download. |
Report Builder |
|
|
|
| End-user reporting tool |
Reporting Data Sources | 1
|
|
|
|
|
Scale Out Report Servers |
|
|
|
|
|
Data Driven Subscriptions |
|
|
|
|
|
Infinite Clickthrough |
|
|
|
|
|
Data Warehousing |
|
|
|
|
|
Star Query Optimization |
|
|
|
|
|
SQL Analytical Functions |
|
|
|
|
|
BI Development Studio | See Comments 2 |
|
|
| Integrated development environment for building and debugging data integration, OLAP, data mining, and reporting solutions. |
Enterprise Management Tools |
|
|
|
| Integration with SQL Management Studio, SQL Server Profiler, SQL Server Agent, Backup/Restore. |
Native Support for Web Services |
|
|
|
| Allows access to data from any device. |
Analysis Services |
|
|
|
| Powerful analytics and data mining capabilities. |
Unified Dimensional Model (UDM) |
|
|
|
| Enterprise business data model enables fast, interactive, ad hoc analysis of large data sets. Builds smarter reports that leverage centralized business logic and key performance indicators (KPIs), as well as the performance of UDM. |
Business Analytics |
|
|
|
| Multidimensional Expression (MDX) scripts and MDX debugger, .NET stored procedures, Time Intelligence, KPI Framework. |
Advanced Business Analytics |
|
|
|
| Account intelligence, metadata translation, perspective and semi-additive measures. |
Proactive Caching |
|
|
|
| Provides automated caching for greater scalability and performance. |
Advanced Data Management |
|
|
|
| Partitioned cubes, parallel processing, server synchronization. |
Full Writeback Support |
|
|
|
| Dimension and cell writeback |
Data Mining |
|
|
|
| Nine algorithms including decision and regression trees, clustering, logistic and linear regression, neural networks, naive bayes, association, sequence clustering, and time series. Build smarter reports that leverage centralized business logic and KPIs, as well as the performance of UDM. |
Advanced Performance Tuning |
|
|
|
| Additional options for tuning data mining models for the highest accuracy, performance, and scalability. |
SQL Server Integration Services Data Flow Integration |
|
|
|
| Perform data mining prediction and training operations directly in your operational data pipelines. |
Text Mining |
|
|
|
| Convert unstructured text data to structured data for analysis via reporting, online analytical processing (OLAP), or data mining. |