Selecting a SQL Server Data Source

If you will be building your workflow applications on Microsoft® SQL Server™ databases, you can use either of two versions of SQL Server, depending on your requirements. For small applications with few users, you can use a Microsoft® SQL Server™2000 Desktop Engine database. The desktop engine is available on the Microsoft® Office XP Premium CD-ROM. For large applications that will have many users, the standard or enterprise installation of SQL Server 7.0 or SQL Server 2000 is recommended.

SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine databases use a database engine that is similar to SQL Server, but a desktop engine database does not support as many users. Optimal performance using the desktop engine is achieved with five or fewer concurrent users. The advantage to using the desktop engine is that you can use it to create a scalable SQL Server-compatible database from an Access Data Project (ADP). It is a good tool for prototyping and designing an application that you eventually will migrate to SQL Server, because you can run a desktop engine database under SQL Server without modification.

SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine, however, provides no development or management tools. If you must access database tables directly, you must use the osql command-line utility or the SQL Data Management Objects (SQL-DMO). SQL-DMO, included with the desktop engine, provides a means to do virtually everything programmatically that is done with SQL Server Enterprise Manager. For more information, see SQL Server Books Online, osql utility, and the desktop engine Help in Microsoft® Access.

See Also

Setting up Microsoft Office XP Developer | Setting up the Developer Design Environment | Setting up the Server Environment | Upgrading the Redistributable Desktop Engine to SQL Server