14 DAY TRIAL // The Express versions of SQL Server 2008 R2 were the first releases that went live on the Microsoft Download Center, even before the company managed to announce officially that it had wrapped up the latest iteration of its data platform, almost a week behind. In fact, it was because SQL Server 2008 R2 Express RTM downloads were offered early that I have been able to correctly predict the subsequent release-to-manufacturing announcement from Microsoft.
“The final release of SQL Server 2008 R2 was made publically available last week on April 21, 2010! SQL Server Express continues to ship in 4 different packages, but we made several changes to the installation wizard to simply the installation process,” Peter Saddow, program manager, revealed. “The Process has not changed since the November CTP, except some messages have been changed to indicate the final release.”
On April 21st, the Microsoft Download Center started offering Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM – Express; Microsoft SQL Server2008 R2 RTM - Express with Advanced Services; Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM - Express with Management Tools and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM - Management Studio Express. Customers that have already been leveraging the Redmond company’s free version of SQL Server are undoubtedly already familiar with the downloads.
Prior to releasing SQL Server 2008 R2 to manufacturing, Microsoft was offering SQL Server 2008 Express Edition with Service Pack 1, SQL Server 2008 Express with Tools, SQL Server 2008 Express with Tools, and SQL Server 2008 Management Studio Express. A key difference with the advent of SQL Server 2008 R2 is the fact that the database-size limit has been bumped to 10 GB.
Saddow has an interesting blog post about the deployment options of SQL Server 2008 R2 Express, including performing a clean install, upgrading or embedding the data platform. “Some SQL Server configuration settings can only be set during install. Once the installation is complete, you cannot change these settings. Any change to the configuration settings would require a new installation of the product. Some settings directly impact how data is stored and organized so changing the configuration setting would require significant data manipulation work in order to preserve the data,” Saddow explained.
SQL Server 2008 R2 Express RTM is available for download here.