Best practices for deploying SQL Server Express

Michael posted on Thursday, July 30, 2009

Hi all

I'm just wondering what the recommended approach is for deploying SQL Server Express. Do you:

Create a new instance, and if so what do you call it? eg. company name, application name etc
Let the user choose an existing instance?

Regards
Michael

rsbaker0 replied on Thursday, July 30, 2009

I can't necessarily speak to whether it is a best practice, but I actually prefer the default instance rather than an explicitly named one. I've had minor connectivity issues with named instances.

It's not that it doesn't work, it's just that the computer name alone is sufficent for the default instance.

Michael replied on Thursday, July 30, 2009

Thanks for your reply.

One of my customer's server's already had SQL Server Express installed with just one custom-named instance. So, because there was no SQLExpress instance, does the custom one become the default? Or, do you mean to install the database to SQLExpress regardless? Does the computer name alone still work if there is more than one instance?

rsbaker0 replied on Thursday, July 30, 2009

Michael:
Thanks for your reply.

One of my customer's server's already had SQL Server Express installed with just one custom-named instance. So, because there was no SQLExpress instance, does the custom one become the default? Or, do you mean to install the database to SQLExpress regardless? Does the computer name alone still work if there is more than one instance?

Let me check this out on some of our test servers tomorrow, but I think this Microsoft MSDN article covers it:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165614(SQL.90).aspx