Chapter 3. SQL Server 2005 Setup and Deployment

IN THIS CHAPTER

• SQL Server 2005 Editions

• Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2005

• SQL Server 2005 Setup Enhancements

• Upgrading to SQL Server 2005

Setup and deployment are integral to a product, and they are two of the important factors that determine the user experience and customer satisfaction. Setup is the "first date" with the product; as you will see in this chapter, Microsoft has gone to great lengths to make SQL Server 2005 setup as "romantic" as possible. A successful installation and the ease of deployment add value to the product and increase the overall customer satisfaction.

Responding to the feedback received from customers and SQL Server product support services professionals, Microsoft has done a lot of work to make SQL Server 2005 setup more robust and user friendly, to reduce the instances of setup failures, to better handle error conditions, and to help users deploy multiple features or components from the SQL Server 2005 family.

In this chapter, you'll learn about the various editions of SQL Server 2005, hardware and software requirements for SQL Server 2005, new setup and deployment experience and features, deprecated and discontinued features, breaking and behavior changes to the database engine, and upgrading from previous releases. Let's begin by looking at various SQL Server 2005 editions.