Hi folks,I've got a client trying to budget for an ILM '2' deployment next year, and they're asking about which version of SQL Server 2008 they should be using, either Enterprise or Standard. Obviously a big difference in price. I'm looking for some guidance in determining which version is most appropriate. Given their user base is in the range of 30,000 to 50,000 users, I don't see a need for an Entreprise version, but I don't know if I'm missing something in terms of deciding factors. The deployment strategy at this point would be to have everything on a single server (services and databases).Thanks,Marc Marc Mac Donell, Senior Consultant (Identity Assurance), Avaleris Inc.

The deciding factor would be support for High Availability on the SQL Server but if you are thinking about running it all on one box than that is not on option anyway. We will be providing guidance around deployment and scalability as we get closer to release.BrjannThis posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

The above gives a detailed comparison between Standard and Enterprisehttp://download.microsoft.com/download/2/D/F/2DF66C0C-FFF2-4F2E-B739-BF4581CEE533/SQLServer2008EnterpriseandStandardFeature%20Compare.pdfFirst question is this SQL server going to be decicated to ILM 2 ( a good idea) or hosting other apps? If other apps then their requirements must also be taken into accountNext question what is your uptime goal? What kind of maintenance window will you have? The more uptime, and the smaller the maintenance window the more you will need online index rebuilds. which come with enterprise.Both standard and Enterprise support clustering, but Standard is only limited to two nodes. So if you have determined that you need a 2+1 cluster to hit performance and availability goals then you need Enterprise.If you use Mirroring, Enterprise doesa much better job since you have more options and it can use multiple threads.If you need to make database snapshots or use backup compressionthen you need Enterprise.If you need more than 4 processors (not cores, physical processors) then you need Enterprise.If you are doing Fuzzy Logic in SSIS or Advanced Data mining then you need Enterprise.There are also some features that don't directly impact ILM 2 but do impact the DBA's administering the solution ( such as multi-server management). So check with your DBA's to see if they need that.David Lundell www.ilmBestPractices.com