ACT! 2008 Premium ST or EX??

[Skaye]

Hi,

We have a group that will be using a brand new ACT! 2008 Premium database hosted on a SQL server.  We have already built the server, but it currently does not have any ACT! software installed on it.  We are confused, however, on which edition of ACT! 2008 Premium we need.  I am assuming we need the ST edition since it's bundled with SQL Server 2005, but the EX (Express) edition also states that SQL Server 2005 Standard is supported. 

We purchased a version that appears to be the EX version, as when I install it on a test machine, it installs SQL Express.  Which version do we need?  Regardless of the version, do all client machines have to have a local installation of SQL Express even though they will be accessing a non-local SQL database?

Thanks!

[Royel]

I will try to shed some light here. MSSQL Express will install on each workstation. While it is not required to share a database on the server, it is required if the user wants to run a local database.

Both EX and ST version of ACT! 2008 will install the ACT! instance of MSSQL on the server, either the express or standard version depending on which version you bought.

As to which version to buy, that is mainly determined by the number of users and the size of the database. The suggested number of users for ACT! 2008 EX is a maximum of 30 users even though MSSQL Express does not impose a limit on the number of users. MSSQL does impose a limit on the database size and I believe that limit is 4 Gbytes.

My guess is that ACT! 2008 EX would be what you want.

Roy Laudenslager

Techbenders

www.techbenders.com

[Skaye]

I think I understand.  Since we already have the SQL server built (using SQL Standard 2005) and we already have the EX edition, will the server installation detect this SQL install and skip the SQL Express installation? 

[Royel]

No, it will be installed anyway. It is a preconfigured instance for ACT! of the SQL server.

Roy Laudenslager

Techbenders

www.techbenders.com

[bleong]

To list more things about SQL Server Express:

• Only uses 1 GB of Memory
• Utilizes only 1 Processor on machine
• DB file (databaseName.adf) can only be 4 GB (as Royel wrote). Attachments, templates and dashboards don't count towards your max.

Ben Leong ACC

Accent Gold Solutions

www.accentgold.com

[GLComputing]

Sorry Roy, I always have an issue with people who use a 30-user figure as a prime difference between EX and ST. It's a marketing statement that really doesn't allow a user to accurately determine the correct version for them

The ONLY different between EX and ST is that ST includes MS SQL 2005 ST cals and will install SQL 2005 ST on a server OS.

If you have your own licenses of MS SQL (St or Ent), then Prem Ex can use it if you manually create an ACT! instance - Otherwise Prem Ex will simply install and use SQL 2005 Ex.

There is no difference in the ACT! product at all.

The differences betweek the SQL versions are listed here - http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/features/compare-features.mspx

The main advantages of ST (as Ben pointed out, and as per the link) are greater potential usage of available RAM, multiple processors and larger DB size (over 4GB)

So, unless you have 2 or more processors and 3GB or more of RAM, there will be no real difference... and if you just have 2 processors and 3GB RAM, you might choose EX to limit the resources for SQL allowing the rest to be used by the OS or other applications.

So, if you think you have a need for ST (other than just a larger database) for greater concurrent users or better performance, you need to make sure you have the hardware to take advantage of it.

[Skaye]

Thanks for everyone's contributions!

[Skaye]

Does anyone happen to know the part # for ACT! 2008 Premium ST?  We are looking for five-user packs if possible.  I see EX part no.'s all over the place, but I haven't seen any for the SQL Standard version.

[GLComputing]

Speak to a local ACT! Consultant - www.act.com/acc

They'll be able to get it for you

[yukon]

So if I already have SQL Server 2005 running on a SQL server for my other apps I use and I just purchased Act! Premium EX 2008.  What would be my steps to use my existing Sql Server and not install the SQL express?