Mistake #37: choosing Enterprise edition just because a database is large or uses advanced features. Enterprise licensing is costly, so each requirement should be tested against actual edition limits and capacity needs. section 8.5
Check the requirement before selecting the edition:
- Database size alone does not require Enterprise; Standard supports databases up to 524 PB. section 8.5
- Capacity assumptions require capacity planning; Standard supports up to 128 GB of RAM and 24 processor cores (or four sockets). section 8.5
- Availability groups, synchronous replicas, and SSIS should be checked as specific edition requirements rather than accepted as automatic reasons for Enterprise. section 8.5
- Developer edition provides Enterprise features for development, but its license does not permit production use. section 8.5
MagicChoc's 2 TB Marketing database
MagicChoc selected Enterprise for a 2 TB database requiring a synchronous availability-group replica and SSIS. Capacity planning might show that Standard's 16-core capacity is sufficient; at the cited list prices, that choice would save $89,424 compared with Enterprise. section 8.5
Listing 8.3 Creating a database that requires Enterprise edition
CREATE DATABASE EnterpriseDatabase ;
GO
USE EnterpriseDatabase ;
GO
CREATE PARTITION FUNCTION PartFunc (INT)
AS RANGE LEFT FOR VALUES (100, 200, 300) ;
CREATE PARTITION SCHEME PartScheme
AS PARTITION PartFunc
ALL TO ('PRIMARY') ;
CREATE TABLE VeryLargeTable (
KeyColumn INT PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY,
OtherColumn VARCHAR(50)
) ON PartScheme(KeyColumn) ;
Shows a partitioned table created with a partition function and scheme, illustrating a database feature that requires Enterprise edition. section 8.5
Listing 8.4 Discovering Enterprise-only features
USE EnterpriseDatabase ; GO SELECT feature_name FROM sys.dm_db_persisted_sku_features ;
Uses sys.dm_db_persisted_sku_features to discover Enterprise-only features persisted in a database. section 8.5
Avoid gold images that install every instance as Enterprise. Parameterized PowerShell installation scripts can select Developer, Standard, or Enterprise per environment while preserving consistency. section 8.8
