wirecreative wrote
I'd heard about SQL Express, but for some reason I thought that it was more limited, interms of the number of databases you can set-up in it, or the number of connections it can accept.
But if it's good for a server running 30+ sites, each with their own database, that is music to my ears.
Or does DNN only use one database for multiple sites?
Here is the comparison chart of the different SQL 2005 servers:
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/features/compare-features.mspx
SQL Express is not like the old MSDE 2000 database where it throttled your performace, the new version runs at full power. As long as the 4 GB database limit and 1 GB memory limit and 1 CPU limit works for you, it is a great FREE solution. I have a number of DNN sites running on a single database in SQL Express and have not had any problems. For basic sites, you could probably host hundreds if not thousands of sites in a single 4 GB database.
One not though, if you run a SQL server on the same box as the websites, you might use the management tool (free also) and set the max memory SQL Express can use so that it does not fill up all available memory. I run mine at 300 megs of RAM limit and it seems to work fine.
While there is a 4 GB limit per database, it does not limit the number of databases you have. I have about a dozen or so on mine at the moment.
DNN does keep "all" of its portals in a single database (which can be a pain at times), but that is "per" running instance. You can install DNN multiple times to have a different database for different portals but it will eat more memory that way.