Does it work with Express Edition ?

Roberto

Does Sql Compare 5 work with Sql Server 2005 Express Edition ?

Is there any problem or difference when it works with this Express Edition ?

Regards,
Roberto Sepúlveda

Brian Donahue

Hello Roberto,

No, it will work just as well with SQL Express as it does with SQL Server 2005. Just remember to undo some of the security restrictions if you have trouble connecting. For instance, the surface area configurion by default will not allow remote connections, TCP protocol may be disabled, etc.

Roberto

Perfect !!!

Thanks a lot Brian

baus

I am having a hard time getting any of the red gate tools to authenticate against SQL Express (version which ships with Visual Studio). I did the following:

* Enabled TCP/IP access
* Enabled Windows Authentication
* Tested connection from within Visual Studio
* Authenticated RedGate against server running SQL Server 2000

One odd thing is Red Gate seems to be creating A LOT of connections to the server (like hundreds) when I run netstat -na. What causes this?

I'm not sure who to proceed here. I think the Red Gate tools would be useful for my work, but I haven't been able to get out of the starting gate.

baus

I found the problem. I had set the TCP/IP NoDelay using SQL Server Configuration Manager.

SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration
-> Protocols for SQLEXPRESS
->TCP/IP
->No Delay

I'll give you that the Microsoft documentation is sketchy on this option (says they don't implement it). My guess is it turns off Nagel at the socket level. That would explain why the socket is hanging. Generally Nagel hurts performance on non-interactive protocols, but disabling it requires that you flush your socket buffers.

There is some information on Nagel on my web site here: http://www.baus.net/on-tcp_cork

Brian Donahue

Good one!

Thanks...

baus

I'm sorry, I might have given you a red herring. I'm still not totally sure what is going on here. If manually put the IP address in the dialog box (192.168.x.x or 127.0.0.1) then it doesn't work. If I select the host name from the combo box, it doesn't work. But if I select Hostname\SQLEXPRESS from the combo box it works.

Again the strange thing is in the cases where it doesn't work, the tool attempts thousands of connections by changing the outbound *client* port address up to port 5000. It looks like it is doing a scan. This actually causes a bit of a DoS and no other clients can connect, until the connections are closed.

Brian Donahue

Hello,

Yes -- SQLEXPRESS instances are always identified as a named instance rather than a default instance. So you must name the instance in the form of HOSTNAME\SQLEXPRESS. If SQL Server Discovery can be used, SQL Compare should automatically detect the SQLEXPRESS instance.

I would imagine that ADO .NET can potentially cause a lot of network traffic when trying to detect SQL Servers on your network.