SQL Server Express Features
SQL Server 2008 Express is based on SQL Server, and supports most of the Database Engine features of that product.
Note
If you create and design a database in SQL Server Express, you can migrate this database to SQL Server. However, you will not be able to use the SQL Server Express database together with earlier versions of SQL Server. This includes SQL Server 2000.
SQL Server Express Feature Support
SQL Server Express supports most of the features and functionality of SQL Server. The following table lists some of the major features and components that are supported.
Stored Procedures |
SQL Server Configuration Manager |
Views |
Replication (as a subscriber only) |
Triggers |
Advanced Query Optimizer |
Cursors |
SMO/RMO |
sqlcmd and osql utilities |
Integration with Visual Studio 2005 |
Snapshot Isolation Levels |
Service Broker (as a client only)¹ |
Native XML support, including XQuery and XML Schemas |
SQL CLR |
Transact-SQL language support |
Multiple Active Result Sets (MARS) |
Dedicated Administrator Connection² |
Import/Export Wizard |
¹ SQL Server Express supports Service Broker, but direct communication between two SQL Server Express servers is not supported.
² The Dedicated Administrator Connection feature for SQL Server Express is supported with the trace flag 7806. For more information on trace flags and Dedicated Administrator Connection, and Using a Dedicated Administrator Connection in SQL Server Books Online.
.gif "Security note") Security Note |
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During setup of SQL Server Express a login is added for the BUILTIN\Users group. This allows all authenticated users of the computer to access the instance of SQL Server Express as a member of the public role. The BUILTIN\Users login can be safely removed to restrict Database Engine access to computer users who have individual logins or are members of other Windows groups with logins. |
SQL Server Features Not Supported in SQL Server Express
The following table lists the additional SQL Server database features that are not supported in this version of SQL Server Express. It also lists database features from previous versions of SQL Server that are not supported.
SQL Server features not supported in SQL Server Express |
SQL Server features from previous versions not supported in SQL Server Express |
|---|---|
Database mirroring |
SQL Mail |
Online restore |
Fail-over clustering |
Database snapshot |
Distributed partitioned views |
Parallel index operations |
VIA protocol support |
Mirrored media sets |
Log shipping |
Partitioning |
Parallel DBCC |
Address Windowing Extensions (AWE) |
Parallel Create Index |
Hot-add memory |
Enhanced Read Ahead and Scan |
Native HTTP SOAP access |
Indexed views (materialized views) |
SQL Mail and Database Mail |
Partitioned views |
Online Index Operations |
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SQL Server Agent and SQL Server Agent Service |
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The following list highlights the major SQL Server components that are not supported in SQL Server Express:
Reporting Services
Notification Services
Integration Services
Analysis Services
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OLAP Services / Data Mining