Hello,

Today is supposed to be my day off! ;)

I get a call this AM from my network admin who is asking if he can install SQL Server express 2005 as an additional instance of sql server on a server that already has sql server 2008 in place and acting as a mirror for a principal/mirror pair for my sharepoint farm.

Has anyone added a sql server express 2005 instance over/in addition to an already in place sql server 2008 (standard edition I think) instance?

Why? For his vCenter virtual machine stuff -- sql server express 2005 is included in the install, and would do all the config stuff auto-magically - which is his draw...

I did some looking around and i think the answer is just make sure the db engine is the only thing installed, and not the share components, or management studio stuff, etc, since it would be downgrading the version and 2008 should be backwards compatible anyway, no?

Thoughts?

Thanks! :)

-Matt G.

You can do this

But personally I would put the database on the 2008 instance and set the database to run in 2005 compatability mode, which is 90

If I remember correctly, as long as you install older versions first, then SQL works pretty good. Also ask the people at SQLServerCentral.com. They have the largest collection of SQL experts that I have seen.