SQL Server and Windows 2008 Server Core Installation
Posted Under: Information, Performance, SQL Server 2008, Windows 2008
Microsoft has introduced an option in Windows 2008 installation which is called Server Core. This option allows you to install a smallest possible footprint of Operating System for a specific role to be performed by the server like File Server, Domain Controller etc. This installation does not have usual graphical interface of OS like Windows Shell, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs etc. Interestingly, it does not even have Internet explorer too. With this stripped down installation, you will have less vulnerable server which can be managed by command line. This can be good news for System Administrators which maintain their servers and categorize them in their specific roles like Domain Controller, Mail Server, etc.
So far so good, right? Wrong! The bad news is that this installation does not contain .NET Framework also!!! which means you cannot run any software which is written in .NET on this OS. The direct impact of this is that you cannot run SQL Server on it!!! because SQL Server has dependencies on windows components which are not part of the Server Core installation and hence it can not be run on it. As per Microsoft experts here
“Server Core is not intended to be an application platform. It will ship with a set of fixed function roles that can be installed (AD, DNS DHCP, File, Print, Virtualization, IIS, Media Services, LDS). Exchange Server, SQL Server, etc. are unlikely to be roles on Server Core because of dependencies they have on components of Windows Server that are not part of Core. “
Reader Comments
Hi Namwar,
Great to see that you are still passionate about…….databases and SQL Server…..
I am in the UK staying in Reading and was interested in meeting with you.
Please send me your contact details and I will call you to sync. up.
Thanks,
Vaqar
Hi!
Now it’s possible, but as far as I know, unsupported. Here’s a guide + video: http://www.nullsession.com/2009/06/02/sql-server-2008-on-server-core-2008-r2/
With the release of Windows Server 2008 R2 even the Core installation will have .Net. This makes it possible to install SQL Server as shown in http://www.nullsession.com/2009/06/02/sql-server-2008-on-server-core-2008-r2/ but it’s still unsupported.