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Do you use SQL Server Developer Edition on server-class machines in DEV and STAGING environments?

I am working on a large project where (if it passes the proof of concept stage) we will have several large geographically distributed enterprise class database servers running SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition.

We will have a production environment will initially have 3 servers, our Staging environment will have a minimum of 3 servers, and our Development environment will have 1 server (hosting three instances).

I was under the impression that we would only need to acquire Enterprise licences for the actual production servers, and we could get by with developer edition in our developer and staging environments because they are not "production".

Other sources have told me that we need to have an enterprise licence on all of the above mentioned machines, and that the developer edition is only meant for a single developer on their workstation.

Since developer edition has all the sexy features of Enterprise, I can't really see the value of it on a workstation class machine, especially for developing and testing the type of high availability system we are building.

If we have to fork out Enterprise licences for a dev server, that will just about kill our proof of concept stage, thus killing the project. Forcing an enterprise licence on a staging environment will make management just want to skip staging altogether.

bobs
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datagod
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2 Answers2

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Development edition licenses can be used to install anything that isn't production, provided that everyone that connects to the server has their own development license. MSDN licenses can be used as well if everyone has an MSDN license.

mrdenny
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Short answer: yes.

Slightly longer answer: yes as long as you have one developer license for every person accessing the development and staging servers.

From the Licensing Quick Reference Guide:

The SQL Server 2012 Developer Edition is a full-function version of the SQL Server software—with all the features and capabilities of the Enterprise edition—licensed under the Developer Tools model, which is a “per user” model. One license is required for each person that accesses or uses the software.

When using SQL Server software for development, test or demonstration purposes, only the users are licensed and there is no need for a corresponding license for the actual server systems running SQL Server software in this case.

As long as only licensed users have access to the software, customers can install as many copies of the software on any number of servers that are used exclusively for development, test or demonstration purposes. This is significant, because it allows customers to run the software on multiple devices (for testing purposes, for example) without having to license each non-production server system

Community
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Greenstone Walker
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