I was looking for a ASP.Net hosting provider who would allow hosting of MSDE databases for development purposes on a web site. So far I haven't found any.

They offer Access 2000 but not MSDE, and that is quite strange to me.

 

Look for MSSQL 2000 instead of  MSDE because MSDE is the developer's edition.  That would be illegal to host with MSDE.  Check out WebHost4life.com for example.

Plus, I believe there are constraints on MSDE vs. MSSQL 2000.

MSDE is a subset of SQL Server 2000.  MSDE limitations are:

Database size limited to 2 GB
Simultaneous connections limited to 5 (connections, not users)
Not licensed to use Enterprise Manager

Otherwise, it is virtually the same.  If you are developing for MSDE, you will have no problem hosting with SQL Server 2000.

Note that IT IS NOT ILLEGAL to host with MSDE; several Microsoft products/programs actually require or encourage the use of MSDE in a hosting environment.  (Windows SharePoint Services includes MSDE and the minimum requirements for the Web Presence Provider program for database hosting can be met with MSDE.)

Of course, we use full SQL Server for our shared hosting services but we offer MSDE for clients that co-location or choose a dedicated server.  For many applications, MSDE is fine and the licensing/costs are very advantageous (MSDE is FREE).

Quote, "Some novice users might wonder whether you could use either MSDE 2000 or the Personal Edition as a low-cost alternative to SQL Server Standard Edition for a small work group. Don't do it! This practice is illegal."

This article was from 11/1/2002, has that changed?  Wouldn't that make it illegal for a shared hosting service?

Read this URL on Microsoft's service provider website:

http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/programs/aspnetrequirements.mspx

In part, it says "Deploy Windows Server 2003, SQL Server or MSDE 2000, and the .NET Framework version 1.1" as requirements for becoming a certified ASP.NET Hosting provider.  Hardly illegal when Microsoft lists it outright as a requirement.

I think you may be confusing corporate/business licensing of MSDE with hosting.  Hosting is different and there are specific rules from Microsoft but not many (even today) understand them.

 

DougV wrote:

Quote, "Some novice users might wonder whether you could use either MSDE 2000 or the Personal Edition as a low-cost alternative to SQL Server Standard Edition for a small work group. Don't do it! This practice is illegal." This article was from 11/1/2002, has that changed?  Wouldn't that make it illegal for a shared hosting service?

rspivack wrote:

...Simultaneous connections limited to 5 (connections, not users)

You are very wrong here.  You can have limitless connections.  However you are limited to 5 concurrent workloads.  This basically means that it can only process 5 SQL statements at one time.  A sixth or more is put into a queue and is not acted upon until one of the first 5 completes.

Yes, that is what I meant to say.  Most people mistakenly think it is a 5 user or 5 connection limit when it is only a performance throttle.

P.S.  SQL Server 2005 Express (the sucessor to MSDE based on Yukon/SQL Server 2005) has even higher limits and less limitations.

 

the help desk wrote:

rspivack wrote: ...Simultaneous connections limited to 5 (connections, not users) You are very wrong here.  You can have limitless connections.  However you are limited to 5 concurrent workloads.  This basically means that it can only process 5 SQL statements at one time.  A sixth or more is put into a queue and is not acted upon until one of the first 5 completes.

I have 2 sites hosted by http://www.hostdepartment.com
They have support for SQL Server 2000 and MySQL

DougV wrote:

Look for MSSQL 2000 instead of  MSDE because MSDE is the developer's edition.

MSDE is not the developer edition of SQL Server, the developer edition is full Enterprise edition with five concurrent users.  Hope this helps.

What does "DE" stand for in "MSDE"?

"DE" in MSDE stands for Data Engine it was created as a web back end for Access users.  Hope this helps.

MSDE was not originally created specifically for the web. It was created to give ISV and application developers an alternative to using the "JET" (MS Access) database engine bundled with their code.

By providing MSDE as a SQL Server compatible (subset) engine that is available free for developers, Microsoft was trying to give legions of VB and other programmers (both professional and part-time hobbiest/adventurers) a smoother migration path onto the SQL Server engine.

As ISV apps are written to use MSDE, scaling them up to larger environments and/or the web is much easier than upsizing Acess database applications to SQL Server which requires some conversion because Jet to SQL conversion is not a slam dunk.

This strategy is even more evident in the beta versions of Visual Studio.NET and Visual Web Designer which have tightly integrated SQL Server 2005 Express (the sucessor to MSDE) which virtually eliminates the need to use Jet or anything else even for simple database applications.

I think I'm finding out there is some history associated with MSDE.  There's many broken Microsoft Links at their site, but older sources elsewhere seemed to indicate it as more restrictive.  Newer info seems to agree with what you've said above.  I've briefly read about Server 2005 Express, it seems to be pretty generous.

Marvin's DotNetNuke cheap web hosting - your choice SQL 2000 or MSDE. free install for DotNetNuke, Community forum, Click on install for starter kits and more.