Software Editions of Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise
Summary
Alongside the standard Enterprise Edition of Adaptive Server Enterprise, there are three other editions including two that are free. This article describes the limitations imposed on these three editions, and where to get hold of the free versions.
Introduction
The Enterprise Edition is the full-blown version of Adaptive Server Enterprise, available under license from Sybase or your local reseller. There are three other editions of ASE, all with particular limitations built into the installed database server.
The Small Business Edition is available at a lower cost than the Enterprise Edition. It is licensed for production deployment.
The free Express Edition is for Linux only, and may be deployed for production purposes.
The free Developers Edition is available for Windows, Solaris and Linux. It is for development usage only, and may not be used for production purposes.
Developers Edition of ASE
The Developers Edition is available for version 15 as a free download for Windows, Sun Solaris and Linux platforms. Sybase legally prohibit its use for production deployment, and practically ensure this by limiting concurrent user connections to 25. This version is also limited to usage of one database engine i.e. the Adaptive Server can only use one CPU on the host machine. There are no limits on maximum memory or database size.
The Developers Edition is particularly useful for installing a small database server on a laptop or home PC for learning purposes. Database developers with an eye on getting into administration will benefit particularly from building a working development environment on their local machine. The edition comes with Sybase Central which can be used to extract a data model from the company's development Adaptive Server (usually the full-blown Enterprise Edition in larger companies) and applying it to the local machine. Once their PB or VB application is pointed at the new local database server, there is a good hands-on learning experience from admin tasks such as sizing transaction logs and setting up backup procedures
Express Edition for Linux
The Express Edition is available as a free download for Linux platforms. Although its licensed for production deployment, this edition is suitable only for smaller projects due to the inbuilt limitations. Express Edition is limited to running one database engine, with a maximum of 2GB memory and 5GB disk space. However, there is no limit to concurrent user connections.
Sybase provide a list of articles and resources on their web site to assist setting up linux environment. In addition, Rob Verschoor has some good linux information on his site.
Small Business Edition
The Small Business Edition is available for purchase from the Sybase web site. It is licensed for production deployment. Its limited to four database engines (CPUs), and 25 concurrent user connections. There are no memory or database size limits. Some options such as High Availability are not available as additional licensing options with this edition.
Submitted: 10 Nov 2006
Author: Caroline Walsh, Five Salmon Consultancy
(c) Five Salmon 2006