thanks for reply

if u can please check in help file of SQL 2005...in index of help if you can type instance supported and hit enter

you can find a topic multiple instances there it states that SQL server supports 50 instance for each Database engine , analysis services and reporting services i.e is 150 instances!!

i m bit confused with this line can you help me figure out exact meaning of what it is referring to?

any diff between multiple instance and max number of instanceS?