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Using SSMS or similar... without a server

  • August 30, 2019 at 8:19 pm

    #3675883

    This is possibly a very silly question (the clue is in the name), but is it possible to use SSMS or similar without a server?

    I have SSMS 2008 on my laptop for accessing data when I'm logged into a particular network. The rest of the time it just points at nothing, and I use it for writing scripts just to save time when I'm at work.

    However... I'm trying to do some analysis on an excel dataset that's an absolute pain in excel, but would be a piece of cake in SQL. Is there any way to set up a local folder as a 'server', or get that excel data in somehow as a table?

    I'm expecting not, and that this post invites some mockery. Go for it! : )

    Thanks in advance.

  • August 30, 2019 at 8:41 pm

    #3675890

    Mockery? Everybody was a noob at one point. I've been fighthing with SQL Server for about 10 years and I still ask silly questions.

    No, without the data engine installed on your local machine, you wouldn't be able to do that, because SSMS just passes the SQL statement to the data engine/SQL Server instance for compilation and execution. And on your computer, you have no SQL Server instance.

    You could download a developer version of SQL Server for free and install it, and you would be all set.

  • August 30, 2019 at 8:54 pm

    #3675892

    No, that is not possible.

    But you can download and install of Express Edition, which is free, to your laptop.

    [font="Times New Roman"]Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, www.sommarskog.se[/font]

  • August 30, 2019 at 9:42 pm

    #3675893

    Thanks!

    Unfortunately I don't have admin rights so I'll have to get IT to do it next time I'm onsite. Still... that'll super handy for the future.

    (I've got issues with this website displaying properly, and I thought I'd already responded, so you may get two thanks...

  • August 30, 2019 at 9:43 pm

    #3675894

    Thanks : )

  • September 1, 2019 at 1:22 am

    #3676105

    Erland Sommarskog wrote:

    No, that is not possible.

    But you can download and install of Express Edition, which is free, to your laptop.

    Better than that, download and install the Developer's Edition of SQL Server and set it to the 2008 Compatibility Level.  It's also free.

    --Jeff Moden

    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • September 1, 2019 at 6:40 pm

    #3676193

    I am not sure that Developer Edition is applicable here.  Jack the Cat talks about doing analysis of data. That smells production to me. And Developer Edition is not licensed for production use. Express Edition is.

    [font="Times New Roman"]Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, www.sommarskog.se[/font]

  • September 1, 2019 at 10:06 pm

    #3676227

    Erland Sommarskog wrote:

    I am not sure that Developer Edition is applicable here.  Jack the Cat talks about doing analysis of data. That smells production to me. And Developer Edition is not licensed for production use. Express Edition is.

    You're right.  When he said "some analysis work", I was thinking that he was developing code to do the analysis work and the intent was to put the code into production.  If he's producing final product with it, then I totally agree... that would definitely not fall within the bounds of the Development Edition License.

    --Jeff Moden

    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

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