I have two fresh Win2K3 boxes (Quad Core 2.5GHz, 4GB ram) which need SQL Server on them. I need to buy licenses/set them up but am not too sure of the application requirements other than that it wil be a single reasonably small website to start without too many other crazy requirements. Can I get away with Express 2008 or will this not take advantage of multiple processors/are there other limitations?
I do know both servers will host basically the same things with one used for staging and one for production; seems like a waste of processing power but that's the way it is.
So I need some version of SQL Server on both of them that will at least take advantage of the multicores and 4gb ram. What is the cheapest solution to implement here? I can rent copies from the host for $500-something a month but that seems ridiculous to me. Searching on Google finds physical copies of SQL Server 2005 for $250. Is this legit/will it work? Thanks.
BTW we don't have physical access and have to do everything through RD.