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Is there any performanace/functional difference for using Windows 7 64 or Windows Server 2008R2 for SQL Server installation?

My server only has 8G Ram, Single CPU of 8 core and RAID 1 SAS.

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Why would you run a server/service on a End-User OS?

Maybe if you're a dev, then.. OK, I guess, for testing purposes, but otherwise you should install it on a Server-OS. They are build for these type of things and striped from all excess functions so more cycles and RAM could go to the providing of your service (SQL here)

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"Why would you run a server/service on a End-User OS?" The main reason is cost. Why pay for a server OS when you don't really need it? – Jaydee Dec 1 '11 at 16:54
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If you have only 1 CPU , then you might as well use SQL 2008 R2 EXPRESS.

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There are other limits than just single socket on Express edition. The 10GB database size limit jumps to mind. – MDMarra Dec 1 '11 at 16:27
The biggest "Express" limitation from my point of view is the 1GB RAM limit. – Jaydee Dec 1 '11 at 16:52
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I'm looking at this at the moment, but will only be serving 6 people with SQL 2008 R2 EXPRESS. The hardware will be quad core + 4 or 8GB RAM, so it'll have plenty spare to do a few other things. I'll probably go with Windows 7.

I've been running an office mailserver for a couple of years on Windows 7 with no problems whatsoever.

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People are much less likely to accidentally log in to a server OS and try browsing the Internet, use as a workstation, etc.

The server OS also has a lot of UI stuff turned off for better performance as well as optimized for background processes. You can make the client OS behave the same way with some work but at that point why not just get a SQL instance through a hosting company or Windows Azure?

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There are no performance differences between Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, as long as you have no more than 2 physical CPUs (Windows 7 will not use more than that); the number of core is not relevant, so a single 8-core CPU will not hit the licensing restrictions.

But, as others have stated, Windows 7 was not really designed to do this kind of job.

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I had this problem before there is no real reason not to install it on a Win7 box as long as the Win7 is almost just dedicated to servicing as an SQL server. I dont mean dont run any other processes on it but don't let a user go on Facebook on it and download torrent.

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