Many enterprises still use various versions of Windows 9x in various scenarios. Therefore, to use SQL Server 2000 in these environments, we must first understand the performance and limitations of Windows 9x.
Client software
SQL Server 2000 client software is included in Enterprise Edition, Standard Edition, and Professional Edition. You can only use the client tool on the SQL Server 2000 installation disk to install the client software to the client, or use the connectivity option (included in the SQL Server client access license ). This software manages SQL Server and supports ad hoc queries in SQL databases.
This software has some limitations. Windows 98 and Windows 95 do not support browsers, which means that the SQL Server dialog box cannot display the Server list. Therefore, when you use the registration server, the registration server wizard, and the query analyzer login dialog box, you need to manually enter the correct server name.
Similarly, SQL Server tools such as Enterprise Manager and Server proxy must be set by the user to detect service status intervals.
Server software
All Win9x operating systems cannot provide an efficient environment for the Enhanced SQL Server 2000 system, because the features of company-level applications are unavailable here. Therefore, you cannot use SQL Server 2000 of the Enterprise edition on Win9x, but you can still use the personal edition or desktop engine edition.
SQL Server 2000 Personal Edition and Desktop Engine are suitable for small-scale projects that need to be independently installed as Security Assurance (for example, use win98 research institutions only if there is not enough funds ).
The SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine is a redistributing version of the relational database engine that does not require additional licenses. However, the desktop engine has some serious limitations, including the following:
It cannot be started automatically
It does not have event logs
SQL Server Performance Monitor unavailable
It does not contain any SQL Server commands, nor has a graphical user interface.
It does not support named pipes, Banyan VINES servers, or AppleTalk Net-Libraries
It does not support Windows NT integrated identity authentication
The Win98 client that uses multi-protocol encryption cannot connect to SQL Server.
It does not support asynchronous I/O, so it cannot use some I/O optimizations
