Would my environment require a paid SQL Server license?

Question

I've written a plugin for a game that connects to a PHP page and sends it information from the game. The PHP page takes this information, connects to a SQL Server 2005 instance, then inserts the information given into a variety of tables.

I am using Apache (WampServer) to host the PHP page and SQL Server 2005 Express for hosting the database server. This setup is 'okay' as far as development goes, but I wish to release this plugin to other players. Their version of the plugin would be identical to mine in that it would connect to a remote PHP page to either add data to the database or query information from the database.

Since 'clients' are not directly hitting the database, would SQL Server 2005 require a paid license of some type for me to 'legally' use it in this way? What is the standard definition of 'production server?'

Note: I am not making any money from this plugin or PHP page however the game the plugin is written for does require a paid subscription. I am not the developer or in any way affiliated with the game however (other than a paid subscription myself).

Answer 1

SqlExpress is free no matter what the deployment, you just have to accept the limitations

• Single CPU
• 1GB RAM Max Usage
• 4GB Database size limit (not including logs)

Based on your description I think that the SQLExpress would work fine for your application.

Here's a reference from MS http://www.microsoft.com/Sqlserver/2005/en/us/compare-features.aspx