Ian Ringrose's questions

SQL server has a very high per core license cost, but for a lot of workloads benefits more from lots of RAM. his is now even more of the case with in-memory tables.

Even if a server with 4 cores cost more than a server with 16 cores, it may still be worth it for the saved license costs!

It seems to be that number of cores is now the new meaningless marketing number.

Given how cheap RAM is, I don’t consider 384GB to be a lot of Ram!

Update, thanks for everyone’s input, I have also just found Selecting a Processor for SQL Server 2014 on sqlperformance.com that covers the options well.

How do I backup a database snapshot, so I can restore it as another database (on same or different server?)

We do not wish to roll back to the snapshot, as we need both versions of the database active for testing upgrade scripts.

Is it true that we can’t allow any machine to sleep that may need to be accessed via a VPN connection?

(I am asking this on server fault as it is as much about VPN servers than about the end-user PCs sleeping)

see also How do I change the system wide collation setting in SQL Server 2005

Is there an easier way to change the system wide (temp db) collation setting in SQL Server 2008 other then a full restore?

If I do a full reinstall is there a quicker way of keeping my database other then doing a backup/restore.

(As this is a development PC, database downtime while this is being done is not an issue)

I cannot find anywhere conformation that filtered indexes are in editions of SQL Server 2008 other then developer and enterprise.

(Is the answer the same for SQL Server 2008 r2)

I have been told I need to install Sql Server 2008 r2 on my development PC, do I just install Sql Server 2008 and then let windows update install r2 – e.g. is it like any other service pack?

Our system admin person has just connected all our machines to the same single value using “Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator Version” He then mapped it as a "Dynamic disk" using "Disk Management" on the Storage node of the Computer Manager control panel.

We have been told that we all can read and write from it just like a file share, but that it is faster and needs less admin to setup.

Please can someone explain to me how the locking of files etc works?