The SQL Server 2005 product family has now been released, so with four editions available, what does this mean for SQL Server Integration Services? Starting from the bottom we have the free edition known as Express, and the entry level Workgroup edition, and neither include the full IS product. Workgroup includes the Import/Export Wizard, but nothing more, so for simple loading and extraction of data this should suffice, but you will not be able to build packages.
To get the full power of Integration Services you need to start with Standard edition. This includes the BI Development Studio, for building your own packages, and fully functional IDE integrated into Visual Studio. (You get the VS 2005 IDE with the product). All core functions will be available but with a restricted set of transformations and tasks. The SQL Server 2005 Features Comparison describes standard edition as having basic transforms, compared to Enterprise which includes the advanced transforms. I think basic is a little harsh considering the power you get with Standard, but the advanced covers the truly ground-breaking capabilities of data mining, text mining and cleansing or fuzzy transforms. The power of performing these operations within your ETL pipeline should not be underestimated, but not all processes will require these capabilities, so it seems like a reasonable delineation.
Thankfully there are no feature limitations or artificial governors within Standard compared to Enterprise. The same control flow and data flow engines underpin both editions, with the same configuration and deployment options allowing you to work seamlessly between environments and editions if using the common components. In fact there are no govenors at all in IS, so whilst the SQL engine is limited to 4 CPUs in Standard edition, IS is only limited by the base operating system.
The advanced transforms only available with Enterprise edition:
- Data Mining Training Destination
- Data Mining Query Component
- Fuzzy Grouping
- Fuzzy Lookup
- Term Extraction
- Term Lookup
The advanced tasks only available with Enterprise edition:
So in summary, if you want SQL Server Integration Services, you need SQL Server 2005 Standard edition, and for the more advanced tasks and transforms you need SQL Server 2005 Enterprise edition.
SQL Server Integration Services is not available in SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, and you only get the wizard with SQL Server 2005 Workgroup.