How should I manage developing on SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2005 for different clients?

Question

The company I work for has several clients. I'm currently splitting my time between 2 .net projects. For Client A I need Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008 and the 3.5 framework. For Client B 2005 versions/2.0 Framework.

Others in the company are using Microsoft Virtual PC to keep the development environments separate.

What do you suggest?

Additional Info: The main benefit I see is that you are able to share your virtual machine setup with anyone. This allows a new developer to step right in on a project without spending half a day setting up the new development environment and all its idiosyncrasies.

Answer 1

I personally have both installed on the same system and use the proper tool for each project

VS 2005/SQL Server 2005

VS 2008/SQL Server 2008

I find that it works jsut fine, and I don't have the hassle of switching VM's.. I see the VM as just added overhead.

Answer 2

I personally suggest you go the VPC route. I have been keeping my dev environments isolated using VPC for 2+ years now and will never go back. A laptop can now easily have 4+ GB RAM which is more than enough to run a couple VPCs if needed.

Answer 3

actually i have VS 2003 to add to 2005 and 2008 on the same box. instead of multiple vms, worth having multiple monitors if you want to keep multiple versions open at the same time.

Answer 4

I have both installed as well. Actually, I went a step further and set up multiple local users on my laptop, so I can just right click -> Run As, and then all of the settings (source control, etc) will be automatically loaded for the client I'm working with.

I just have named instances of SQL Server on my laptop for the particular version, and each project just refers to its own instance of SQL Server. These don't seem to be any conflicts between Visual Studio or any other components.