Run SQL Server temporarily on notebook

Question

I have the occasional need to run SQL Server on my notebook computer. 90% of the time I connect to our dev SQL server, but there are times (ie: offsite) where it would be helpful to have access while programming.

If I install SQL Server (I need the full version, since our databases are larger than the max allowed by SQL Server Express), is there a way to stop all SQL Server activities so that my notebook computer isn't bogged down by SQL?

Ideally, nothing would be running unless I 'started' SQL Server. I know that a good answer would be a VM, but as you can imagine, I am not running on a superpower notebook, so hoping to be minimalist...

Any suggestions welcomed!

Answer 1

You can use the SQL Server Manager to stop the database server, or do it from services.msc.

SQL server is extremely RAM-hungry. Be warned. Also, new versions require a 64-bit computer.

Answer 2

Just stop all the services. Create a batch file with net stop mssqlserver for the main sql server service, and add the others if needed. To view all services, Start, Run (or just type on Vista / 7), "services.msc". Then view all that start with "SQL".

Change the start type to "Manual" and it won't start with the OS either.