As the name implies, The SQL Server Loadfest R2 Session is all about installing SQL Server 2008 R2.  I'll be doing an installation that everyone can see on the room monitors and most of the participants, hopefully including you, will also be installing SQL Server 2008 R2 on their own computers at the same time.  Bringing a computer and running the installation are your choice; it's not required to attend the event.  There will be SQL Server experts, Sunil Kadimdiwan, Phil Denoncourt, Mike Walsh and Microsoft’s Dan Stoltz on-hand to help with any problems that you run into along the way.

Like last year most participants will be bring a laptop in order to do the installation but you're welcome to bring a desktop computer or even a small server.  We will have power strips run for both the laptops and the larger machines and I'm assured that there is plenty of electricity available.  Because of the larger machines, we're opening the room at 8:00 to allow time for you to set them up before the Loadfest R2 session starts.  If you're brining a laptop you may want to come around 8:30 or so because your setup won't take very long.   Your machine should have at least 1 Gigabyte of RAM and at least 6 Gigabytes of disk space available.

So what about software?  What will you need if you're going to do a hand on install? That's a good question and there are a range of answers.  The sort answer is:

•  Windows XP SP 3 or above.
•  SQL Server 2008 R2, any edition, including the Trial Edition.

Read on for a more complete answer:

You're going to need a copy of SQL Server 2008 R2 and a compatible version of Windows.  I'm going to be installing the free Trial Edition and you may want to install it also.  You can download a copy at http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/try-it.aspx. You’ll may have to press the “Please register before you download” link to get to the real downloads. There are x64, x32, x64 AMD, and IA64 versions.  Please download one that matches your OS. Be warned that it's large and the download is roughly 1.5 gigabytes.  Please get your copy before you come. 

Of course, if you have a licensed copy of SQL Server 2008 R2 you're welcome to use it for the Loadfest.  For my own use I typically use the Developer Edition, which you can purchase for $40 to $50 from sites such as NewEgg, Amazon, and PC Connection. It is also in some MSDN subscriptions. It includes everything in the highest, Datacenter, edition and works great on a laptop.

The compact list of supported operating systems is:

•  Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 and above, including R2
•  Windows Server 2008 or 2008 R2
•  Windows Vista; Windows Vista Service Pack 1
•  Windows XP with Service Pack 3.

For comprehensive information on compatibility, please check out this link:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506.aspx

You may have more questions so please feel free to e-mail me, Andy Novick, at anovick at NovickSoftware dot com.