I'm new to SQL Server. I write some C# applications but am not a member of our IT dept. What I do know is that they are currently using Sql Server 2008 as their enterprise database.
I've extracted text from thousands of documents and images on our server and I want to take advantage of SS full text search. Most of our machines are Windows 7 64-bit, and I plan to install SS 2012 express on my machine.
I'm guessing that SS "native client" is the component that clients will need to connect to my instance of SS. A few basic questions:
(1) Presumably these client computers already have an older version of SS native client. Will that suffice to connect them to my instance of SS 2012, or do I need to install SS 2012 native client on those machines?
(2) If I do install it, is there any danger of conflicting with their older version of native client? (The last thing I need is to have the IT dept upset with me).
(3) Given these considerations, would it be better for me to go with an older version of SS Express?
Come to think of it, our company installed SS 2008 back when most machines were running Windows XP. And most of our apps (99% of them) are 32 bit.
At this point I don't even know whether I would need a 32-bit edition of SS (although my machine is Windows 7 64-bit).