We use SQL Server and have many users that use the SQL Server Express version. When they reach the capacity of the SQL Server Express (detailed below) then all they need to do at that point is purchase a full verison of SQL Server and the Express database is literally the very same database, so there is really nothing to do but load a full version.Here are the Express restrictions:
- 1 GB of RAM - Only utilizes up to 1 GB or RAM regardless of how much is in the machine
- 1 CPU - Only processes on a single CPU even if more is available
- 4 GB database limit - This is generally the one that pushes you over to the full version. But each database within the server can only support up to 4 GB.