Hello:
We redistribute SQL Server express 2008 R2 core engine and deploy it automatically without user intervention on customer’s machines. This has worked out fine for us so far.
Now we will be using the full text indexing part which only comes with the Advanced Services install. Our issue is that this download is about 800 MB (x64) which is obviously not viable for redistribution. So we tried to just use the sql_fulltext.msi directly and see if we can install the full text search service that way over the core install. Initially it complained about passing the instance ID which we did but now the msi installer just vanishes after extracting the contents. I have searched high and low to find the exact parameters to pass to this msi but came up dry. So help with the following will be greatly appreciated:
- Is it possible to use the sql_fulltext.msi to directly install the indexing service over a core installation? Where can we find the parameters doc for this?
- If the above is not possible is there a way to include just the full text search in the core installation?
I have a feeling that this should somehow be possible as this is the express edition – meant for smaller installations and redistribution by ISVs.
Distributing 800 MB file with our installer or having our non-techy customers to download and install the necessary services would not be a viable option.
Thank you in advance for your time and insights on this matter.
KP