Finding Your SQL Server Version

On two occasions now I have written somewhat elaborate queries only to have them fail on the client side because they were running under the Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Edition (MSDE) product that originally shipped with Shelby v.5 many years ago. That edition of SQL Server emulated SQL Server 2000, and it lacks some key support features that were released in SQL Server 2005, let alone any further enhancements in even more recent editions.

Here is a SQL script to reveal which version and edition of SQL Server you are running:

select top 1 Version = @@Version, Edition = serverproperty('edition') from NANames

If the version information is not self-evident, compare the version number against the list at http://www.sqlteam.com/article/sql-server-versions in order to determine which version you are running.

After you know your current version, check out the Hardware Requirements page from Shelby v.5 Support. If you are not meeting at least the minimum recommended requirement for SQL Server, seriously consider an upgrade.

By the way, the reference to NANames in the query is only there to "trick" ShelbyQUERY into running the query. Without some kind of FROM clause, some releases of ShelbyQUERY will refuse to run the query, since it is not always recognized as a standard "SELECT" query without one. There is nothing particular about the NANames table; any table could be used in its place, and the same results would appear.