Each version of SQL Server comes in various
editions, which you can think of as a subset of the product features, with its
own specific pricing and licensing requirements.
You can
verify what edition you are running with the following query:
SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('Edition');
There is also a server property called EngineEdition that you can inspect, as follows:
SELECT
SERVERPROPERTY('EngineEdition');
The EngineEdition property returns a value of 2, 3, or 4 (1 is not a possible
value), and this value determines what features are available. A value of 3
indicates that your SQL Server edition
is either Enterprise, Enterprise Evaluation, or Developer.
These three editions
have exactly the same features and
functionality. If your EngineEdition value is 2, your edition is either Standard or
Workgroup, and fewer features are available.
The features in Enterprise edition (as well as in Developer edition
and Enterprise Evaluation edition) that are not in Standard edition generally
relate to scalability and high-availability features, but there are other
Enterprise-only features as well. There is also a SERVERPROPERTY property called EditionID,
which allows you to differentiate between the specific editions within each of
the different EngineEdition values (that is, it allows you to differentiate
between Enterprise, Enterprise Evaluation, and Developer editions).
