SQL Server Licensing for DTS

You don't need a SQL Server license to run a DTS package and you can legally distribute some core DTS files.

Brian Moran

September 17, 2003

1 Min Read
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I'd like to distribute some Data Transformation Services (DTS) packages that I've developed for customer use. What kind of SQL Server license do my customers need if their users run DTS packages but don't need access to SQL Server tools?

Technically, you don't need a SQL Server license to run a DTS package. You can legally redistribute the core DTS files that Figure 1 lists.

You can also distribute DTS packages as .dts files. Users can then run a package by using the dts-run.exe command-line tool, or you can write custom programs to call the DTS COM objects directly.

Users do need a valid SQL Server license if they're going to use the DTS Designer to open or edit a package. In addition, users need a SQL Server license if the DTS package connects to SQL Server for any reason.

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