WordPress on Microsoft SQL Server!
As part of establishing this blog, I wanted to run WordPress for it. I’d used WP in some other situations and really enjoyed the ease of use and flexibility it provided. However, WordPress has never put out a version that will run on Microsoft SQL Server, or any database system other than MySQL.
My website host doesn’t support MySQL any longer, as they are a primarily Microsoft-oriented hosting provider. Given that I’m a developer specializing in Microsoft-based technologies, it seemed a good fit- and still is. As an aside, I recommend checking out DiscountASP.net if you’re in the market for a good hosting provider that supports Microsoft tools and technologies really well.
Unfortunately, this left me in a bit of a quandry. No MySQL=No WordPress. Or so I thought. Knowing what I know about SQL databases, I figured there must be someone who has found a way to make WordPress work on SQL Server. Lo and behold, it was true- and it wasn’t just some guy who whipped up a patch, it was Microsoft itself! I give you the WordPress on Microsoft site. The install took literally about 3 minutes. The platform supports SQL Server, SQL Server Express and even SQL Azure. The project looks to still be pretty new but I expect good great things.
There’s been a few minor bugs; I can’t use the Twitter integration plugin as it causes a ton of SQL errors, and some of the URL rewriting for permalinks is not working correctly. Also, support for WordPress 3.x is not available yet, which isn’t surprising given that WP 3.0 was only released a few days ago.
All that said, I’m incredibly pleased that this initiative exists and is supported by Microsoft. Bringing one of the best blogging packages and one of the best database servers in the world together? Can’t go wrong there, and it means that I don’t have to switch hosting providers, use a blogging package I don’t like or have to roll my own DB patch to make WordPress work on SQL Server.