Hi Luke
I've investigated offloading the COMPUTECLUSTER database instance onto a dedicated resource myself, and to summarise I've found out that this is currently not a supported configuration in V2, but will "probably" be suported in V3. This information notwithstanding, it is of course possible to migrate the entire headnode infrastructure onto more substantial hardware.
It's difficult to be definitive when it comes to licensing questions, probably best to speak to the MS licensing guys direct as it can get quite complicated. My understanding, however, is that the 4 CPU limit on SQL Server Std edition relates to sockets rather than cores, so a dual socket, 8 core server requires only Standard edition. The license model depends on how many clients access the database instance, you'll need to balance the cost of per server + CAL for each user licensing against the alternative per processor model. Of course there is a tipping point at which using the per processor model becomes financially advantageous. Have a look at this document, particularly the first three sections for some insight into things:
http://www.microsoft.com/Sqlserver/2005/en/us/special-considerations.aspxEnterprise edition is a significant outlay, particularly if you do not require the additional features it brings to the table.
Hope this helps
Dan
