Db Licensing - what if I use the db but not the interface?

[benphp]

I've been using a program that uses MS SQL Server for a back end. The interface is bad, so I wrote some PHP forms to hit the database directly, and now I don't use the program at all - just the database.

 

At what point can I stop paying for the program? If I discontinue using the program, then can I still use the database? If not, then how do I get my data out without using their schema?

 

If I can't use their schema, how different would a new database need to be for it to not be a reverse engineered schema? For example, there's an Employee table that has LastName FirstName Address, etc. How different can that be - or should it be?

[thomasw_lrd]

I'm curious on this topic myself.  As I've said in a previous post, our database/php program is being handed over to my former boss, since it's his IP, but the company I work for actually paid for all the developement costs.  We get to keep one "license" for our use, but we need two copies, one for production and one for development.  I was planning on keeping the backend database, and copying the code to a new domain for testing.  But is this legal? 

 

IANAL, but personally, I think you can use the database, and stop paying for the licensing if you wrote you're own front end.  You might want to add some delimiter to the field names though, just in case. 

[cpd]

Did you purchase the original software? If so did it include the database back-end?

 

You need a license to use SQL Server, 1 for each user that connects. With websites this includes any means of authentication, even if each user is authenticated using a single database login, you still need a license for each user connected (kind of like a roaming license).

 

Your question seems to be split between asking if you need to continue to pay for an interface, hence my initial question, and whether you need to pay for SQL Server? You need to clarify.

 

You can't access data in SQL Server without using the schema name or setting the default schema (dbo) and just calling table names. Furthermore,  I'm not convinced someone is going to help you reverse engineer (I think you mean duplicate) a database which is paid for, if that is the case. Not openly anyway because that's obviously wrong.

 

@thomasw_lrd: You cannot, unless using SQL Server Express, use SQL Server without a license, period. Microsoft work on a trust ethos and don't actually directly enforce this however.