I am very upset as I am unable to get a shared licence of ms sql 2000 from the data center . the planet.com ppl r giving for 200$ per month but i do not think that all the ppl must be paying such heafty price . kindly tell me some option immediately . can we use ms sql 2000 on the server without even informing these guys . u undstand licencing thing...

Compared to MS' retail pricing for SQL Server per processor, TP's shared monthly pricing isn't all that much unless you're investing for the long term:

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/default.asp

There's nothing stopping you from going out and buying your own licenses for SQL Server 2000. But don't even think about running an unlicensed, partially licensed or pirated copy of it.