Creating a networked database & a "Master PC"

[Guest]

Ok...I've been reading through the threads and just want confirmation that I
have this right.

I'm part of a small company - 7 users. We actually do have Exchange and a
network, but not a file server - we all work locally. We all have Outlook
2007.

I want to have one contact list for all 7 users that we all see, allow all
of us to add to the history of each/any contact and have any email that any
of us send to any contact automatically link in the database.

I think I need to set-up a PC that no one uses, keep it on and active on the
network at all times, install Outlook/BCM and create the database there, then
share it for all users and have each user "select" that databse in their
local BCM. Then, when each of us launches BCM locally, we will see that
master database. Do I have all of that right?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Guest]

Mike,

That is exactly the scenario I used.

We have 5 users with an additional PC set up to host the master Database.

It works. However, in our brief experience we have found that we have
performance issues with this set up if all of our users are connected at the
same time.

Other options include a master database with local BCM databases on each of
the user's PC's or migrating the BCM to a SQL Server instance for real
client-server capabilities.

Let me know if you attempt any of these other configurations. I am working
on the SQL installation as we speak.

E Tenebris Lux

Ken

 

[Guest]

Ken:

Thanks for the reassurance. I'll probably start with the confirguration I
described to expedite the process for now and see if we wind-up with the
issues you mention. However, the SQL Server idea is intriguing. I imagine
this requires a separate server and a SQL programmer to put it all in place?
Or, can a novice do it?

Thanks again,

Mike

 

[Guest]

Mike,

Microsoft has produced a whitepaper on this entitled "Deploying Outlook 2007
with Business Contact Manager in a remote Database Configuration"

It contains all of the directions and requires a SQL Server or SQL Server
Express installation.

As long as you are familiar with SQL Server it should not require someone
with DBA level experience.

You can contact me after tomorrow to see how I did with this as I can offer
some help (I hope)

E Tenebris Lux

Ken

 

[Guest]

Great! I'll grab the whitepaper and take a look.

In the meantime, best of luck with your installation. I'll let you work
through things for a day or so then perhaps get back in touch.

Mike

 

[Lon Orenstein]

Gentlemen:

You can shortcut the SQL command steps in the whitepaper by downloading a
free copy of SQL Management Studio for SQL Express 2005. This allows you to
detach a database and move it to another folder on the hard drive or a
different PC. Then, you attach the database in its new location.

Also, get the BCM Database Tool from the BCM Team Blog. Use the Tool to
create the database on the server and restore a backup from your existing
database. This will bypass all those commands.

You can use the SQL instance on the SBS server (add more RAM -- 8GB will
help your performance issues, especially with Exchange running on the same
box; and a faster hard drive will help too).

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
www.pinpointtools.com

 

[Guest]

Lon and Mike,

I successfully migrated my BCM database to a full blown SQL Server 2005
instaance. (LON this is what you and I dicussed over the phone last Friday
--- I am your favourite Canadian).

While I am still doing some user testing it appears to have done what it was
suposed to do.

The white paper was a little misleading with all of its instructions. In the
end I just made a backup of the BCM database using Windows Backup, restored
on my SQL Server machine and mounted it.

It certainly provides me with a lot more in depth maagement capabilities.

The driving force behind this was severely degraded performance when sending
email, especially bulk email to auto linked contacts.

The issue did not entirely resolve itselve through the migration.

I took a close look at the indexes and found many of them were heavily
fragmented. So I rebuilt said indexes and performance increased somewhat.
(Less CPU cycles over a shorter period of time)

I still have an MSDN support call in to Microsoft to clarify the purpose of
several tables that I think are part of the problem and will post to here
when I get an answer (other than being told speed issues are hard to diagnose)

Happy computing

Ken