sharing Business Contact Manager Update database on SBS2003

[Guest]

we are running SBS2003 with Exchange in a domain environment, have installed
Outlook BCM v2 on the server and created a new BCM MSDE database - all good
so far

when i try to share the database on the server i get "There are no more
endpoints available from the endpoint mapper" error (MS KB 839880 doesn't
seem applicable as everything else works fine)

i have uninstalled everything and reinstalled and still get the same error

has anyone else installed BCM v2 on SBS2003 ?

how do i get this to run as the server is the only machine guaranteed to be
running 24x7 and i want to be able to include the db in nightly tape backups ?

 

[Edwin Garst]

logres,

Yes, I have it working, but I did not install BCM on SBS2003 because Outlook
2003 should not be installed there (due to MAPI conflicts). Instead I
installed BCM Update on XP Pro, shared it to other domain users and then
manually installed MSDE on the server. I stopped the sqlserver service on
XP, copied the database to the server and attached it using SQL Enterprise
manager. I then added named pipes and TCP/IP to the network protocols
(Enterprise Manager) and configured TCP/IP to use port 56183. Now any
workstation can connect to the shared database on the server. There is
still a connection limit imposed by the MSDE workload governor. The SBA
newsgroup postings indicate a 5-8 user limit.

There is a minor issue when connecting. The connection wizard does not end
cleanly when running inside of Outlook (Business Tools Menu, Create or
Select a Database). You have to end Outlook and restart it to complete the
connection setup.

You can avoid the "no object found" error by running the wizard from the
control panel mail icon. The wizard binds your database selection to a
specific Outlook profile in the data Outlook Data Files selection area.

Please note that this solution is not currently supported by Microsoft PSS.
Also, this solution doesn't work for notebook computers unless they can
establish a VPN connection back to your network. Outlook doesn't seem to
realize it could be disconnected from the BCM data. You can establish
multiple profiles to work around this issue.

HTH
Edwin Garst
www.epconsystems.com

 

[Luther]

There is

still a connection limit imposed by the MSDE workload governor. The SBA
newsgroup postings indicate a 5-8 user limit.

If you are installing on SBS Premium you might consider installing
the BCM database on SQL Server instead of MSDE to get around the
connection limit. SQL also has other advantages over MSDE; e.g.
performance.

Also, it's a limit on the number of concurrent connections, so
the performance will depend on how actively the clients use BCM.

 

[Edwin Garst]

Luther,

True enough. My production SQL Server 2000 listens on TCP/IP port 1433 for
all of the databases. BCM and SBA both listen on port 56183. I haven't yet
determined how to attach the BCM database to SQL in this environment.

If you could standardize all the other applications on port 56183 I suppose
it would work ok.

Edwin Garst

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the install and usage comments for SBS 2003.

Chris Schatte

 

[Luther]

I think SQL has a setting where it starts up and chooses a random TCP
port. It then has a fixed UDP port that clients use to find out what
TCP port to connect to. You can set TCP to always use 56183, and the
other clients will use the UDP port to discover they need to use 56183
to connect to that instance.

 

[Guest]

Wow
this is pretty exciting if you can get it on a server -
I have a question for you -
what would stop a person from installing Outlook 2003 and BCM on a Windows
2003 Server that does nothing but act as a File and Print Server? It would
be a central location for the database and I don't see that the MAPI issue
would be a concern since this particular server doesn't do much except store
data.

I'm thinking of trying it to see if I can just get the database in a central
area where I can share it out to everyone - but do you guys know what kinds
of issues come up with the Windows Firewall - that service had to be started
in order for me to share on my XP machine - I wonder what the issues might be
with that on a Win2003 Server.

Any helpful hints would be appreciated.

 

[Luther]

If you use BCM's wizard to share the database on your server, it should
enable the SQL network protocols and open the firewall to the BCM port.

 

[Edwin Garst]

Singin,

Windows 2003 with service pack 1 has a security configuration wizard.
Please reference:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/security/configwiz/default.mspx

The wizard asks many questions requiring specific knowledge. I would not
describe it as an end-user tool at all. And it certainly is more difficult
to run than the SBS2003 wizards.

By default Windows 2003 installs with no services enabled. The other role
you want to enable is the application server role.

HTH

Edwin Garst
www.epconsystems.com

 

[Guest]

Edwin,
If and when you have a few minutes, a more detailed (for us novices)
discription of this process would be helpful.
I still have not been successful in getting a shared database resident on
the server. Working with SBS 2003 and XP Pro on the client side (8-10 user
potentially).

 

[tellurye]

Hey, Gang,

The posts I read from MS was that Outlook and/or BCM should not be
installed on a server that is running Exchange 2003. I don't know why,
but that' what the post said. so, we installed it on a regular server
we have here w/o Exchange, disabled the firewall, shared the databases,
then re-enabled the firewall, and we are golden.

Try that.

Tellurye

 

[Todd Ring]

logres,

What is the possibility that you can write out what you did to get this
working. I would live to try this as a fix.

thanks

Todd Ring

url:http://www.ureader.com/msg/1071719.aspx