Sharing?

[Alex]

Hows does the sharing work in regards to the database owner being offline?
The documentation refers to it being a peer to peer network update. In my
mind that means something like Groove which has no requirement for anyone to
be online. When I watch the demo for BCM all I see happening is that the
MSDE database gets shared. If thats the case doesn't the database owner have
to be accessiable all the time for anyone to read or update information? Can
anyone shed any light on this?

 

[Luther]

The db owner doesn't have to be logged in, but his machine needs to be
on. The database runs in the sqlserver service which is started
automatically when the machine starts up.

 

[Tim P via OfficeKB.com]

Alex,

To clarify further. BCM's "sharing" capability does not include remote
access among users who are away from the physical location of the premises of
the machine that contains the sqlserver service db. Your network reality
must be a workgroup or peer to peer. While the latest version of BCM is
allowed to coexist in an exhange network, it does not function directly as
part of exchange. Confusion seems to linger around this based on numerous
posts to this newsgroup.

-THP

 

[Alex]

Ok so the machine containing the database has to be accessible at all times.
Is it possible to move the database from the local machine onto a server? I
am evaluating BCM for our business development guys. One of them has
installed BCM and is trying it out. When they are remote they use VPN to get
back on the network. The problem is the database right now sits on a laptop
which could be anywhere at any given time. If I can move the database and
change registry settings and/or connection strings then I don't see why I
couldn't move the database? Unless BCM has been built in such a way as to
not allow me to do that.

 

[Luther]

The low-road to getting it BCM a server is to install Outlook/BCM
w/MSDE on the server and then share it out.

It's possible to just add the BCM database to an existing sql server,
but you'll have to adjust several server and firewall settings, and the
posts on this newsgroup indicate that to be tricky. Microsoft doesn't
officially "support" that configuration, so you cannot call them for
help. It does work if you cross all the T's, etc.

You don't have to use a Workgroup LAN. It works fine with domains.

It also works across VPN, as there was a post this morning from a user
complaining about the traffic. BCM clients poll the database for
updates every second of so, although it may throttle the polling after
a certain period with no updates. Note that the BCM clients won't work
when they can't connect to the database.

 

[Raul]

Hi Alex

For more info on sharing you can refer the following link

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;901164

--
With Regards

Raul Thomas

Ok so the machine containing the database has to be accessible at all
times. Is it possible to move the database from the local machine onto a
server? I am evaluating BCM for our business development guys. One of them
has installed BCM and is trying it out. When they are remote they use VPN
to get back on the network. The problem is the database right now sits on
a laptop which could be anywhere at any given time. If I can move the
database and change registry settings and/or connection strings then I
don't see why I couldn't move the database? Unless BCM has been built in
such a way as to not allow me to do that.