Installing and Configuring Microsoft SQL Server for Myriad v4


Installing and Configuring Microsoft SQL Server for Myriad v4

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Peter Jarrett
Peter Jarrett
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The Myriad v4 Family uses Microsoft SQL Server as the Database Backend as it's a proven industry standard Database system that is hugely scalable from the smallest installations on Netbooks and tablets up to massive multi-server Clusters in Data centers.

It can be a daunting process getting it installed and running, but it's fairly straightforward and hopefully this post will help you with some resources on getting it up and running.

Microsoft SQL Server can be a very complicated beast to maintain, but as long as you install it correctly then you should have no problem using it day to day.




The first thing to know is that there are several different companies making SQL based Server Products and people sometimes accidentally call these "SQL Server", but it's important to know that we mean "Microsoft SQL Server" - not "MySQL" or "Oracle" or any other products from other companies. Wherever you see "SQL Server" mentioned below, we mean "Microsoft SQL Server"

The second thing to know is that Microsoft SQL Server comes in several Versions - for example MS SQL 2000, 2005, 2008, 2008R2 and the all new 2012 edition. For the purposes of Myriad, we have tested on "Microsoft SQL Server 2008R2" and "Microsoft SQL Server 2012" - other versions may work, they may not!

The next thing is that SQL Server 2008R2 and 2012 both come in various editions. Some of these are : "Compact", "Express", "Standard", "Enterprise" and "Datacenter". Myriad v4 has been ONLY been tested on the "Express", "Standard" and "Enterprise" editions.

A full discussion of the differences between these versions can be found at http://clinthuijbers.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/sql-server-2008r2-editions-compare/

So to summarise so far - we recommend that you use Microsoft SQL Server 2008R2/2012 "Express", "Standard" or "Enterprise" Editions.

One common misconception about MS SQL Server is that it's expensive - like so many things in life, the answer is "It can be"! The good news is that the Express Edition which is more than capable of running your average Myriad setup in a typical Radio Station is absolutely free. Yes. Free.

Not surprisingly it is missing some of the features of its bigger brothers - things like automated backups, realtime Mirroring etc. and some reporting services, but none of these are REQUIRED for Myriad to run, but you may well want to consider them as you move forward with deployment. Needless to say P Squared is a Microsoft Partner and we are more than happy to go through the differences with you, and can naturally give you pricing information if you do go down that route - and you may actually be surprised at how affordable it can be if you need it!

If you are running a larger setup then you may well want to consider using Standard Edition, or perhaps even 2 copies of Standard Edition mirrored together for resilience sake, but to evaluate Myriad on a single machine or on a small group of PC's SQL Express is more than adequate.
(if you need to download can download MS SQL Server 2008R2 Express ("with Management Tools") then it's available from Microsoft's website via http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26729 and then select the "SQLEXPRWT_x86_ENU.exe" for 32 bit versions of windows or "SQLEXPRWT_x64_ENU.exe" for 64 bit versions of Windows)

Important: Please make sure you DO select the "SQLEXPRWT..." version - the "WT" bit means "with tools" which is extremely important for managing the SQL Server configuration.

If you think you might want to evaluate Standard Edition then if you visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/sql-server/Resources.aspx you can register for a trial version of SQL Server Standard edition.




Ok, so one way or another you have hopefully now downloaded a version of SQL Server

The next step is to decide where to install it - if you are planning on installing Myriad on a single PC only then this is a no-brainer - just install SQL on that PC.

On the other hand if you are going to run Myriad on several PC's - for example a couple of studio PC's and an Admin pc, then you will need to put SQL somewhere central. Usually you would have a Windows File Server in such a setup so this would be the ideal machine to install SQL Server on.

There is a very good walkthrough on how to install SQL Express at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/petersad/archive/2009/11/13/how-to-install-sql-server-2008-r2-express-edition-november-ctp.aspx - Installing SQL Server Standard is a very similar process so you should also be able to use this to help you there as well.

(Although these walkthroughs are based on SQL 2008R2, the actual process is basically identical for SQL2012)

There is one cautionary note though - during the install you will come to the "Database Engine Configuration" page of the wizard where it asks you who the adminstrators of the SQL Server will be. By default SQL Server only puts in the currently logged in user. You should also add the local "Administrators" group to this list. Also - although this is not Microsoft Security Best Practice -  you should consider adding in the local "Users" group. The reason it's not best practice is that this means that ANY user of the PC can potentially fiddle with the SQL Servers setup, so this isn't ideal in the final environment, but is fine for initial testing.

Once you've finished installing SQL Server you should run Microsoft Update a few times to get all the latest Security etc. updates and do any rebooting that you need to do.




By default SQL Server has remote network connections disabled - this is fine if you are just running on a single PC, but if you are planning on connecting to this "Instance" of SQL Server then you will need to enable Remote Connections. A good explanation of how to do this can be found at http://www.linglom.com/2009/03/28/enable-remote-connection-on-sql-server-2008-express/




Right, by this point you are largely finished with setting up SQL Server for Myriad to use - assuming all the steps above have been done then all you should need to do is enter the "Connection String" into Myriad and you should be up and running. The good news is that Myriad comes with suggested Connection Strings already in the Setup Wizard and the drop down boxes for the SQL Server connection in Myriad File Locations. All you should have to do is make sure that the server name is the name of your PC, and if you have installed SQL Express that you append "\SQLExpress" onto the end of the server name.

For example, a server called "MyServer" running SQL Standard , you would just put the Server Name as :  MYSERVER

If on the other hand you had installed SQL Express then you have to put : MYSERVER\SQLExpress




Thats pretty much it, at this point hopefully Myriad will be up and running.

------------
Peter Jarrett, Technical Director
Broadcast Radio Ltd.

Bill Bailey: No win, no fee, no basis in reality. Just a room above a minicab office in Acton and a steady stream of greedy simpletons whose delusion is only matched by their clumsiness


Edited
8 Years Ago by Peter Jarrett
Craig Arthur
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I notice that the 2012 version of SQL server is available through CTXchange for registered charities for a much reduced fee of £35.00 if purchased on a server/CAL basis, additional CAL's being £8.00. 

So the question then is has Myriad V4 been tested with it and would there be any issues with running that rather than 2008, other than it wouldn't be officially supported.   Otherwise we may have to look into downgrade rights!

Craig Arthur

Engineering & IT Manager
Radio Royal, Royal 2 & Royal Gold.
Peter Jarrett
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Well, internally we've had some success with SQL 2012 and initially it seems to work well  - The main reason we are currently recommending 2008R2 is that 2012 wasn't fully released when v4 was starting it's main soak testing, rather than any specific other issue.

You do need to change the Connection String in Myriad to use the SQLNCLI11 provider (instead of the default "....10" version) - i.e. Provider=SQLNCLI11

I will caution that on one workstation that previously had SQL2008R2 Express on it we did have a lot of problems getting Myriad to connect at all, but that may have just been that 1 pc, rather than a fundamental issue.

My suspicion is that we'll switch to testing against 2012 later this year, but in the meantime we'd be very interested to hear if anyone else is using 2012 and how they're getting on?

------------
Peter Jarrett, Technical Director
Broadcast Radio Ltd.

Bill Bailey: No win, no fee, no basis in reality. Just a room above a minicab office in Acton and a steady stream of greedy simpletons whose delusion is only matched by their clumsiness


aljesk
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I was runningsql server 2005 with another application (mymovies)

After installing sql 2008 r2 I can get neither autotrack 4 or the other program to run.

My support subscription has also expired, so i assume i'm unable to contact tech support by phone?

any screenshots of what i should have seen on starting autotRACK FOR 1st time.

Help as always appreciated

Regards

Alex
rick jones
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Just A Quick FYI

Having recently put Myriad 4 on a brand new Windows 8 machine (fool) I thought I'd share a finding with you.

The detailed SQL advice given by Peter might have been written with windows 7 in mind.

I followed the instructions to the letter and I watched the tutorial video, I was rewarded with a Microsoft message reporting a compatability issue.

Don't ya luv Windows!

Three more failed attempts (out of hours) forced me to speak to the god Google, woohoo!

It would seem that the above link to download SQL Express 2008R2 gives you the original release, previous versions of windows would accept it then let windows update it.

My install of Windows 8 was having none of it!

It demanded SQL Express 2008R2 and service pack 1 slipstreamed

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26729

Got there in the end
David Boulton
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Rick,

that's really interesting and helpful information thanks Smile

I'm sure that when we officially give Windows 8 the nod, we will update the forum posts with the correct links.

I know it's quite soon after you got SQL installed, but how's it going otherwise?

Regards

David Boulton
Brand Manager
Broadcast Radio Ltd
Peter Jarrett
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Hi Rick,

Thanks for that, I've now updated my post at the top with the new download link! Let us know of anything else you find

Cheers,

------------
Peter Jarrett, Technical Director
Broadcast Radio Ltd.

Bill Bailey: No win, no fee, no basis in reality. Just a room above a minicab office in Acton and a steady stream of greedy simpletons whose delusion is only matched by their clumsiness


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David Boulton (28/02/2013)
Rick,

that's really interesting and helpful information thanks Smile

I'm sure that when we officially give Windows 8 the nod, we will update the forum posts with the correct links.

I know it's quite soon after you got SQL installed, but how's it going otherwise?


Life is full of surprises!

I purchased Myriad and Autotrack in 2002 (v2.5) and over the years I have installed, uninstalled, upgraded, moved to new hardware and recovered form dead hardware.

I thought installing Myriad 4 was going to be the easy bit and the SQL was going to be the challenge.

Wrong again!!!Smile

After finding the correct version of SQL I followed all the other instructions and it was smooth sailing!

Windows 8 and MS SQL Express 2008R2 (with SP1) all happy together, the rest should be a doddle I thought.....

I realise the problem that followed may have been my fault, I will try to explain what happened.

The plan was to install Myriad and Autotrack on the C: drive and have the audio and system files in the D: drive (common practice for keeping the crown jewels away from the opperating system as you all know)

Not knowing how the SQLServer was going to work, I started by moving the \\Psquared\Audiowall folder from the old Myriad v3.6 machine to the D: Drive on the new machine.

Installed Myriad v4 with no problem and configured it in the usual way. A quick look on the cart wall to check the audio was ok, Happy Days!

Installed Autotrack v4 with no problem and configured in the usual way, tried, tried and tried again to import the old .mdb file no joy

DATABASEv3-v40 already exists was the error message

After several failed attempts I concluded that I was as much use as Stevie Wonder taking Ray Charles to the movies!

So to blind leading the blind, I tracked the location of the offending DATABASEv3-v40 and renamed it ( I can hear tech support laughing ) 

This commedy went on for hours, I can only guess that did someting wrong when installing Myriad because I did not create the DATABASEv3-v40 yet it was there.

System restore to before SQL.

Reinstalled SQL ok, this time I installed Autotrack first, pointed Autotrack to the D: drive, imported the v3 .mdb with no problems

Installed Myriad last.

And relax.....   

So a week after the install and no crashes yet

Rick
philedmonds
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Craig Arthur (06/05/2012)
I notice that the 2012 version of SQL server is available through CTXchange for registered charities for a much reduced fee of £35.00 if purchased on a server/CAL basis, additional CAL's being £8.00. 

So the question then is has Myriad V4 been tested with it and would there be any issues with running that rather than 2008, other than it wouldn't be officially supported.   Otherwise we may have to look into downgrade rights!


Now Software licensing can be a minefield - so don't take this as gospel....

The CTXchange donations from Microsoft are mainly either 'Volume Licensing' or 'Software Assurance' licences.

Most MS Volume Licensing schemes have 'downgrade rights' built in which allow you to use an earlier version of the same product (i.e. I could buy some Windows 8 licences today, but then install Windows 7 - not sure on the rights for SQL server as no experience of that.).

This page:
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/briefs/downgrade-rights.aspx
Has some information on downgrade rights.

--
Myriad user since 1998, now custodian of dozens of Myriad,Autotrack, Powerlog and Scoop boxes of many different flavours.
http://www.philedmonds.com
Matt Wade
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Hi Rick,

Thanks for that info. So in summary when moving from Myriad v3 to v4 you would suggest in this order:-

1 - Install SQL server on server (configure it for multiple connections if you have a variety of workstations)

2 - Install Myriad Autotrack and import the existing autotrack database into it

3 - Install Myriad Playout and point it to the same SQL database and the correct audio file locations.

ta - M

Matt Wade
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