SQL Server on a Domain Controller

Much has been said about installing SQL Server on a domain controller. It’s bad practice. Period. If you wouldn’t believe me, then ask the SQL Server installer…

However, there are naughty little girls and boys such as yours truly, who due to lack of funds would want to do the same, maybe on an Azure instance, just so that you don’t have to pay for two VMs, to do some database development. If you indeed choose to go down this path, the default user accounts that are associated with the various SQL Server services would not fly.

Microsoft, in its Requirements for Installation, state that despite it not being recommended, they will still let one go through with installation. It’s just that you need to ensure that you use a local service account to run the SQL Server services. If you do not heed this “warning” and still go ahead with network services and what not, at one point during installation you would error out, and several components would fail to install. This would result in an uninstall of SQL Server and a retry. Hence to make things simple this is all you need to set as the service accounts, and you are on your way to a successful install at the first go itself…

Master Data Management with SQL Server: A Primer – Part 2

In my previous post I wrote about the need for master data management (MDM), and what SQL Server offers as a solution. In this post I’ll explore SQL Server’s MDM offering with a simple example, to get to know the product.

SQL Server Master Data Services (MDS) was launched with SQL Server 2008 R2. It was Microsoft’s entry into the MDM market, what most people considered to be a half-baked product, which Microsoft had acquired from Stratature in 2007. SQL Server 2012 saw the offering mature into something use-worthy, while SQL Server 2014 did not add anything new to MDS. As opposed to other SQL Server offerings such as Analysis Services and Reporting Services, MDS does not have its own Windows service. Rather, it requires a web application to be setup along with a database on the Database Engine.

MDS is a 64-bit only offering and comes only with Enterprise and Business Intelligence editions of SQL Server (and of course with Developer Edition).

SQL Server 2008 vs. Windows 7

Installed the RTM of Windows 7 on my home PC a couple of days ago. Then I tried installing SQL Server 2008 on it. Found out that SQL Server 2008 is incompatible with Windows 7. To make it compatible you would need to install SQLServer Service Pack 1 or later.

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On the same note, to make SQL Server 2005 compatible; you would need to install Service Pack 3 or later.