Business Contact Manager Team Blog

Oh thank you thank you thank you!! I've been waiting for this tool ever since BC 2007 was released.

Thank you!!!

Cheers Mukesh and the BCM Team.

Lui :)

Will this import all of the information from a BCM 2003 database?  I'm specifically looking to import histories.

Hi,

Great news. Just what we need. Actually this client is based in Europe. I read that localized versions are not compatible. Does this mean that the database setup is completely incompatible, or that it won't run on a localized OS?

Thanx

Many thanks for the tool, Can this tool be used to install the database on SQL 2000 server?  You've mentioned above that it requires SQL 2005.  Any work arounds to install it on SQL 2000?

Thanks

BCM 2003 with SP4 can able to use the database created by this tool?

Great news, but is there any way to make the admin tool compatible with the german version of bcm? is it possible to install an english version of bcm with the german version of outlook 2007 on the clients?

Thanx

How can I create a bcm database on a nas device from my vista station? Thanks in advance.

I am using Outlook 2007 with BCM and want to share the database over a hosted exchange server. Neither ASP-One nor Microsoft support knows if or how to get it set up. How do I go about doing this?

I want my BCM (Sql Server 2005) database to be on its own server accessible only via the IP, making it a remote databse.  Since we have employees not on the LAN (some will be on a LAN), we want them to be able to talk to the BCM database remotely just as if they were on the LAN.

Since you mention this is not possible, since your products only allow for LAN connections, can you please describe in more detail the part about how we synch back to the main server?  Such that both LAN and non-LAN users see the same data?

How is that possible for employees that will never be part of the LAN, but will be updating / reading the BCM?

Are there client connection limits to consider when comparing BCM in Shared Database configuration on each of SQL 2005 Workgroup and SQL 2005 Express Editions?

i.e.: is the SQL 2005 Express hosted BCM database any less functional or is it connection limited as compared to a BCM database hosted on a SQL 2005 Workgroup system?

Thanks!  I'd like to email the BCM team.  Can you publish a contact form on your blog?

I just installed the Database Tool on our W2003 server, SQL SERVER 2005 w/SP2, fully patched.

When I launch the Database Tool, the only "Database Server Instance" in the drop down box is, "MSSQLSERVER"

My sql server is, "Bunkerhill"

So, I keep getting an error when trying to create the database because I can't point it to the correct server instance, which is also the default instanace.

Any help would be appreicated, thank you!

Karl

Yes, I'm running 32bit SQL Server.  I'm the DBA and installed the server.  There is only one instance of SQL Server 2005 installed. I did a default install.  No alias.

I even opened up named pipes for you just in case.

I'm still getting them result.  When I launch the Database Tool, the only "Database Server Instance" in the drop down box is, "MSSQLSERVER"

Any reason the tool does not use SQL DMO?  Is the source available?  C# or VB.Net?

Any thing else I can try, so we can get this up and running?

Thank you!

Karl

I ran the tool using the MSSQLSERVER selected in the dropdown.

This is what's being logged in the Application Log :

Source : MSSQLSERVER

Type : Failure Aud

Event Id : 18456

User : BUNKERHILL\WilliamPrescott

Computer : BUNKERHILL

Description :

Login failed for user 'BUNKERHILL\WilliamPrescott'. [CLIENT: <local machine>]

WilliamPrescott is the local administrator on Bunkerhill.  This account is a member of the BUILTIN\Administrators group.

I also, just to be sure, added a Windows login for BUNKERHILL\WilliamPrescott.  This login is a sysadmin.

WilliamPrescott is actually the Administrator account renamed.

I can admin any database on the server and can create new databases in SSMS.

Karl

Sorry to not mention that I still can't install the Outlook BCM databases using the tool.

Karl

Can anyone from the Team assist me with getting the BCM database installed?

I'm following the directions to the letter and meet the system requirements.

Thank you,

Karl

I currently have a Vista Client running OL 2007 with BCM. We have a SBS 2003 Premium (not an R2) server. From what I gather because this server has SQL 2000 installed I am out of luck in having the server host the BCM db. Are there any work arounds for this? Or is that it?

Can BCM 2003 with SP4 be able to use the database created by this tool?

I need help with BCM 2003, I get an alert when I install Outlook 2003 on our server, which is also our mail server. Is it safe to setup our BCM database on our server??

May I ask your help in this topic? I used the admin tool to create the database on our SBS2003SP1 server but when I try to connect from an XP client is says there is no BCM database on this server. I tried to use Sqlcmd –S and received an answer like >1 - I suppose this means the server is listening on port 5356. What could be the problem?

Our SBS server is standard so there is no ISA only RRAS. I tried several reinstalls of SQL Express and Admin tool with different options but nothing helped. ALLIP is listening on 5356 according to the SQL manager. Is it possible that the problem is with the different languages (on the XP client it is Hungarian, but the admin tool is certainly English)?

Sorry for the long post but wanted to give summary o the situation. Thanks a lot in advance!

I found the answer to my question... :(

"It is compatible with only English version of Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007."

I was not attentive enough to disregard this note, however, I think it would be REALLY nice from Microsoft to mention this with the download as well... I was able to find this note only on your site.

Anyway, thanks for posting this.

This is for anyone that gets the same error as karl1406 - whereby a user with obvious login access to the DB server apparently fails to login.

After doing a profile on the DB it turned out to be because the initial DB creation fails due to a file permissions problem on the following (or similar) folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Business Contact Manager.

The SQL Server Service account must be given write permissions to this folder in order to create the MDF files.

As soon as I did this, I was able to create the database using this tool.

Lord Zoltan,

You are the man.  This fixed my install problem instantly.

Microsoft.  I don't want to speak out of turn, by why is the data base burried in this folder?

Why not just put the database in the default database location so that we don't have to detach and reattach the database?  This feature of sql server has been around for a long time.

Any rate, got it up and running!

Cheers,

Karl

I installed Outlook BCM 2007 on a Windows 2003 file server.  It installed the database in the administrator's profile on the c: drive.  It's been working fine.  But that c: drive is going to run out of disk space soon, and I want to move the BCM database to another hard disk in that server.  How can I safely move the BCM database?  I do not know SQL commands.

I'm working on a new SBS Premium Server with SQL 2005.  I used the Database Tool to create a new database and that worked fine.  I then tried to use the DB Tool to Share the database and got this error message:  "Unhandled exception has occurred in your application.  If you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue.  If you click Quit, the application will close immediately.  The database pptMaster is no longer shared.  Only the database owner may currently connect to this database...."  

Well, I'm the db owner and it never was shared.

If I click Continue, it just hangs until I close the dialog box.  If I click Quit, it does.

I've also tried detaching/reattaching the database to move it to another folder on the server but that gets the same results.

Any ideas please?

Thanks,

Lon

Thanks...

Under Services, there is one listing for SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER, although there are SQLAGENT services for MSSQL$MSFW, MSSQL$SBSMONITORING, and MSSQL$SHAREPOINT.  The TCP/IP setting for that MSSQLSERVER is 1433.  This is a hosted box and SBS/SQL was already setup when I took possession.  Should I change to MSSMLBIZ and 5356?

In SQL Configuration Manager, in the tree under SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration | Protocols for MSSQLSERVER | TCP/IP, on the IP Addresses tab, there is IP1 (209.62.93.50, no TCPIP set), IP2 (127.0.0.1, no TCPIP set), and IPAll which is set to 1433.

Thanks for your help!

Lon

I had the same problem as karl1406 which was solved by LordZoltan's suggestion.

I have two additional questions though.

1 - does this mean that i will have to manually add user permissions to this folder every time i add another user to the system

2 - is there any way to move this database to a different drive/location like d:/databases/bcm/

thanks for this tool.  I used it before I saw and read the whitpeper you had to so this and I installed SQL express with the default instance.  So I am going to install again with a new instance.  I was vurious though why it isn't recomanded to move the databases.  I am on sbs server 2003 and have a data partition setup were I would like to keep my data.  Including databases.  Since the os partition has limited apace.  I was just wondering if the only reason is because people might not know how to do the move or does it make the tool not work properlly later to share the database and add users to it and such?

Hi There BCM Team,

I've installed and configured the BCM in SQL Server and things are running fine, but....

I couple of machines connecting to it are running XP SP2 and keep dropping the connection to the DB. The Vista machines are fine?

Any Clues?

Hi, i have created a database in business contact manager which is currently been used by five other employees. I was trying to move that database to my

server. Well I finally found Business contact manager 2007 database tool. I am trying to run it on the server but it is giving me a following error:

"Cannot retrieve the list of SQL Server instances. Please make sure that SQL Server 2005 or SQL 2005 Express is installed and that the service is running."

I have SQL 2005 installed on my computer and I dont have any idea how to resolve this issue. It would be great if someone could help me. I dont have outlook installed on my server. But my main goal is to move the BCM database to my server. If there is any other suggestion to resolve this issue please let me know. Thank you.

Is there a command line interface for this tool?  What I really want is a way to automate the backups of my BCM databases through this tool.  Or should I just use the SQL backup utility and restore directly to the instance?

Also, for ROD_ETI, I tried exactly what you tried and couldn't get it to work, so I had to create a new database through the tool and restore the data and customizations to the new database from a backup.  Hope this helps.

Hi Captbackfire,

BCM does not have any command line interface for admin tool. Below article may adress your problem. Let me know if you have any question.

http://blogs.msdn.com/bcm/archive/2007/09/05/automate-bcm-database-backup.aspx

Thx.

-Fatih

Dear BCM Team

I have installed the tool on a SQL Server and created a new database.

I would like to restore a Danish BCM database on the server. But the Admin Tool gives an error message that the Danish database is not compatible with the English (US) version of the tool.

As I see it there is no Danish version of the Admin Tool. What can I do to get Danish databases restored on SQL servers without installing Outlook with BCM on the servers ?

Hi, I have some clients with OL2003 and others with OL2007, both with BCM 2003 update and BCM 2007 respectively.

How share same BCM database on SQL Server 2005 for all clients?

Thx.

Not sure where else to post this:

We used this to put our BCM on a server a long while back, and recently had a server crash that forced a rebuild of the server.  I have a backup of the database, but I found it's a bit old (a couple weeks).  I also have a machine with an offline copy of the database that has all of the recent data in it, but my attempts to restore from that have been unsuccessful.

What's my best bet for getting this up and running with the most recent data?  It seems that I can perform a backup/restore of the offline database using Management Studio Express, but then the Tool no longer recognizes it and no one can connect to it (although it is accessible from the Management Studio Express).

Thanks!

I have used this tool to deploy a customer's BCM data and for some reason the database has just disappeared from the server.  I'm the only one with administrative rights, so no one could have messed with it.  I got it up and running, it ran for several days, then the database just vanished and the outlook clients can't go back online.  Any idea what I should be looking for to get it back?

Hello?!?  How do I get support for the Database Tool if not here?

hey bcmteam,

Great work on this database tool.  BCM is becoming a formidable contender to the Act! line of products.  I have one question.  Is there a way to change the database administrator using this tool or some other way?  I currently have a user as the database administrator, and they get reminders to back up the dbase.  I want to change that to another user, but the database tool doesn't allow me to do that.  I've changed permissions using the SQL Express tool, and that allows me to assign a new database admin, but it doesn't send out those alerts to the new user, nor does this new assignment of permissions get reflected in the database tool.

Thanks for your help.

The "Notes" for the Admin tool says that "It is compatible with only English version of Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007."

So how do I deploy a shared BCM database for non-English clients on a server? The server is a 2003 SBS that serves as an AD/DC and also hosts the Exchange. Are there other ways - such as installing Outlook with BCM on the server?

I solved the problem.  Somehow, the SQL service forgot where the actual files were and so I couldn't connect until I reminded it.  Thanks.

I've succesfully installed the database on a SBS server and can access it from my client computer with SQL Server Mgmt Studio Express. However, from the BCM I don't have access to the database; it doesn't show up as an instance when I browse for it (browser services is running on the server) nor when I explicitly type the instance name with the correct TCP/IP port#. I suspect the reason is that I have a non-english BCM client. Could you please confirm this before I go about uninstalling and reinstalling Office to the English version on the client's machine (a non-trivial task if I understand the forums correctly)?

Thanks for your prompt response. One more double-check: the OS languange on the client can be non-english, right?

I've put over 40 hours into trying to make this thing work, with no success at all. No matter what I do I get the following (seems to be common)error:

"Cannot retrieve the list of SQL Server instances. Please make sure that SQL Server 2005 or SQL 2005 Express is installed and that the service is running."

The database server is running and I can manually create a database. I have given Everyone (as a last resort) full rights to the BCM directory in the user profile directory. I've tried running the database services as every user under the sun, I've tried running the Admin tools as different users and allowed it to run unrestriced. No luck at all.

I've un-installed, re-installed the SQL server Express a thousand times, nothing seems to make any difference at all. The server is running Windows 2003 Standard w/ SP 2 and has ALL of the Windows updates installed.

I can't seem to find any log that will tell me what is going wrong, the SQLERROR log has no errors, nor do the event logs. I can see the database showing up for a brief second if I watch the BCM directory in the user profile directory, but then it rolls back and goes away.

Any suggestions?

Sorry, wrong error listed in above post - it should be:

Cannot create a new database. The operation has been rolled back. Please make

sure the database service is running.

I find it incredibly short-sighted of Microsoft to offer a tool that only works with the English version.  Please stop selling your products in other languages if you do not plan to support them properly.

same error:

"Cannot create a new datbase. the operation has been rolled bad. please make sure the database service is runing."

I have enabled Named Pipes

It could be something about permissions, as karl1406 had.

The service "SQL Server" is started by NETWORK SERVICE, so I give permissions to that user in the folder c:/documents......../Microsoft\Business Contact Manager, but the same error

any idea? nothing at the event viewer :-(

Hello,

   I'm having the same problem that many above are experiencing, "Cannot create a new database. The operation has been rolled back. Please make sure that the database service is running." I get a Login error (State: 16) in the SQL Server Logs. I can perform operations on the server absolutely perfectly in every fashion (via command line, sql management studio, etc.). The only thing that isn't working is this Database Tool.

   I started looking at the composition of the tool. I haven't gone as far as to decompile it yet, and I'm hoping I won't have to. I noticed there is a .SQL dump file for the "create" method. I can import this into my database (if manually created), but I get errors about functions and such. I was wondering if there is an explanation available as to the process the application follows when creating a database to share? I'm willing to do this manually to get it working. I know that the program creates the database programmatically and sets permissions on it. I don't know, however, what happens between this time (along with what permissions are set), and when the application runs the SQL dump to create tables and populate data.

I've scoured the internet to no avail and I'm running out of options. Could you please help me out? If it's pertinent, I'm going to be running BCM paired with Office 2007 and MOA Pro.

Thanks In Advance!

So am I holding my breath here for something that won't come? Should we switch to another platform?

Thanks for the response. I'm running the tool on Windows Server 2003 x64. The account is a domain administrator as well as an explicit local administrator to the machine.

I tried it anyway, for good measure, same error.

I was getting that same error and figured out what the problem was.

Going into Computer Management -> Services -> SQL Server Configuration Management -> SQL Server 2005

Right Click on the SQL SErver service and select Properties. Click on the "Log On As" tab. Select "This Account" and set the account name to be a local administrator account or domain administrator account. (Mine was originally set to a domain user account which is the optimum account to use for the sql server service for security purposes, you can change it back to this after installing the database). Enter the password for the account and click apply. The SQL Server service will need to be restarted with the new settings so be sure that one one is connected to your sql server instance at the time. Once it restarts click "ok" and exit.

Now you should be able to install the BCM database by using the tool. After the install process i shared the database using the tool and testing connecting to the database from my local machine succesfully. At the end of the sharing process a webpage is presented giving you instructions on how to connect to the database remotely. Save/Print these instructions for future reference.

After you have succesffuly created and shared the database you can go back to the SQL Server service and change the account to log in as back to the domain user or whatever you had it set to before. I was still able to connect to the database through outlook locally after changing it back. Though make sure no one is connected to the database when you change the user login account because remember, the service must restart.

I hope this works/helps some of you. The tool works really well once you get it.

Additionally, you can now open up your SQL Database Management Studio and the MSSMALLBUSINESS database is attached and you can dig through the tables and whatever else you want to do.

yani1shu: You're an absolute genius. After a couple weeks of ripping my hair out, and a fresh install (tonight) of Server 2003 I still got the same error. I came back to check, just in case, there was something from the BCM Team, but instead I saw your reply and had the database created within minutes.

Thank you so very much!

yani1shu: As a side note, do you know if it's necessary for me to login to the workstation I'm installing BCM on as the user is "Logged In As" when running the Database Tool? As long as I've shared the database with the person logged into the workstation at the time of BCM's installation, shouldn't it work?

Thanks Again!

Anybody have detailed instructions (or pointers) on how to go about moving a SQL 2005 stand-alone copy of my BCM data to a new fresh install of SBS 2008 and SQL 2008?

Thanks,

Ken