Xfmea Enterprise with SQL Server 2005 Express Edition

This document provides instructions for installing and configuring SQL Server 2005 Express Edition for use with ReliaSoft's Xfmea Enterprise software. You may choose to use the free version of SQL Server, which is available via download from the Microsoft Web site, if:

In either case, if you have a reasonably powerful computer and "administrative rights" to install and configure software, you can establish a functioning Xfmea Enterprise implementation using the step-by-step instructions provided below. When you choose to purchase the software and/or if your organization's needs grow beyond the capabilities of SQL Server Express, you can upgrade to a more robust version of SQL Server with the appropriate IT infrastructure and support.

These instructions assume that you will be installing SQL Server 2005 Express and the Xfmea Enterprise client application on your own computer and that other users who have the Xfmea Enterprise client installed will connect to the SQL Server database that has been established on your computer.

To begin, please make sure the computer you will be using meets these minimum requirements:

You will need to d ownload the installations for both SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and the SQL Server Management Studio Express from the Microsoft Web site. Alternatively, you can download only the more comprehensive SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services (where the Advanced Services version includes SQL Server Management Studio Express). To select the SQL Server 2005 Express version that best suits your company's needs, please compare them here.

The instructions below describe a basic installation that is adequate to support the needs of Xfmea Enterprise. While other settings may work, we suggest that you start with these settings unless you have an advanced knowledge of the products and are comfortable with customizing the configurations on your own.

To begin the installation of the SQL Server 2005 Express Edition package, find the downloaded setup file, double-click the SQLEXPR32.EXE and follow the setup instructions provided.

You will need to accept the licensing agreement and click Next or Install when prompted. During this process, the software confirms that your system meets the minimum requirements for the installation to continue. If there are any errors or warnings, you will be able to read the message(s) and decide whether to address them before continuing the installation. When the process completes, the window will show green check marks and the status will say "Setup finished." Click Next.

The software will now ask for your user name and the company information. There is no need to change any advanced configuration options, so leave the Hide advanced configuration options box selected and click Next after you fill in the name and company fields.

The Authentication Mode choice can be left as is, using Windows Authentication, or Mixed Mode can be selected. Xfmea Enterprise uses Windows Authentication but if you are planning to use this SQL Server Express installation for other purposes, you may wish to choose Mixed Mode. Click Next.

Select both options on the Configuration Options page (shown below) and then click Next.

For the error and usage reporting, click Next (unless you wish to have this data sent to Microsoft), and then click Install at the next prompt. The windows will show the progress and you will be prompted to click Next and then Finish on the final screen. Read the messages in the final box about certain features that are disabled by default - the issues relevant to configuring the software to work for Xfmea will be addressed below.

The next step in the process is to install the SQL Server Management Studio Express add-on. Begin by double-clicking the sqlserver2005_ssmsee.msi installation file.

The first window you will see shows the welcome message for the wizard. The wizard walks you through the process and there are no selections or changes to make other than to accept the license agreement, enter user and company information and then to click Next for each subsequent window.

The following steps are needed to ensure that the Xfmea Enterprise client applications (i.e. the client application on your computer and the client applications on other users' computers) will have access to the SQL Server database on your computer. Specifically, you will need to enable remote connections for SQL Server, start the Browser Service and create exceptions that allow traffic to pass through any firewalls that may be active on your computer or network.

These instructions are pulled from the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article (KB914277), entitled "How to configure SQL Server 2005 to allow remote connections."

You must enable remote connections for each instance of SQL Server 2005 that you want to connect to from a remote computer. To do this, follow these steps:

Changes to Connection Settings will not take effect until you restart the Database Engine service.

The next step is to enable the SQL Server Browser Service. See Microsoft's article for security considerations.

If you are running a firewall on the computer that is running SQL Server 2005, external connections to SQL Server 2005 will be blocked unless SQL Server 2005 and the SQL Server Browser Service can communicate through the firewall. You must create an exception for each instance of SQL Server 2005 that you want to accept remote connections and an exception for the SQL Server Browser Service. The following instructions apply to the version of Windows Firewall that is included in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and in Windows Server 2003. If you are using a different firewall system, consult your firewall documentation for more information.

NOTE: SQL Server 2005 uses an instance ID as part of the path when you install its program files. If this is the only instance of SQL Server on this computer, use the following steps, which show the default instance ID. If you have other instances installed, click here for more detailed information about identifying the instance ID.

Note: The path may be different depending on where SQL Server 2005 is installed. MSSQL.1 is the default instance ID.

Note: The path may be different depending on where SQL Server 2005 is installed.

In this step, you will be creating the database in SQL Server that the Xfmea Enterprise software will connect with.

First, go to Start and select Programs then Microsoft SQL Server 2005. From there, click SQL Server Management Studio Express.

In the window that appears, you will see the Server type, Server name and Authentication fields. If you accepted the defaults, the server name will be computer_name\sqlexpress, where "computer_name" is the name of your particular computer. Click Connect after entering the appropriate settings.

In the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express window, right-click Databases and then select New Database from the shortcut menu that appears.

In the next window you will type the name of the new database that the Xfmea Enterprise software will utilize. We have used "eXfmea" in our example. Type the name in the Database name field and then click OK (do not click Add - this will add database files to the window, it does not "add" the new database you are creating).

The following figure shows the new database as it appears in the Management tool after you have created it.

You can now exit the Management Studio Express by selecting Exit from the File menu. The next step describes how to use the Xfmea Enterprise Admin Utility to update this database with the tables and pre-defined information required by the software.

Installing Xfmea Enterprise and Using the Admin Utility to Build the Database

Locate and double-click the Xfmea Enterprise client installation file you received from ReliaSoft and follow the instructions to complete the installation. When prompted:

Do not select the option to start the Xfmea Enterprise application when the installation is complete because you must use the Admin Utility to build the database tables first.

Now move the Xfmea Enterprise Admin Utility that you received from ReliaSoft, eXfmea4Admin.exe, to the Xfmea Enterprise application directory. For standard installations this is: C:\Program Files\ReliaSoft\eXfmea4.

Once the eXfmea4Admin.exe is in this location, double-click the file to open the Xfmea Enterprise Admin Utility. Again, enter the Server Name and Database Name for the database that you have just created in SQL Server.

Click Update Database to start the process that will build the tables and load the pre-defined information required by the software. When prompted, select the language that you want to use for the default library settings information and click OK.

When prompted, enter the license you received from ReliaSoft and continue through the registration steps as directed.

When the registration and activation is complete, you will see a dialog box that states that the database has been updated. Click OK. Then click Exit to close the Admin Utility.

After you have used the Admin Utility to build the database, the next step is to connect to the new database with your Xfmea Enterprise client application and create user accounts for any other users who will be authorized to access the system.

Start the software by double-clicking eXfmea4.exe in the application folder, by selecting Programs > ReliaSoft Office > Xfmea 4 Enterprise from the Start menu or by double-clicking the icon on your desktop (if you chose to create one). Since you already specified the Server Name and Database Name during the client installation, the software should connect automatically to the new database. If it does not connect, then please try the following:

Once you have connected to the new database, select Manage Users from the Administration menu. You can see that the software has automatically created a user account for you with the highest possible access level within the Xfmea Enterprise software, "Admin." You can double-click the account to edit the contact information stored in the system for your account.

If you want to add one new user account at a time, click the Add button to define each account in a window like the one shown next.

To create a valid user account, you must enter the same domain and username that is required for that user to log in to Windows.

If your organization uses Microsoft Active Directory and you want to add multiple users simultaneously by importing their contact information from Active Directory, click the Import Users from Active Directory button.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SQL SERVER LOGINS

When assigning the "Access Level" to the new user accounts that you create, please remember that users with the "Admin" access level will be able to perform all functionality available in Xfmea Enterprise, including the ability to create new user accounts. However, in order for the user accounts that "Admin" users create to be functional, then those users must have the necessary authority within SQL Server to create "Logins" in SQL Server. This authority cannot be granted through the Xfmea Enterprise software. Rather, it must be granted directly within SQL Server.

By following the instructions in this document, you created an account for yourself in SQL Server that has the "sysadmin" role, which includes the ability to create "Logins" in SQL Server. Therefore, all user accounts that you create through Xfmea Enterprise will be functional. However, if you choose to give "Admin" authority to any of the new user accounts that you create, then in order for the user accounts that they create to be functional, you must do one of the following things directly within SQL Server (using the SQL Server Management Studio Express):

Grant the authority to create SQL Server Logins to all users who have the "Admin" access level in Xfmea Enterprise. To do this within the SQL Server Management Studio Express:
- Expand Security then Logins. If a login already exists for the user, then right-click it and select Properties from the shortcut menu. If a login does not already exist for the user, select New Login from the shortcut menu and create it (domain\username).
- In the Login Properties window, click Server Roles and then select an appropriate option from the pre-defined list, such as securityadmin, serveradmin or sysadmin.
OR
Pre-create a SQL Server Login for every user account that might possibly be created in Xfmea Enterprise. To do this within the SQL Server Management Studio Express:
- Expand Security then Logins.
- Right-click and select New Login from the shortcut menu and create the login for the first potential Xfmea Enterprise user (domain\username).
- Continue creating logins until you have pre-created a SQL Server Login for all potential Xfmea Enterprise users.

After you have created the user accounts for the other users, you can provide them with the Server Name and Database Name that they will need to enter when they run the Xfmea Enterprise client installation.

As the database administrator for your organization's implementation of Xfmea Enterprise, you have the ability to perform the backups and other maintenance activities necessary to protect the information stored in the SQL Server database. Please refer to the SQL Server documentation for detailed coverage of this topic. For an introduction to the backup process, we have created a page providing basic instructions for creating a backup, automating the backups and restoring a database from a backup. You can view it here.

If you have any further questions about how to use the product or experienced any problems with this instruction document, please contact us.

Additional online support for SQL Server can also be found at these two locations:

Instructions for Installing/Configuring SQL Server 2005 Express Edition for Use with Xfmea Enterprise