Microsoft SQL and ListManager

If you have never installed Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) before, this section will advise you on some basic steps to take. These instructions should not take the place of a qualified network administrator or any information provided by Microsoft.

Software Requirements

    MSSQL 2000 or 2005

    Windows 2000, XP or 2003

Note: Windows 2003 Server Web edition is not supported, as Microsoft SQL Client Tools cannot be installed on this platform.

Installation Options

Whether or not you are able to use all the installation defaults depends on whether you are a Microsoft house running Domain Controllers or not.

Windows Authentication

If you mainly use Microsoft software and have Domain Controllers established, then you can just select all the defaults from the wizard provided by the SQL Server installation tool. This will set your SQL Server to listen for secure connections only. Any user IDs that you want to create must be added as Windows users and mapped to the correct group in SQL Server. Please consult your manuals or Microsoft help if you have questions of how to do this.

SQL Server Authentication

If you do not primarily use Microsoft software, and do not run Domain Controllers, then you will not be able to accept all the defaults for the SQL Server install. When you get a chance to choose “Advanced Options” select Mixed Mode authentication to allow both Windows authentication and SQL Server authentication. This is the only change you need to make. Otherwise, just accept the remaining defaults.

As the SQL database password is saved unencrypted in a file (lmcfg.txt), you may later remove the password saved in this file and then specify that the password be provided on startup by altering this file.

Note: You must have a case-insensitive sort order installed (the MSSQL default).

Creating a Database

Once your SQL Server is installed, you will need to create a database for ListManager to use.

1. Open Enterprise Manager, a tool included with your SQL Server installation.

2. Register the SQL server you'd like to use with Enterprise Manager. If the SQL Server is on the same machine which is running Enterprise Manager, you can register the name of the server as “(local),” or just leave the entry blank. Otherwise, enter the name of the remote server.

3. Choose the entry for “Connection” that matches your configuration described above. If you mainly use Microsoft software then leave the selection on “Use Windows Authentication”. If not, choose “Use SQL Server Authentication” and supply the user name and password to connect. If you have just installed the server for the first time you can use the login “SA” with a blank password. All the other options on that dialog box can be left as defaulted.

4. Once you have defined a connection to your server, expand the tree for that selection by clicking on the "+" sign next to the server.

5. Right click on the “Databases” folder, and select the option to create a new database.

6. Give the database a name appropriate for your use. If you are uncertain, you can use the name “ListManager”. All other choices on this dialog box may be left with the default value. The database name cannot have spaces or hyphens.

At this point you have the SQL Server installed with an empty database ready for ListManager to run with!

Note: The ListManager database should be in the default instance of your SQL server. This is only for customers who may be running multiple instances of SQL server on the same machine.

Installing the Client Tools

If you are not running MS SQL on your ListManager machine (recommended), you need to install the MS SQL Client Tools on the machine that will be running ListManager (and any other machine you'd like to be able to connect to the SQL Server). Client Tools are auxiliary programs that are necessary to connect to and manage your MS SQL server.

These tools come in two installation forms: Connectivity Only, or Server and Client Tools. All you need is the client tools (connectivity), but if you want to install more it will also install the client tools, so either choice is fine.

If you are running MS SQL Server and ListManager on the same machine (not recommended), you may skip this step, as the required client tools have already been installed as part of the server installation.