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Need help installing a server

By doug ·
Ok, first a little background on the situation:

I work for a small (11 person) company that sells products over the internet.

I was basically hired on about 1yr ago initially to help with basic computer problems and maintenance. We are set up on a peer to peer network, with different computers running our main programs. We are currently using Stoneedge Order Mgr running on MS Access 2003 to process our orders. We have Quickbooks Pro 2005 to run our invoicing for PO's. We also have a database running on MS Access 97 for our old customer orders. The system was basically built and modified on the fly as the company grew. It initially started out w/ the Access 97 DB to manually enter the info. They purchased Stoneedge to handle the internet sales. Nothing was ever done to consolidate the DBs. Because Access 03 will not handle the full DB, we have an EXTREMELY redundant system of manually entering the daily sales into the Access 97 DB every day. We have to compact and backup the Stoneedge DB every 2 or 3 months so it will still function.

So, onto the issue:

They want to upgrade to Stoneedge Enterprise, which requires MS SQL Server to operate. We currently do not have a dedicated server set up for anything. We would prefer to keep an on-site server, so I am trying to figure out what all we will need to implement this.

I assume we'll need the following basics:

A physical server machine
A server OS to run it (Windows Server '08?)
MS SQL Server (I assume it's a separate DB software, not a stand alone OS?)

I'm not sure if it matters, but we average 150-200 orders per day. We are also wanting to redo our inventory tracking. Stoneedge will support that, but I'm not sure what affect, if any, it will have on our hardware needs. We have approx. 3000 products. Also, not everyone will be accessing the DB at once. We have 1 person that imports the orders throughout the day. Any other access is periodic depending on phone orders, etc. On average, there is about 5-7 people on at the most at one time.

Please forgive my ignorance in this matter. It's been literally a decade since I've dealt with a server directly, let alone set one up.

I've searched around and everything I could find pertained to software troubleshooting issues. Any help or simply a shove in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

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MS SQL Server Requirements

by Darryl~ Moderator In reply to Need help installing a se ...

This should help you out a bit.

It explains the requirements for different OS, hardware, etc.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/library/ms143506(SQL.90).aspx

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Where to find Stone Edge help

by barney In reply to Need help installing a se ...

Doug -

The best place to find the help you need is the Stone Edge User Forum. There is a special section for the Enterprise Version of the Order Manager where there has been a lot of discussion about hardware and software requirements. There are also experienced users who will answer any specific questions that you have. The Forum is located at:

http://www.stoneedge.net/forum

In the meantime, your daily order volume and number of users and products put you at the low end of Enterprise users. Microsoft SQL Server Express, which is free, would probably be adequate for you, although the regular (paid) versions of SQL Server can take advantage of more server resources. Your priorities should be a decent server with plenty of RAM and redundant hard drives and gigabit Ethernet for your LAN.

Hope that helps,

Barney Stone, President
Stone Edge Technologies, Inc.

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