I'm not sure whether I'm asking the question correctly, but I've been told SQL Server cannot run on a Novell server. Is this true? If yes, why not?
Your problem is your directory service, whether it's Microsoft's Active Directory or Novell's Directory Services (I think it's called).
Sounds to me like your DNS is broken if your clients can't resolve names to IP address.
NOW I see your problem! Sorry dude!
Yes, VERY easy. Kinda.
SQL Server used to be able to talk IPX (the netware protocol) but I think Netware will now talk TCPIP, and you can run IPX and TCP/IP on the same network without an issue - windows clients can run both at the same time, 99% of routers handle all protocols etc.
Windows (XP/2003/etc) can run the netware client, so it can talk to shares etc.
Use the SQL Server logins (rather than windows integrated logins), and it'll work from anything - we have Java on Linux talking to SQL Server on windows just fine :) It's all in the connection string: userid=username;pwd=whatever;server=yourserverhere; etc. But you MUST use the SQL Server Configuration Manager to set these up - the default is shared memory, so you have to enable TCPIP etc.
You may have to be more specific about what a "novell server" is. From what I understand, Novell servers run some form of Suse linux. Sql Server is a windows only product.
My company, however, does have clients that run Novell networks, and we do run Sql Servers on their network. But they're hosted on a win box...
SQL Server is a Windows app. Novel is either one of:
Novell
or
Linux
Neither of these are windows :) It's like asking "why can't I run this Mac application on my windows box". Or "why will my petrol car not run on diesel?"
There are old version of Sybase, which SQL Server sprang from, which COULD run on Novell Netware, but you'd need to find a software museum to find one, I think!
If you need a SQL Server, I'd suggest you either get Small Business Server, which comes with MSSQL, or install one of the free editions of SQL Server on XP or windows 2003 server. Or use something like MySql, Postgress etc on Linux.
I'm not sure what you are asking. Are you looking for software to allow NetWare applications to talk to a SQL Server running on Windows? The wording of your original question implied that you want SQL Server to run on the NetWare machine.
The question of why SQL Server doesn't support NetWare is best asked of Microsoft, but AFAIK SQL Server doesn't support any non-Windows OS.
As someone else said, SQL Server originally came from Sybase's SQL Server (now called Adaptive Server Enterprise), which supported NetWare at one time but dropped it a long time ago. Sybase's other RDBMS, SQL Anywhere, dropped NetWare as of version 11, but versions 9 and 10 are still supported on NW.
OK, now I think I understand. I was thinking "client" as in database client application, not the Novell client.
I don't think you'll need the Novell client on the Windows machine, for a couple of reasons:
If the client is trying to connect over TCP/IP, it doesn't matter whether or not the Windows machine has the Novell client installed
Windows shares aren't affected by the Novell client, though you need some kind of Novell client for the Windows machine to map NetWare volumes
If the Windows machine does need to map NetWare volumes, I have found in the past that the Client Service for NetWare service (which ships with Windows but isn't installed by default) is sufficient, and doesn't have all the overhead of the Novell client.
It sounds like your Windows SQL Server is in fact a second class citizen on your networks. (I imagine you are using SQL Authentication instead of AD based.) If you have to connect via IP rather than name, then your Windows boxes aren't participating in an Active Directory authentication + DNS setup like is the case in most "windows" networks verus the "netware" network that you are running into. Netware has it's own form of directory services that is independant of Microsoft.
If you want your Microsoft SQL Server to be a integral part of your network, then you need Microsoft Active Directory installed with integrated windows authentication and DNS services running on a Domain Controller. But, this would conflict with your directory services (if used) on your netware server.
If your Netware network is running just fine, then I wouldn't change it. Simply add the microsoft sql server's network name to your local DNS services and it won't appear like it's a second class citizen. You could install the netware client on the SQL machine but that would make most DBA's cringe. But, it would register the machine in Netware's directory.
SQL Server, although rooted in a Sybase/Unix/VMS background, is a native windows application. Apart from the compact edition (which runs on some Windows mobile platforms), SQL Server runs on Windows desktop and server operating systems.
More informaiton can be found at wikipedia.
Sorry to be prickly, but I'm not a noob: I know you can't install SQL Server on Linux. Do you guys have customers running Netware trying to connect to a SQL Server? That is what I am dealing with.
We have customers, mostly school systems, that use Netware as the "network OS" with many Windows workstations running the Netware client. Our app uses SQL Server which is usually installed on a Windows 2003 server, but the server is always a second class citizen on the network. Users often must use the IP address rather than machine name to connect the SQL Server.
#Will: Do your Novell customers have trouble accessing SQL Server on the Windows server? Can you install the Netware client on the Windows server to enable file sharing?
#Graeme: Thanks for helping me refine my question. My employer somehow has the impression that a Windows server is a second-class citizen on a NetWare network. Would installing the NetWare client on the Windows server make it easier for NetWare clients (with some form of Windows OS) connect to the SQL Server? Would installing the NetWare client on the Windows server allow the server to share directories and files like a Novell server?
#geoffcc: The app uses SQL Authentication to connect to SQL Server.
The core issue is how are you authenticating to the SQL database. If you have an Active Directory tree, and an eDirectory you can easily link the two via Novell Identity Manager, which will synchronize users, groups, etc (any object you care to map between the two systems) as well as passwords.
Thus the same object exists in both locations so each system can use it as much it needs too. The license for Identity Manager is included with the Open Enterprise Server license (OES can run on Netware or on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)).
Then you could use the Active Directory integrated authentication.
Beyond that, your Netware server likely does not need to connect to the database directly. If it does, you will be writing or using an application that includes the database connectivity. At which point it becomes a question of is there a client for this OS or not.
#flipdoubt Well if you are using SQL Authentication, then you are using a SQL Client of some kind to connect to it, and the fact you have Novell in the picture is as unrelated as if you had Banyan Vines. (There you go! Now a search will show at least ONE reference to Banyan Vines!! Every good technology site needs at least one, and probably not more than one!)
As others have noted, what are you trying to do?
If they need to use the IP address of the SQL server to connect to it via a SQL client, then you have a DNS problem.
If you want to connect to the MS SQL server box to put a file on it, then that is somewhat unrelated to the SQL aspect of the issue. There again, DNS can solve your woes, if you register the name of the server (Say it is SQLSERV1) with the default DNS name (say acme.com) tacked onto the end of it, so that the IP Name sqlserv1.acme.com resolves to the IP Number you want it to point at.
Next comes the question of where are the user identities stored? You are using SQL Authentication, so that means you are creating accounts in SQL for each user.
The basic alternatives are to use Active Directory and have MS SQL server use those identities. If you are in a non-AD shop, you can investigate Novell Identity Manager product which has a JDBC driver that can do a fair bit, One thing it can do is synchronize users from eDirectory to be SQL Server users. (Or to Active Directory, Lotus Notes, most LDAP directories, AS400's, mainframes, NIS/NIS+ and many more systems).
Related
The basic question is this, if our Windows service uses Windows Authentication for connections to SQL Server, and then because of a network disconnect, SQL server and/or the client machine cannot reach AD to authorize or authenticate, will our service still be able to connect to SQL Server and operate?
I’ve tried it and it seems to work, but we are concerned if it will work even after a few days of being disconnected or after server reboots and the like.
The alternative would be to use SQL Server Authentication, but we would rather not have to deal with potentially exposing and having to protect the password on the client computer. This computer may be in a remote location with little supervision. SQL Server would typically be running on this same remote computer.
And for the follow up questions, does it matter which edition of SQL Server we use? Does it matter that both SQL Server and the service are running on the same computer?
If AD connection is lost, existing SQL connections will keep working (at least for some time), and connection pools will be still available (again, for some time). However, I wouldn't get too comfortable with this, because these time spans might depend on settings outside of a typical DBA' reach.
Alternatives are:
Use an AD proxy. Depends on circumstances, might not be always viable;
Use local user accounts instead of AD. Works always.
How can I deploy Access applications to multiple companies, with linked tables to SQL Azure servers?
I'm planning to deploy the Access programs with Microsoft Access runtime, and I'm assuming that I'll need to include the odbc drivers as well? Is there a way to automatically have Azure create a new server when a company signs into my website and downloads a program, and have the Access program link to it? And is there a way to get around the IP address settings in Azure as well? Because companies will be using the programs on multiple PCs. Or is it possible to utilise that and charge per PC?
If you distribute the application pre-linked, then the user should not have to do anything to consume the data.
When using Access with SQL server you can in general use the standard windows built in SQL driver. However in the case of Azure you do need to download + install the native 11 drivers (so I recommend you use that driver during development and setup).
You can also have code include to re-link to the sql server, but as noted, if your application is “already” linked, then you really don’t have to do anything on application startup. Such re-linking would not be required every time the application starts, but only a “one time” re-link is required say if you’re going to change the database, or perhaps the user logon. How to re-link (DSN less) is outlined here:
http://www.accessmvp.com/DJSteele/DSNLessLinks.html
As noted, you really don’t need the above.
As for IP restrictions, in the Azure setup you can turn off such restrictions if you need a connection that will occur from any location, but that does open up a security hole. (when you first create the SQL database you will be prompted for firewall rules).
All of the above assumes you been developing that Access application with SQL server as the back end (you can even use the free edition of SQL express for development on your local machine).
Last but not least:
Because your connection is occurring OVER the internet, then you speed will be MANY times slower then using a local server. Read the following article to get a “grasp” of this speed difference:
http://www.kallal.ca//Wan/Wans.html
So MUCH additional work is required in Access to obtain good performance when your connection is OVER the internet as opposed to SQL server running on your local network.
I want to access SQL server via an application (it is a desktop application) which is installed on remote location, where as SQL server installed in Main Office, where other applications are also accessing same SQL server on LAN.
Is it possible to do it?
Yes, technically this is not problem. Once installed, SQL Server will react both on the internal IP and external - if the Firewall is configured to forward SQL-Server Traffic (TCP 1433).
BUT - from security point it's not a good idea to expose your SQL Server directly to the internet. In the past there have been several security problems that would have exposed more than you wanted to expose. I would suggest external users, not inside your LAN use a VPN Connection to get inside your internal Network. I work every day over VPN with SQL Server and it's stable and secure.
How can I manage SQL server from a Mac terminal? Is there any tools Out there that will let me do it?
Have you tried Navicat? This is available for Windows & OSX
Assuming you're wanting to get to the MS SQLServer management console and what you have is a Mac, and the Mac has a network connection that will allow the RDP TCP protocol to the Windows server running SQLServer, you probably want to install the Remote Desktop Client on your Mac. That may not allow you to log in and manage SQL Server, though. The Windows server may have to be configured to allow remote logins (via RDP). There may also be permissions lacking for running the SQLServer management console as a remote user. Since I've successfully managed to stop managing SQLServer (and Windoze servers), I can't check to see what permissions should be applied.
I haven't tried it myself, but a colleague recommended www.razorsql.com - I will try it shortly, because it does other RDMS platforms too.
I bought a Mac Book Pro a couple of months ago, and eagerly downloaded Microsoft's RDP for the Mac. Maybe it's just me, but it's a really unsatisfactory experience: small screen, funny colours. I think I'll next try running a Windows box on VMWare Fusion, and RDP in from that.
How do I connect to an SQL Server remotely and administer my database objects? I need to connect to my database located on the web hosting company's server. I have the server name, IP address, my database username & password. I have an installation of SQL Server 2000 in my machine.
Can I use SQL Server Enterprise Manager for this? A step by step guide would be very helpful.
Yes, you can use Enterprise Manager (or SQL Server Management Studio, even if it's an Express version) to connect to any SQL Server (of the same or lower version as the tool you're using) you have TCP/IP connectivity to. Just launch it, enter the DNS host name or IP address in the 'Server Name' box and hit Connect.
Two things may prevent this from working:
Your SQL Server isn't set up for TCP/IP connectivity. This is the default setting from version 2005 onwards, and can be changed using the SQL Server Configuration Manager.
There is a firewall between you and your SQL Server blocking TCP/IP traffic. This is an entirely sensible construction: you do NOT want your database server to be available from the general Internet, as this is a huge security risk. In fact, if your hosting company allows this kind of access by default, I'd be looking for a different provider...
Anyway, what seems to be needed in your scenario is: a) the hosting company enabling TCP/IP on your SQL Server instance, b) them providing you with secure access to the IP address that instance is running on.
This will involve some kind of VPN or SSH port-forwarding soluition, or at least an IP filter, where only 'trusted' IP addresses can access the SQL Server (which is not a great solution, but can be used if nothing else can be implemented). You'll have to discuss these requirements with your hosting company.
Yes you can do this but how you do this will be dependent on your hosting setup.
As Brannon suggests you will need to open port 1433 on the firewall. This would be a dangerous thing to do on its own so you would combine it with a VPN. It can be quite tricky to set this up through and you could end up blocking yourself from access to the server and needing the hosting companies help to reset it.
Another option would be some of the web management tools such as:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=C039A798-C57A-419E-ACBC-2A332CB7F959&displaylang=en
http://www.mylittleadmin.com/en/welcome.aspx
It is possible, but a lot of things need to align for you to be able to connect.
Enterprise Manager and SQL Management Studio just use a standard client connection to SQL. The default TCP/IP port is 1433, but the host needs to allow that port through the firewall. If you are using a named instance, then I believe you also need to be able to connect to port 1434.
Most administrators do not allow direct access to the SQL Server from outside the firewall. In that case, if you can connect to the host over VPN then you should be able to connect directly to the server with Enterprise Manager or SQL Management Studio.