1 Reply by VivhNWT

  • VivhNWT
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 12-10-2010
  • Posts: 6

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

We're trying to install a network version of Recorder6 to a server running Windows 2008 (SBS) with SQL Express 2005 installed, so we can upgrade our standalone version of Recorder 2002 as we need a centralised database that's backed up and which can be accessed from multiple PCs.

I've managed to install the Recorder database and the program files without any problem but when I try to  transfer the 2002 database it doesn't work.

The latest upgrade documentation states that you need to install a temporary copy of Workstation on the server, but when I try this it immediately fails with an error of "WorkstationSetup.exe has stopped working".

When I tried the transfer without installing a temporary copy of Workstation, the transfer program runs and appears to be transferring data but stops after about 15 minutes with an error of "SetupApp.exe has stopped working".

I've been told subsequently by our supplier that it's not possible to install a network version of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 machine.

Has anyone else tried this and found a workaround? Or do we have to revert back to standalone versions with separate databases, and exporting the data to a "master" PC which isn't backed up?

Thanks

Vivien Heyes
Notts Wildlife Trust

2 Reply by Gordon Barker

  • Gordon Barker
  • Veteran
  • Offline
  • Registered: 15-05-2006
  • Posts: 344

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

It can be done because we have managed to do it. John van Breda and others helped considerably - some of his comments are here - http://forums.nbn.org.uk/viewtopic.php?id=1533 , there may be more elsewhere on the forum.

Gordon Barker
Biological Survey Data Manager
National Trust

3 Reply by Gordon Barker

  • Gordon Barker
  • Veteran
  • Offline
  • Registered: 15-05-2006
  • Posts: 344

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

I might need to add a slight clarification. We have a set up of a networked copy of R6 using  Windows 2008 server and SQL Server 2005 (not Express). John's comments in the link I just posted may refer to the Terminal Services set up which we needed to operate the network over many sites, but I'm sure he'll be able to help you.

Gordon Barker
Biological Survey Data Manager
National Trust

4 Reply by sallyrankin

  • sallyrankin
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 07-04-2006
  • Posts: 371

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

I understood that the National Trust had tried to install Recorder 6 with Windows Server 2008 but due to the problems encountered had decided to revert to using Windows Server 2008 so I asked Gordon to confirm this. The response he got from IT support was:

“The problem we had was with the database install on Windows 2008. The issue was with permissions. We could manually install the database and get it working but not install it via the install script on the CD. The time it took to create the database manually and the potential for problems at a later date was deemed by us to be a risk and it was far easier to run the database component on a Windows 2003 Server. Recorder on the other hand is installed on a Windows 2008 32 bit server and connects to the Windows 2003 Database. We also used Terminal Services to access the recorder application. This has a few extra complications but these are now documented on the Forum by John Van Breda. One thing you do need to do is turn off DEP for the recorder applications so it can run correctly, also confirm the correct permissions are added to the recorder folders.”

Are there any other Recorder users planning to use Windows Server 2008? It would be helpful to know as it may influence the priority given to producing a version that will install with it.

Sally Rankin, JNCC Recorder Approved Expert
E-mail: s.rankin@btinternet.com
Telephone: 01491 578633
Mobile: 07941 207687

5 Reply by VivhNWT (edited by VivhNWT 19-10-2010 10:37:15)

  • VivhNWT
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 12-10-2010
  • Posts: 6

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Am I right in thinking then that the solution is to install the R6 software on a Windows 2008 server and the database on a 2003 server. I've now discovered that we have a server running SBS 2003 with a copy of SQL Server Express on it. (It's being used as a terminal server.) Do you think this will work?

Vivien Heyes
Notts Wildlife Trust

6 Reply by VivhNWT

  • VivhNWT
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 12-10-2010
  • Posts: 6

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

To get round this I tried installing the software as a standalone copy (I read somewhere that you do this using a network installation CD). Everything worked fine until I tried to transfer the 2002 database. I copied all the 2002 files from their current location to the PC and set the transfer program running, but it stopped with an error of ""Could not find file NBNData.mdb". I assume it was looking for the 2002 db file.

I checked through the transfer documentation and found that the program should ask you the location of the 2002 db file, but this screen didn't appear, hence the error.

I also tried to install Recorder on the server again, having turned off DEP, as advised above, for the Recorder applications, including Workstationsetup.exe, but it failed with the same error - the WorkstationSetup stopped.

Please can anyone help on either of these problems?

Thanks.

7 Reply by Giffdj

  • Giffdj
  • Veteran
  • Offline
  • From: KMBRC
  • Registered: 02-06-2008
  • Posts: 72

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

I'm not sure if it's relevant, but a couple of years back I couldn't get the data transfer to work on our server (I'm sure I was told it was a known problem), and the only way I could get the job done was to do the transfer to a stand alone version of Recorder 6 and then tranfer the resulting database to the server.

Regards,
Dave
KMBRC

8 Reply by VivhNWT

  • VivhNWT
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 12-10-2010
  • Posts: 6

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

Thanks but that's what I've just tried and it failed because the transfer program didn't ask where the database file was so when it came to do the transfer it didn't know where the file was. :-(

9 Reply by Giffdj

  • Giffdj
  • Veteran
  • Offline
  • From: KMBRC
  • Registered: 02-06-2008
  • Posts: 72

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

Unfortunately I've misplaced the notes I made at the time, but I think I copied the Recorder CD to the folder where the database resided, ran it from there and the transfer program just found it.

Dave

10 Reply by Brian Broughton

  • Brian Broughton
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 15-05-2006
  • Posts: 8

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

We now have a server and new computers and I would like to install Recorder 6 on this rather than the standalone Recorder 2002 we were using previously. The database is still in 2002 format but has been checked as OK to run on Recorder 6. Can I install Recorder 6 and import the data or do I need to install 2002 first please?
Also the version of "6" which I have is 6.10.4. Also, do I need to install updates sequentially to get to current version?
Thanks
Brian Broughton

11 Reply by MikeWeideli

  • MikeWeideli
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • From: Littlefield Consultancy
  • Registered: 05-07-2006
  • Posts: 2,645

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

You don't need to have the  Recorder 2002 software installed to transfer the data into Recorder 6 and in fact installing it is unlikley to help to resolve the problems which others have encountered. You wil need to get the latest network installation CD for Recorder 6 (6.15) from your reseller and install this, make sure it is working and then upgrade to 6.16. A number if issues are being enountered with installation on the latest operating system, and you shoould  certainaly not use the version of SQL Server on the DVD. Also I woudl also advise installing Sql Server Management Studio which will help if you have problems. Before starting,  I would advise obtaining help from your reseller or explaining exactly what your set up is on the forum  and asking for advice there. Once you have Recorder 6 running you can then attempt the R2002 transfer . If there are problems there are various options including doing the transfer on another machine and transfering over the database  to your server or getting it done by a reseller.

.

Mike Weideli

MikeWeideli's Website

12 Reply by sallyrankin

  • sallyrankin
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 07-04-2006
  • Posts: 371

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

The document called ‘Data Transfer from Recorder 2002 to Recorder 6’ which can be downloaded or viewed from http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-4623 explains how to do this type of transfer. You should do the transfer as specified in that rather than import the data.

As it says in section 1, for the reason stated, ‘You are advised to do the transfer while your Recorder 6 system is at the version on the installation CD that you will be using for the transfer, i.e. before running any dictionary or software upgrades.’ Please heed the warning about compacting the Recorder 2002 databases before doing the transfer. As explained in section 2, you don’t need to have Recorder 2002 installed on the machine running Recorder 6 but you will need to copy the Recorder 2002 databases to it. I suggest you store them in folders called \Recorder 2002\Database. If you want things like rucksacks transferred they will also need to be in the \Recorder 2002 folder as well. Please check your transfer as specified in section 5 although you will need some (very basic) knowledge of Access for this task. Note that if you install Recorder 6 using a v6.15.4.b disk (currently the latest version – available from resellers/Recorder Approved Experts) there will 17 Names and addresses, not 12 as in earlier versions, so after a transfer you will have 5 more N&A in Recorder 6 than in Recorder 2002. Section 6 explains how to resolve some of the common problems with these data transfers.

The v6.10.4 disks were issued in 2007 so they are quite old now and last time I tried to do an installation with one it failed. I recommend getting a v6.15.4.b disk from your reseller.

Sally Rankin, JNCC Recorder Approved Expert
E-mail: s.rankin@btinternet.com
Telephone: 01491 578633
Mobile: 07941 207687

13 Reply by writter

  • writter
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 12-01-2009
  • Posts: 30

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

Hello,
we have got a similar problem. We are using Recorder 6 over a network with the database on a SQL Server. All worked fine until we changed to Terminal Server (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise).
Now it works still fine from normal workstations, but it is impossible to start it from Terminal Server.
If I try this, I get the following message:
"An error occurred whilest starting the application. EOleExeption: [DBNETLIB][ConnectionOpen Connect()).] SQL Sever does not exist or access denied."
I've set the DEP correctly as somewhere in the forum recommended but that didn't help. Has anybody had the same problem? Did you solve it?
I fear, I have to set some rights on the SQL Server, but I'm not very familiar with SQL Server.
Any help would be very much appreciated.

Wolfgang
BBOWT

14 Reply by writter

  • writter
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 12-01-2009
  • Posts: 30

Re: Installing a network copy of Recorder6 on a Windows 2008 server

Hello,
today I've solved our problem with installation of Recorder on Terminal Server. In the registry the entry for the name of the sql server was missing. I had checked the registry on TS before, but only the 32 bit registry. Now I checked teh 64 bit registry (accessible by running: %systemroot%\syswow64\regedit), edited the sql server name and it seems to work now.

Wolfgang