System Center Essentials 2007 can be purchased packaged with SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition. Purchasers of this package would then install SQL Server 2005 before installing Essentials 2007.

If you have purchased this package, or if you purchased a SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition, Workgroup Edition, or Enterprise Edition and are installing it for Essentials 2007 to use, this section outlines best practices that should help you reduce the time and the configuration steps necessary to set up SQL Server 2005 for Essentials 2007.

If you are planning to install an instance of SQL Server 2005 on a server different from the Essentials 2007 management server, proceed as recommended in Selecting Database Locations.

Best practice steps for installing SQL Server 2005

  1. Install SQL Server 2005 as described in your SQL Server 2005 documentation. At minimum, you must install SQL Server Database Services and Reporting Services. Recommended best practices consist of the following steps:

    1. On the Components to Install page, click the Advanced button, expand Reporting Serves, and ensure that all sub-components of Reporting Services are installed.

    2. On the Report Server Installation Options page, select the Install the default configuration option. Manually configuring this component can be complex and time-consuming, so unless you have special requirements in your enterprise that rule out this option, this option is recommended.

  2. Install Essentials 2007.

See Also