Migrating Virtual Centre Database

As we all know Virtual Centre needs a database server and if you don’t have a database server when you build your VC then you can have the VC installer install MSDE.  Those of you who were listening in class will recall that MSDE is not recommended for production use, only test and demonstration.  So how do we move from an MSDE based VC to a SQL server based VC?

1. Make sure you have a SQL server to move to, at least SQL2000 SP4 or SQL2005 SP1.
2. Create a domain account to use as the service account for Virtual Centre
3. Stop the Virtual Centre & MSDE services on the VC server
4. Copy the database files (.mdf & .ldf files) to the data folder on the new SQL server
5. Attach the database to the SQL server
6. Assign the domain service account database Owner access to the database, make the VC database the default database for the user
7. Make the domain service account an administrator of the VC server
8. Logon to the VC server as the domain service account
9. Change the Virtual Centre ODBC system DSN to use the new server name
10. Change the Virtual Centre servie to use the domain service account & start the service

For me the logon to the VC server with the service account was important, possibly because I hadn’t made the account a local administrator before trying to run the service under the account.  You may not need this step.

If your database server is SQL 2005 then make sure SP1 is installed & follow VMware KB article about Requirements for running Virtual Centre with MS SQL 2005

© 2007, Alastair. All rights reserved.