Setting up the CMS database

The Crystal Management Server (CMS) requires a database to store information about the system and its users. By default, the Setup program installs and configures its own Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) database if necessary. CMS clustering is automatically supported by the default MSDE database.

The MSDE is a client/server data engine that provides local data storage and is compatible with Microsoft SQL Server. If you already have the MSDE or SQL Server installed, the New installation option of the installation program creates the CMS database using your existing database engine.

You can migrate this initial CMS database to another supported database server later. For details, see "Configuring the intelligence tier" in the Crystal Enterprise Administrator's Guide.

Alternatively, you can connect your CMS directly to your preferred database server without installing the MSDE. Ensure that the MSDE or SQL Server are not installed on your local machine. Then set up the appropriate database client software or ODBC Data Source Name (DSN). Consult your local database administrator or database system documentation for details.

Note:    

• See the Platforms.txt file included with your product distribution for a complete list of tested database software and version requirements.
• Ensure that your database server is set up to use Unicode character encoding (such as UTF-8). Consult your database documentation to determine the settings required for a Unicode configuration. For database servers such as Oracle and Sybase, during installation you need to configure the server to use Unicode encoding for the character data types. For other databases, such as DB2 and Informix, you can create the CMS database with Unicode settings on your existing database server.
• Before installing Crystal Enterprise atop an existing installation of the MSDE or Microsoft SQL Server, you need to complete several preparatory steps before running the Crystal Enterprise setup program.

To set up a database account for Crystal Enterprise on MSDE

1. Determine whether the CMS should use Windows NT or SQL Server authentication when connecting to your local database installation.
2. Using your usual administrative tools, create or select a user account that provides Crystal Enterprise with the appropriate privileges to your database server:
   • If you want the CMS to connect to its database using Windows NT authentication, ensure that the Windows NT user account that you assign to the CMS belongs to the System Administrators role in your SQL Server installation.

     In this scenario, the Windows NT user account that you assign to the CMS is not actually used to create the system database during the installation process. Instead, your own Windows NT administrative account is used to create the database, so verify that your Windows NT account also belongs to the System Administrators role in your SQL Server installation.

   • If you want the CMS to connect to its database using SQL Server authentication, the login that you assign to the CMS must belong to the Database Creators role in your SQL Server installation.

     In this scenario, the SQL Server credentials that you assign to the CMS are also used to create the database and its tables.

3. Verify that you can log on to SQL Server and carry out administrative tasks using the account you set up for use by the CMS.

Related topics

• System requirements