SQL Server: Installing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 On a Development Windows 2008r2 (SP1) System

This is a simple step-by-step guide to installing Microsoft's newest version of SQL Server with Reporting Services in stand-alone mode (the alternative is SharePoint Integrated, I'll deal with all the steps necessary to do that installation separately in a few days/weeks time).

I'm using the developer edition as downloaded from Microsoft MSDN, the ISO name is;

en_sql_server_2012_developer_edition_x86_x64_dvd_813280.iso

I've highlighted the build version. If past experience is anything to go by later releases will follow pretty-much the same installation pattern.

The first step is to install your Windows 2008R2 box and get it fully upgraded to the latest patch levels (SP1). Then you can run the setup.exe on the installation DVD;

SQL Server 2012: Installation Centre

Select "Installation" from the list of options on the left;

SQL Server 2012: Installation Options

Select "New SQL Server stand-alone installation ..." which is the top option on the right. After a few seconds wait (but I guess that probably depends on the speed and power of your system!) the following dialog appears;

SQL Server 2012: Setup Support Rules

The installation program has checked your system and, on the system I'm using, found nothing that prevents the installation from proceeding. If you are interested in seeing the "Detailed Report" I've updated it to Google Docs here (with a slight bit of editing to remove machine names).

Once you've got a good set of passes click "OK". A "please wait" dialog will appear and after a few seconds the next dialog;

SQL Server 2012: Product Key

You now need to enter your Product Key. If you are using the MSDN edition then it will be pre-populated, if you don't have one when you can just select one of the "Free" editions. Once you've entered the details click "Next";

SQL Server 2012: License Terms

No installation process would be complete without a 20-page Licensing Agreement and this one is no different. After you've read the entire document (you do do that right? *cough*) click on the "I accept the license terms". I also select the "Send feature usage data to Microsoft" and if you don't you'll only have yourself to blame when the features I use and tell them about are prioritised for improvement and the features you use but keep secret about aren't ... ;-)

Click "Next";

SQL Server: Install Setup Files

This dialog will only appear for a few seconds, as soon as the installation files have been successfully installed you are presented with the next dialog;

SQL Server: Setup Support Rules

Again I've made the Detailed Report for this check available via Google Docs here. As you'll see there is one Warning related to the "Windows Firewall", I'm going to ignore this and just move on.

Click "Next";

SQL Server: Setup Role

The default option, "SQL Server Feature Installation" is the one I'm after so I'll just click "Next";

SQL Server: Feature Selection

And this is the part where things start to get complicated. What exactly do you want your SQL Server to be doing? I'm going to install pretty much everything except the SharePoint integrated features (the first two shared features; Reporting Services - SharePoint, and Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint Products). Clearly I'm building a development box so it's usually better to have too much rather than too little so I can use it for many different purposes.

Clearly if you're building a test (or production) machine you need to be a lot more careful about what you select on this page. As you select features configuration pages appear on the left to allow you to configure them during the installation.

Once you're done click "Next";

SQL Server: Installation Rules

So we now have another check, the third, to make sure the system is capable of running the options I've selected. And now it "Failed" as "Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 is required". The instructions for enabling this feature I have also blogged about, click here. When I did this no-reboot was required.

After you've enabled the feature click on "Re-run" in the dialog;

SQL Server: Installation Rules (Attempt 2)

As you can see the check that had previously failed has now passed. The Detailed log is available (via Google Docs) here.

Click "Next";

SQL Server: Instance Configuration

There isn't anything here I need to change so just click "Next". There will be a brief pause while the installation program checks to see if sufficient disk space exists to install the options you have selected. After a few seconds a report will be displayed;

SQL Server: Disk Space Requirements

Click "Next";

SQL Server: Server Configuration

It's pretty unlikely that you'll want to change anything here (all these are services you can always change later). The one thing you might want to check if you are deploying to non-English customers is that the correct options are selected under the "Collation" tab - this is especially true if your system will be used to store multi-byte data such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc. characters.

Click "Next" when you're done;

SQL Server: Database Engine Configuration

I always use "Windows authentication" and (as it's a development machine which will spend 90% of it's time off!) I usually add in a few AD groups representing the entire company (we are an IT Service company) on the basis that I never know who I might want to share it with. This is your chance to secure the system either as tightly or loosely as you wish.

Click "Next";

SQL Server: Analysis Services Configuration

And the same again really. You need to enter the users who will have access to the Analysis Services. Once you're happy with this click "Next";

SQL Server: Reporting Services Configuration

The default option, "Install and Configure", is the option I'm interested in so just click "Next";

SQL Server: Distributed Replay Controller

Whilst appearing to be exactly the same as other "Pick the users" dialog box this one is subtly (invisibly!) different; you cannot select groups. If you try when you click "Next" you get an error;

The specified account 'XX\YYYY' for setting 'CTLRUSERS' is a group account. You can only use a user account.

Add in the users for this feature and click "Next";

SQL Server: Distributed Replay Chat

Enter the name of your controller (or leave blank) and then click "Next";

SQL Server: Error Reporting

I always check this check box (to send error reports to Microsoft) so that errors I encountered will hopefully be dealt with in future releases! Click "Next" when you're done and another round of checks will be executed and after a few seconds you will be presented with a report;

SQL Server: Installation Configuration Rules

Again I have uploaded the detailed report to Google Docs here. Click "Next";

SQL Server: Ready To Install

Click "Install" to begin the install process. The installation itself on the development system I was using took around 25/30 minutes. After the install is complete you will see the following dialog;

SQL Server: Computer Restart Required

Click "OK" and under this is the final installation report;

SQL Server: Complete (Install Report)

I've attached the (edited) log file generated by the installation here.

A restart is required, after the restart running Internet Explorer and pointing to the the SQL Server Reporting Services URL will (after logging in) take you to the standard webpage.

Windows 2008R2: Installing .NET Framework (Enabling the Feature)

2008R2 includes the .NET Framework as a feature that needs to be turned on when required. Numerous installation programs (for example SQL Server 2012) require it and will mostly just error and tell you to turn the feature on.

The blog post is intended as a step-by-step guide to switching the feature on.

Go to the start menu and type "Feature" into the search box, choose the option "Turn Windows Features on or off". The Server Manager will then be displayed;

Windows 2008r2: Server Manager

Click on "Features" in the tree-view on the left;

Windows 2008r2: Features

If you already have any features installed they will be listed here. Click on "Add Features" on the right;

Windows 2008r2: Select Features Dialog

Expand the top node in the list (.NEW Framework 3.5.1 Features) and select the first item ".NET Framework 3.5.1). Click "Next";

Windows 2008r2: Confirm Installation Selections

Click "Install", the next dialog actually shows the installation process which should take about 30 seconds (depending on how powerful your system is!) then you will see the following;

Windows 2008r2: Installation Results

Presuming you have "Installation succeeded" in the dialog click on "Close" to complete the process.

Problems Installing SharePoint 2010 on Windows 2008R2 Server (Configuration Failed- error)

This Knol is a bit of a departure for me in that I'm not suggesting a solution to a particular problem more I'm just sharing with the world my total exasperation when trying to get SharePoint 2010 setup and running on an internal test server (so I can test SQL Server Reporting Services Integrated Mode - I'm not even trying to test SharePoint!).

This Knol runs through the process of installing SharePoint 2010 until a "Configuration failed" error occurs in effect ending the process.

I find it staggering that this hasn't been properly tested by Microsoft prior to release of SharePoint 2010 - if I was trying to install software from a different manufacturer I'd expect these kind of problems but performing a practically automated installed by the people who wrote both peices of software and it not working is not really acceptable.

Hopefully someone at Microsoft will read this and duplicate the problem on their servers and provide a solution. Hopefully.


Build and configure your Windows 2008R2 server, to exactly duplicate the error message (and process below) after you've booted into Windows add the feature ".NET Framework 3.5.1" as well as the prerequisite Features and Services (IIS) that it requires.

Once you've done that you're ready to go through the process below.

Run the SharePoint 2010 Installer (as provided on the DVD):

Click on "Install software prerequisites" under the "Install" section:

Click "Next", accept the licensing agreement (after reading it of course!), then click "Next" to begin the installation:

This will take about 10 minutes, probably for the first time on an installation dialog (that I’ve noticed) you actually get the time the process started as well as how long it’s been running for. Something I think we should encourage!

Actually it doesn’t – it lets you know when the current step started and how long that’s been running for. Much less useful. Ah well, we’re getting there I suppose!

Once the installation has completed you’ll see the dialog:

Click on "Finish" to restart your system.

Once your system comes back up re-run the SharePoint 2010 installer and this time select "Install SharePoint Server". After a few seconds you'll be prompted to enter your Product Key, type that in, wait a few seconds for it to be validated, then click "Continue", accept the licensing agreement, and then click "Continue":

Select "Standalone" as we're building a single box instance (rather than adding a new component(s) to an existing farm):

The installation process will now continue, once it has completed it will display the following dialog:

Clicking on "Close" will trigger the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard to start up:

Click "Next" and a dialog will appear:

This dialog is simply warning you that if you're on a production server that users are actually using then they can expect the service to be unavailable (potentially) depeding on what you select in this wizard. We're on a new server and so don't really care. Click "Yes" to continue:

The configuration will now take place and then the following dialog is displayed:

Nice.

For the sake of completeness here is the text of that error message:

"Configuration Failed


One of more configuration settings failed. Completed configuration settings will not be rolled back. Resolve the problem and run this configuration wizard again. The following contains detailed information about the failure:


Failed to create the configuration database.


An exception of type System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException was thrown. Additional exception information: The data is invalid.


To diagnose the problem, review the application event log and the configuration log file location at:





Click Finish to close this wizard."

Why installing the latest version of SharePoint on the latest version of Windows Server doesn't work out of the box is beyond me.