Frequently asked questions for Sharing
The video demo for sharing business contact manager has been published on office online, you can find it here: https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102258501033.aspx
Troubleshoot for sharing issues
Q: I have two computers in a Workgroup with same user account and sharing doesn’t work.
A: Please refer to the demo for how to share a BCM Database at https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102258501033.aspx
Q: Windows Desktop Search can search the BCM database, but the instant search within outlook does not seem to in a shared environment.
A: Outlook instant search can search local BCM Database. Although in case of a shared remote database it’s not currently supported by outlook.
Q: How do I separate sharing Business and Personal Contacts?
A: You should keep your personal contacts and information in Outlook contacts on his PC, and use BCM contacts for business.
Q: All users running XP or Vista with Office 2007 and Some Anti-Virus S/W cannot connect to the machine with the BCM 2007 database.
A: ou need to make sure to have port 5356 opened for outlook.exe on both remote and local machines for send and receive. 5356 is the TCP port that SQL Server instance uses to access the shared database.
Q: I have a local database that I want to move to a server and hence share it with my colleagues
A: You should use Admin Tool to achieve this.
Q: Can we stop the MSSMLBIZ SQL service on client machines to save local machine resources?
A: Yes, you can stop the service only if you don’t have an offline database on your local machine.
Q: Can the database administrator select what data to share with the other users?
A: BCM currently shares all the records in the database with all the shared users.
Q: If a user wants to make the BCM database available to all the colleagues, is it required to install BCM on each machine?
A: Yes, it is required to install BCM on every machine, so that the BCM forms and folders will show in Outlook, but you'll connect them all to the same database. Also, you don’t really need BCM on server machine if it’s only used for hosting database.
Q: I have shared out the database successfully from the server computer. When trying to connect to it from the client computer, I got the error message “Cannot find computer xyz. Confirm that the remote computer exists and that it is available on the network.”
A: Try pinging the server computer from the client. If it cannot ping the server computer, make sure that the firewall on server computer has exception for “File and Printer sharing”. If the exception is there, it could be that the server computer and client computer are not in the same subnet. You can verify that by looking at the IP address of these two machines. If they are in different subnet, follow the steps below
1. Open Windows Firewall Settings by going to the Control Panel, Security Center, and clicking on the Windows Firewall
2. Switch to the Exceptions tab; find exceptions for File and Printer Sharing, if the exception is not checked, check it
3. Click on Properties of this exception, and click on the “Change Scope”
4. In the “Change Scope” dialog window, if it shows “My Subnet Only”, choose “Custom List” and enter the IP addresses of the client computers (separate each with a comma).
Q: I have shared out the database successfully from the server computer. When trying to connect to it from the client computer, I got the error message “Cannot access the database server on computer xyz.”
A: There are multiple possible causes for this as listed below:
1. Check the SQL Server on the host computer, see if the SQL instance for shared database is still running (By default it is ‘MSSMLBIZ’). You can check that from Programs -> Microsoft SQL Server 2005 -> Configuration Tools -> SQL Server Configuration Manager -> SQL Server 2005 Services. If the service is stopped or paused, start the service.
2. If the service is running, see if its TCP protocol is enabled and correct TCP Port assigned. This is in the same configuration manager dialog, under SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> Protocols for InstanceName (By default MSSMLBIZ). If the instance’s TCP/IP protocol is ‘Disabled’, enable it. Right click on “TCP/IP”, select ‘Properties’ and go to tab ‘IP Addresses’, if the IPAll-> TCP Port is not set, set it to ‘5356’. Note that the SQL instance needs to be restarted after changing the setting.
3. If there is no problem with SQL Server instance, see whether a firewall exception for “Microsoft Small Business” exists in Windows Firewall Settings. And if it is there and checked, see if your need to change the scope of this exception, you can follow similar steps as turn on “Fire and Printer sharing”.
4. If you cannot find firewall exception for “Microsoft Small Business” in Windows firewall Settings, you can manually add one exception for TCP port 5356.
5. Note that if the shared DB is hosted in a SQL Instance not by default name “MSSMLBIZ”, and if its TCP Port is not the default value ‘5356’, you can connect to it by typing “serverName\InstanceName, portNumber” instead of just “serverName” in “Create or select a Business Contact Manager database” dialog while connecting from client.
Q: I made the changes in Windows Firewall settings and SQL Server instance as above, and still get the same errors.
A: Please see if there are other firewall services other than Windows Firewall running on the server computer. If so, please refer to each of these firewall solutions’ user manual and manually enable the firewall exceptions for both “File/Printer Sharing” (TCP Port 139) and TCP port 5356. This needs to be done on each firewall service running on the server computer.
Q: When trying to connect to it from the client computer, I got the error message “Cannot find any Business Contact Manager databases on computer xyz. For more information about possible causes, click Help.”
A: This is mostly due to reason that the database is not correctly shared to the user on the client computer. You can verify that by running the following SQL command as the shared user from the client computer:
Sqlcmd –S “tcp:serverName\instanceName,portNumber”
If this command fails, make sure that the database is not private, and that the intended shared user account does exist on server computer and has been granted shared user access to the database.
Q: I can connect to the shared database from client computer through SQL command or Management Studio fine; however, I could not connect through BCM client.
A: The Business Contact Manager Database must be of same version and locale as the BCM installed on client computer. We do not support sharing between different versions of BCM, e.g. sharing won’t work if having BCM 2003 on the server and BCM 2007 on the client. Neither do we support sharing between different BCM locales. User cannot share a German BCM DB and connect to it from an English BCM client. Please note that BCM locale here is independent from OS user locale settings. If the OS setting is German and BCM is English, then the above sharing scenario will work.
Q: I get the error message “Cannot verify your remote user account on computer xyz. For more information, click Help.”
A: See if the server computer has “Simple File sharing” enabled, if so, it needs to be turned off. On Windows XP Pro it can be found from explorer window -> “Tools” -> “Folder Options” -> “View” tab -> In Advanced Setting, see “Use simple file sharing (Recommended)”, make sure to uncheck this setting.
Or you can do this by running to the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and going to the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\ForceGuest
Set this value to be 0.
Sometimes the server computer needs to be restarted to let the change take effect.
Comments
Anonymous
May 01, 2007
BCM 2007; shared DB on SBS SQL2005:Create, modify Search Folders or user fields, : no problems. Other users see new search folders and changes to existing search folders instantly. Impressive!Customize Master Category List: Problems: User A creates new categories and assigns colors to them, then assigns catagories to contacts. User B's Master Category list does not get updated and when he looks at the contact, the category text is there, but not the colors. Views: Problems: new views created by User A are seen by User B. However, if User A then changes the View's filter, User B's copy of the View does not get changed reliably, especially if the view's filter uses the category field. If you jump around a lot in both users, the changes sometimes eventually show up for User B. I haven't been able to pin down the sequence that triggers the transfer. I assumed that all the customization paramers are stored in the SQL db and would thus take effect for all users seamlessly, but there seems to be some subtlties.If anyone can explain this or tell me how to make it work, I'll much appreciate it.Anonymous
May 03, 2007
Thanks for the valuable feedback.With regard to the category question, newly added category (including color) is stored in local outlook profile rather than Database. The current workaround is to manually add these categories to the shared user's outlook profile and they will show up with colors. Thanks.Anonymous
May 03, 2007
Hello. I'd like to know how sharing is facilitated. In other words, if there are x users on a network and all have access to BCM shared db, how does BCM ensure records are not overwritten? Are records locked when they are opened? Also, is shared db same as source db?ThanksAnonymous
May 03, 2007
More specifically.. what happens if user a and user b have same record open, and make changes at same time, and user a submits at 1:03pm, and user b submits at 1:04pm? Or what if they try to submit changes at same exact time? How does user a know that user b might be working on the same record? This is what I mean by 'how is sharing facilitated'Anonymous
May 04, 2007
Mark, for sharing, the general rule is that we resolve changes to the same record by following "last writer wins" at record level. User a will not know user b is working on the same record at the same time and if user a submits changes later, he/she will override the changes made by user b.If users go offline and sync back, there is "conflict resolution" facility that detects conflict and lets user choose which side of change to win, either from offline db or shared db, that is at record level as well.Anonymous
May 04, 2007
Excellent. Works for us. A few more questions:-Is the shared db the same db as the creator's BCM db? Or is the share an additional, standalone db?-How often is the shared db sync'd to other user's BCM db's? Is it scheduled? Or does it have to be done manually, or?Thanks!Anonymous
May 04, 2007
The basic scenario (without considering offline) is that there is only one db created by db creator. All of the shared users are accessing the same database, either locally or remotely via network. All changes made by shared users are going to the same database. Changes made by one shared user are shown on other users' computer in real time by automatic polling. There is no need to sync manually.If remote shared users also choose to enable offline setting, an offline db will be created on their client machines. The offline db can sync with the shared db both automatically and manually, depending on circumstances.Hope this helps.Anonymous
May 04, 2007
Thanks. Guess I'm still a little confused. I take it we have to install BCM on each client machine, yes? If so, when BCM is installed, Sql Server Express (and presumably the BCM db) is installed on each client machine, too, yes? If so, it would seem there would be multiple BCM dbs, since each client machine has an instance of BCM and SSE installed on their machines..? Once the creator of the db enables sharing on machine 1, how do users on amchines 2, 3, 4 etc dictate what db gets updated when they make changes, since they presumably have dbs, too? Maybe I am not understanding how BCM should be installed and configured on each client machine so they all share ONE db. Help..?Anonymous
May 04, 2007
Yes, installing bcm will install sql server express on the client computer, however, it won't create dbs and user can choose whether to create a new database in this local sql instance or connect to an existing db on a remote computer. After installing bcm on the client, when launching outlook, BCM will bring up a first use wizard, in which user can specify the shared db's name and location and connect to it. Once connected, user are using the one shared db, without having dbs on their client computers.Hope this clarifies, thanks.Anonymous
May 04, 2007
Ahhh, got it. Perfect. Thank you!Anonymous
June 11, 2007
Hi, so I followed the instructions for installing on SQL Server to the letter and it worked perfectly - great. All computers on the LAN can connect to the BCM database on the server.On my laptop I've created an offline database and this also works fine.Now I have just installed a VPN client so that I can connect to the office VPN when I am out and about. The VPN connects fine and Outlook connects, shared folders and even office printers work.Here's the problem: the Business Contact Manager will not go Online and sync with the server.I've turned off the firewall on the server just in case.I've found this on the web:The key to making this work is to understand that your NT login will not work with SQL Server over VPN so you cannot just use Windows Authentication to get to the sql server. My pal Roman Rehak says you CAN do that if you set up network credentials which is a pain. So instead, you need to change the security properties of the database to Mixed Authentication (Windows and SQL) rather than Windows only.I'm not really sure if this is the problem or not.Has anyone got this working over a vpn. It must be possible - it's not like I'm trying to transfer buckets of data....TIA.GilesAnonymous
June 11, 2007
By the way, I forgot to mention that the laptop connects to the Server db just fine when I'm in the office on the LAN and it syncs fine between the offline and server db. It's just when I'm at the other end of a VPN that things don't work. It just says:Business Contact Manager is unable to connect to the shared database. Ensure that the computer on which the db is running is functioning properly and that you have network connectivity.All other connectivity works fine over the VPN. I'm fairly convinced that this is a SQL thing but don't know enough about SQL to get much further... please let me know if you've managed to get this working!BTW I did find a Microsoft note about BCM over VPN that said that "it hadn't been tested" or something like that - maybe that translates to "it doesn't work". Cannot see why though...Anonymous
June 12, 2007
Giles, it depends on the VPN setup between your client machine and the server. If sql login cannot complete within the timeout your remote client cannot connect to the shared sql server. One way to try that is running following command:sqlcmd -S serverInstanceName,portNumberon your client as the shared user and see if you get "Unable to complete login process due to delay in opening server connection" error message. If that is the case, you may want to run the login command with increased timeout:sqlcmd -l timeout -S serverInstanceName,portNumberand see if it would finally connect.If the above situations happen, it shows that the VPN between client and server is too slow for sharing to work properly. You may either need to "speed up" the VPN connection or need to use LAN instead. Hope that helps.Anonymous
June 16, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
June 18, 2007
Giles, it seems that your client is in the different domain from the server when you use VPN. If somehow you can join your client to the server's domain when out of the office, you can run the command prompt as the domain user and try to connect through the first sql command you used.If there is no way to join the same domain when out of office, one possible workaround is to create a local user of same name and password as your domain user on the client; run your command prompt as this local user and try the first sql command.Hope this helps.Anonymous
June 22, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
June 29, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
June 30, 2007
Man... We just set this up on our local office server, using SQL Server and is it SLOW. Are there any ways to speed this sharing up? It takes 15-20 seconds to save each new accountAnonymous
July 13, 2007
Hi,I'm interested in having just one DB for my company as well. Is it possible to build the BCM database on an existing SQL Server 2005 instance that is installed on a Windows Server. Or, even to install it on our Exchange Server where all of our other Outlook/Exchange data would also be acceptable?ThanksRayAnonymous
July 13, 2007
Yes, it's possible. Look at blog post http://blogs.msdn.com/bcm/archive/2007/03/30/database-tool-released.aspxAnonymous
July 13, 2007
Ray, you can use our new Database Tool to do this. Please take a look at:http://blogs.msdn.com/bcm/archive/2007/03/30/database-tool-released.aspx~ Clinton FordAnonymous
July 13, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
July 22, 2007
OK. So I have enjoyed BCM w/ Outlook 2003 for a while - and now I have upgraded to 2007 w/ BCM. I operate a small business (mental health practice) and do not have an established office network established. I use one laptop and my assistant uses another, and we both work off-site often, and do not always have computers powered on w/ internet connections.I tried utilizing online Exchange account (via 1and1) only to find out that that they do not support BCM in their Exchange accounts.What are my options to share/sync the db between our two laptops, manually when we meet in person weekly?Would an ad0hoc network work? Could I be the administrator of the db on my computer and then sync with the offline db on my assistant's computer - thereby syncing the db when we meet? Please advise...(Great blog!)Anonymous
August 09, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
August 09, 2007
pyramid, can you first check if you have enough disk space on your system drive when creating the offline database?If so, can you turn on BCM logging and find the errors in the log file?You can enable logging from Help -> About Business contact Manager for Outlook -> check the checkbox for "Enable Logging for Business Contact Manager". Once you turn on the logging, try to configure offline Database again and once you see the error message, you can open the logging file from document and settingsuserNamelocal settingstempbcmlog_v3.log. And see what errors are thrown at that time, thanks.Anonymous
August 09, 2007
Thanks. That worked, sort of.... It took me awhile to find "options" available as it is grayed out most of the time. It seems to only allow access to Options at the end of synchronizing.Now I have to figure out why some of the contacts were skipped. Is there a maximum number of contacts? It was not even up to 1000 when it just stopped and said "synchronized". It has contacts from letters A to Z so it went through the alphabet. I have over 5400 and I know that is going to tax storage memory. But it seems to have skjipped certain contacts within companies.Is there a way to determine some options in order to conserve memory; for instance, only the last 3 or 4 items in the history or the last 2 or 3 notes or e-mails in the history?Also, how do you go to a particular person or company? All i've been able to do is just scroll up or down and that can take a long time.Thanks for the helpAnonymous
August 09, 2007
oops, sorry the last comments were meant for the mobile Smartphone BlogAnonymous
August 10, 2007
One common reason for the sql login failed error message during database creation is that the sql service logon account is set to a non-administrator user account. You can check that by going to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 -> SQL Configuration Manager -> SQL Server 2005 Services -> Select the service you are running, (By default it is MSSMLBIZ), and look under "Log On As" column to see which account it is running as.If it is neither administrator or "NT AuthorityNetworkService", you can solve this issue by going to Document and SettingscurrentUserlocal settingsapplication dataMicrosoft, right click on "Business Contact Manager" folder, go to "security" tab, and then add "read and write" permission to the above sql logon account you use. That should solve the login failure problem.Anonymous
August 10, 2007
Thanks for your quick response. I went to the "Log On As:" under MSSMLBIZ and it shows the Built-in Account button selected with Network Service. Does that satisfy the condition you indicated above? Then what should I do?Also, I seem to be regressing. I can no longer view my db on the Vaio after I have done a restart. I keep getting a "Cannot display the folder. This action cannot be completed because Business Contact MAnaget cannot access the database. Cannot opent he database "MSSmallBusinessMicrosoftOutlookInternetSettings_offline3" requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user ..."I have erified that I am "sharing" my db on the desktop computer and I can see both computers as work group comuters on the network. I don't get it.Ideas?Anonymous
August 13, 2007
BCMTEAM,Just wanted to give you an update and tell you that I am now sharing db on both computers and have successfully created a "local" copy on the Vaio. I honestly don't know why it started working. Maybe it just takes a few attempts?Thanks for the help.Anonymous
August 14, 2007
I used the Database Admin Tool to create a database on my inhouse SQL Server. I shared the database to the first workstation perfectly.On the second workstation i try to connect to 192.168.12.18MSSQLSERVER,1433 and i get a cannot connect error.SQLCMD -S "tcp:192.168.12.18MSSQLSERVER,1433"this throws an error "Login failed for user ''. The user is not associated with a trusted SQL Server Connection."SQLCMD -S "tcp:192.168.12.18MSSQLSERVER,1433" -U username -P passwordthis works and i can access the tables in ContactMgrhelp!Scott Vanden ElzenVisonexAnonymous
August 23, 2007
Hi there,Still have problems sharing the categories. I would like to be able to make a new "master category" list so all users sharing the BCM database get their categories syncronized. Is this possible? If not; is there a way of sharing/exporting your custom categories so other users on the network can adapt them manually?I read a somewhat similar question where the answer was the local outlook profile should manually be exported and imported to other clients, but where do I find this file/profile?Hope you're able to help.Anonymous
August 30, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
September 05, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
September 13, 2007
Thank you for a great blog.I am new to BCM2007, and plan to roll it out to over 100 users, where Managers would assign opportunities and accounts to salespeople. I noticed in the test environment that each user can modify any part of the shared record -- which is not wanted. Does this mean multiple Db must be created? If so how would a manager manage the Dbs?Any help is appreciated.Anonymous
September 17, 2007
Hi Savvy95.Thanks for your interest in Outlook with BCM. We will need some more information to understand exactly the best solution for you. Can you E-mail us at bcmisvx@microsoft.com so we can continue the discussion?Anonymous
September 20, 2007
I am reading a lot of information about the Business Contact Manager in a LAN environment; does anyone have any experience with deployment in a WAN setup?I have attempted to setup a WAN solution with the database on a local Windows 2003 Server with SQL 2005 Express; following the instructions in Microsoft’s "Deploying Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager in a remote database configuration" I used the database tool to create the and share the database and everyone is able to connect to it without errors but when the users in our remote offices connect thru a Watchguard firewall hardware to hardware VPN it is painfully slow.The same users accessing the Exchange server don’t have any problems it is only when they try to access the BCM that things start to drag, I have preformed pings from the remote workstations to the server and I am getting 78 Ms responses on a 1550 byte ping so I don’t think it is a connectivity issue.Can anyone give any advice on a possible solution to this dilemma?Chuck HoodAnonymous
October 02, 2007
Is there a way to deploy BCM to a client without prompting the user for configuration settings? I've copied the Registration.xml file to the system and the registry entries from HKCU and HKLM for eCRM to my test machine but still to not avail. If anyone has dealt with deploying this application completely configuration free for the user, your advice and assistance is appreciated.Anonymous
October 03, 2007
I work from home, but would like to share a Business Contact Manager data over the internet with my other colleague.We have a centralized office with SQL Server 2005 installed. There is no domain. The SQL Server ports are already open to the internet and I realize that I would have to open the additional ports for Business Contact Manager to work successfully.Is it possible to use SQL Server authenication when connecting to the BCM database?Anonymous
October 07, 2007
BCM TeamIs there away to synchronise the database via the internet when you are running BCM offline?Anonymous
October 07, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
October 07, 2007
To the BCM Team - I am new to Blogging so my appoligies.I have loaded BCM on Server 2003 and works very well. I have been testing for the last 4 months with Outlook 2007 & usage with different applications. I ahave come across two things that I think is critical for any database which share with other users:-Must - Admin to control granting of visable, read only, edit or delete to Account & Business contacts.Ability - to sychcronise the database via the internet when offlline so user are kept upto date of any changes. Reasons:-point 1 above - fear of users deleting Accounts or business Contacts by accident and or if an Account is of sensitive nature you may want limit the access to a one or a few users.point 2 above - some users are away from the office for long periods of time, without the updates users offine are left behind and no longer productive.Help required please !!!!PS. how do you reply other blogs questions?SahidAnonymous
October 07, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
October 09, 2007
Our company is not quite ready to move everyone over to 2007 yet and currently we have a shared BCM database that everyone can connect to. We just deployed our first Vista machine and to keep things simple we installed Office 2003. I downloaded and installed sp4 to fix the compatibility issue with BCM 2003 on Vista and I can create a local database. However, when I attempt to connect to the shared database on the server I get an error: The database server on srv2 is innaccessible. Confirm that the remote machine has Business Contact Manager for Outlook installed, that it is running, and that the shared databases are available at that location. Firewall settings at the remote machine could also be blocking access. Check with the Administrator of the remote machine.All the other users are still able to connect to the database and I can ping as well as bring up other shared resources on srv2 from the new Vista computer. Also, Windows firewall has been disabled and there is no other firewall running on the server. Will the difference between the 2 machines running MSDE and SQL Express be the cause here? And if so will running sp4 on all the other machines correct this issue? Finally, will this cause a problem with the current database if it is upgraded to sp4 on the sever?Thanks,ClintAnonymous
October 29, 2007
I would like to know the following. Has anyone answered or have resolved J.T.'s SQL Authentication question from Oct 7? We use a hosted Exchange and SQL 2005 service because everyone works virtual. Also, we don't have a domain. If I could configure the Business Contact Manager client to use SQL Authentication, I think I could make all of this work together. However I haven't found a way to do that.Is it possible to use SQL Authentication with BCM 2007? If not, what other suggestions do you have for overcoming the lack of a domain in our company.Anonymous
November 01, 2007
Follow up on samvnw51 of May 2007:I too have BCM 2007 running on SBS 2003 R2, SQL 2005. Sharing db no problem.Categories: I saw an article about sharing categories by unchecking a default rule "clear categories on mail". I can't find the link now but I think it was written by Sue Mosher. Basically create a new e-mail message from User A to User B and assign it all of the categories of user A. User B (with rule described above unchecked within Outlook at Tools/Rules and Alerts) will get those categories from User A. Haven't had time to test yet.My issue is with views. One of my users rearranged the columns for business contacts. His view at the time was "by assigned to". The grouping for "assigned to" disappeared. He doesn't remember doing anything that would have deleted it.I have been trying to fix this but have been unsuccessful thus far. While in the business contacts folder, I can go into views/current view/define views and go to the "by assigned to" view and click, "modify". The "Group By" parameter is set to none. That seems to be my problem. I go into that parameter, select "user defind fields in folder" from the drop down list at bottom and then select "assigned to user" (ascending) from the drop down in the "group by" section. Hit OK, OK, Apply View. The change appears to be successful at first but after a short while (I have not pinpointed duration or other possible causes) the view loses the grouping again.I have had all users exit Outlook altogether while I make the change but that doesn't seem to matter.Is it a local Outlook profile thing and I have to go through the steps above (or different ones) at each workstation?Anonymous
November 14, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
November 19, 2007
Ditto for the question posed by mb87 on 10-29.I too have a hosted SQL server and would like my off-site office to have access to the database via the internet.Will this be something in the upcoming release?Regards.-MikeAnonymous
November 24, 2007
Tried the database tool on german SBS 2003 R2 Server and german client.It failed because of language.Found following workarround:made an local database on Laptop as domain Admin, gave permission for some users, made an backup, transfered this to the server, decompreesed it, restored the databse by Management Studio. The connect from a client succeed.What i would request:A script for aditional Users to make the suitable shema and rights for them.Disable compreshion (or enable compreshion handling in Management Studio).Next task: Import data from ERP (with identifier) and export changed data with the identifier.Where do I find information to this toppic? I am dreaming of a linked server connection.RegardsWolframAnonymous
November 27, 2007
Well we finally have taken the next step and have gotten BCM 2007. We used the Database Admin tool to create the database on the server, and have sharedit so users can access. Domain users seem to be connecting OK. Unfortunately, I am having problems connecting to the remote server over aVPN connection. I can establish a VPN connection with no problem, but can not connect to the BCM database. I once saw in the discussions that theremight some issues with Windows login usernames and passwords matching server usernames and passwords, but I'm not sure if that is the problem or not. Ourremote non-domain users typically have Windows login usernames such as "John Doe", but have server usernames and email ids such as "jdoe". We weregetting error messages, that said Cannot find the remote user account name John Doe. So we created additional usernames on the server matching theWindows login names such as "John Doe", Which now gives us a different error message saying that either John Doe has not been granted access to the remotecomputer or that the password on the server does not match the Windows login. We have tried redoing all of that, but we still don't get access to theremote BCM database. Our network guy is stymied and we are looking for any asstance you could provide. Thanks in advance.Anonymous
November 29, 2007
I think that my connectivity issues to our remote BCM datatbase are similar or tied in with the issues raised by J.T. on October 7th and mb87 on October 29th previously listed here. We have remote users using there home computers to access our SBS 2003 R2 server via VPN. They have no problems accessing their email hosted on the Exchange Server nor do they have problems accessing shared directories, SharePoint services, or other things on the server. The only thing that they can not access or connect to is the remote BCM 2007 database. None of the remote users have have domains established, and are all on separate workgroups, usually the default MSHOME workgroup. Most of our remote users have Windows login names of their first & last names (John Doe), and not the same as their server username which is usually first name initial & last name (jdoe). We even created usernames on the server to match their Windows login full names (John Doe), but they still can not connect. On the remote BCM database, we have authorized both types of user names access to the database (jdoe & John Doe). When they attempt to connect to the remote BCM 2007 database, they get a lengthy error message saying that either John Doe has not been granted access to the remote computer or that the password on the server does not match the Windows login. We know that the passwords are correct, because we have changed those and have to enter the newly changed password to get the VPN connection to work. Somewhere along the way, SQL Server is not authenticating. The only exception to all of this is that we have one remote user who hashis Windows login the same as his server login, that is to say jdoe. He can access everything, including the BCM 2007 database with no problems! I should point out that all users can ping the server, and all users can issue a sqlcmd -S serverinstance command with no problems from the cmd prompt. Someone previously asked about SQL server authentications, but I haven't seen a response to that question as of yet. What is the authentication process between the remote BCM 2007 database and the BCM client? How does the Windows login name come into play? Do we have to force all of our users to establish new logins on their computers to match their server name, and then subsequently have to move all of their documents, etc. to the new account? Please HELP!!!!Anonymous
November 29, 2007
Hi,The BCM Sql instance uses Windows Authentication mode. Since the clients are not in the domain but from a workgroup, to make windows authentication work in a workgroup, you must make sure there is a user account with same user name and password on both server and client machines. i.e. you need to create the account with exactly same username and password on both server and clients. That explains why the user with same login can connect to the shared DB whilst others cannot. Here is some more insight provided by SQL's Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/sql_protocols/archive/2007/05/12/connecting-to-sql-server-from-a-workgroup-using-windows-authentication.aspxTo prove this without noises, I'd suggest start from a new remote user from the scratch, create the same username/pwd account on the server, and try connecting. If this works, then proceed to change for other users. Hope this helps.Anonymous
December 03, 2007
Wolfram,Thanks for the feedback. In the future, we will be looking at enhancing database tool for other langugages.Thanks for the feedback related to data migration from ERP system. While it is a good suggestion, it falls outside our current charter. Our focus is providing an inexpensive CRM solution for small businesses. Ability to migrate DB from ERP ususually goes beyond that scope. However, if ERP system allows migration to Excel, you can use BCM import features to get information in BCM database.-MukeshAnonymous
December 05, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 11, 2007
Hi Mukesh,thanks for your answer. We are a 6 Persons Company, and devellop/sell a niche-produkt ERP system based on SQL-Server.Like us many other small companies we have thousands of contacts to manage. So import/Export is not the critical thing; keeping both databases actual is the difficulty. MS CRM is too big for us, BCM would fullfill what we need. I looked into the views and procs and found the identifyer are not given to the export (using third party tools encryption does not matter).With some hints of the strukture just for basics like company addresses and person data a connection would be easy for us.Do you have a hint, where to ask?ByeWolframAnonymous
December 12, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 13, 2007
Info:We have an offsite hosted MS 2005 SQL database which I've copied our inhouse BCM SQL database to. The offsite database isn't on our domain and requires SQL authentication.Our internal network is domain based.BCM users work fine when they are on the internal domain on the internal network.But, when I'm off the internal network trying to connect to the offsite DB, I can't connect. It doesn't even see the site.Qustion:Can I connect BCM to the remote database? If so, how?Our security policy rules out the use of VPN connections into the inhouse network. So, the offsite DB is our only option to connect our remote offices to the BCM DB.Any thoughts?Anonymous
December 19, 2007
Hello,I believe this is the best blog site for BCM.We have been using BCM 2007 for a year now. I have a shared BCM database on SQL Server 2005 Express. We are able to sync to the database through our LAN. We setup a linksys VPN router and have sucessfully connected to the database via the internet. We were happy with the product. However, recently we are not able creating an offline database with one our older computers while syncing on the LAN. We get the error "Busines Contact Manager could not repeat your last action of actions. Please try again." I enabled logging and the Business Contact Manager Log has the following error:*Message-1Initializing sync for sync point 'GoOffline' with producer 'Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.eCRM.DataSync.SqlRecordSetChangeListProducer', consumer 'Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.eCRM.DataSync.SqlChangeListConsumer' and conflict resolver '' on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 6:36:23 PM.*Message-2Number of entities to synchronize = 61.*Message-3[Error]Error in synchronizing. Exception details follow System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding. at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection) at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj) at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParserStateObject.ReadSniError(TdsParserStateObject stateObj, UInt32 error) at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParserStateObject.ReadSni(DbAsyncResult asyncResult, TdsParserStateObject stateObj) at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParserStateObject.ReadPacket(Int32 bytesExpected) at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParserStateObject.ReadBuffer() at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParserStateObject.ReadByte() at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Run(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj) at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.TdsExecuteTransactionManagerRequest(Byte[] buffer, TransactionManagerRequestType request, String transactionName, TransactionManagerIsolationLevel isoLevel, Int32 timeout, SqlInternalTransaction transaction, TdsParserStateObject stateObj) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.ExecuteTransactionYukon(TransactionRequest transactionRequest, String transactionName, IsolationLevel iso, SqlInternalTransaction internalTransaction) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.ExecuteTransaction(TransactionRequest transactionRequest, String name, IsolationLevel iso, SqlInternalTransaction internalTransaction) at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalTransaction.Rollback() at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlTransaction.Rollback() at Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.eCRM.DataSync.SqlChangeListConsumer.Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.eCRM.DataSync.IChangeListConsumer.ApplyChanges(ChangeList changes, EventsManager eventsMgr) at Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.eCRM.DataSync.SyncManager.Synchronize(SyncPoint sp, IContext producerContext, IContext consumerContext, SyncLog syncLog).Do you have any ideas how to resolve this timeout error? I tested creating a new offline database on my dual core laptop and it worked.Thank you.Anonymous
December 20, 2007
Hi,I entered a post yesterday about timeout error while when creating a new offline database. I enabled logging and traced the timeout error to the following (from the BCMLog_V3.log):[I] [17:16:42.0156250]BusinessLayer: BCP - Error while BCPing (DoCopyTable) a single table...ContactAdditionalPropertyBag, Error number: -2, Error Message: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.The statement has been terminated.[E] [17:16:42.0156250]BusinessLayer: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.The statement has been terminated.I checked the table and it has 571577 rows of data. We have 8025 contacts and 1782 accounts.How do we get around this problem?Anonymous
December 21, 2007
Answer for Wol_Old:Beauty of BCM is it's integration with Outlook. The integration is not limited to just UI. Outlook Object Model can effectively be used to create, update, save BCM data. If you are familiar with Outlook programming, you can develop custom tool or macros to do several things. Please look at MSDN section on how to program with BCM using Outlook Object Model. Additionally, if you want to go against database we expose some public views. Any third party app can read or write data to these public views. BCM automatically synchronizes the data. More details can be found here http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa431857.aspxAnonymous
December 21, 2007
bcm_user,Someone will help you once folks in the team return back from vacation.-MukeshAnonymous
December 30, 2007
Hi,I have tried to share a bcm database in a German enviroment (SBS2003 R2):I used the BCM DB Tool an got a connection after setting the Language in the createt DB from "en-US" to "de-DE". But now I cannot use the sharing / backup / restore Option and have to translate all default entrys in the DB.When do you think you can Publish a german Verion of the DB Tool?ByeFrankAnonymous
January 03, 2008
Hi Frank,There are no plans for the localized version of the DB Tool as of now.-SateeshAnonymous
January 04, 2008
Hi bcm_user,How big is the offline log file?(file with .LDF extension)Is this happening in the LAN or VPN?-SateeshAnonymous
January 07, 2008
Sateesh,The offline log file grows to 393M when it fails. The computer is on our LAN when it fails. We have two other computers that sync okay, however they both have dual core processors. The offline log file is 833M on the computers that sync successfully. The one that fails has a single core 1.7 GHz processor. The processor runs at 100% during the sync process.Thank you for your help.Anonymous
January 15, 2008
Sateesh + bcmteamI am experiancing the exact same errors as bcm_user (timeout in the logfile). On successful syncs we have very large offline files ~6GB. The actual file size is 1.9 GB for the MDF and 3.0 GB for the LDF. The funny thing is the only few computers we have had the most sucess with are the older ones that are just Centrinos single core. Our fastest computers have a lot of trouble. I have tried a lot trivial things like trying the offline at 10mbps, 100mpbs, and 1gbps. The BCM was original hosted on a highend desktop through Outlook. We have also attempted to mount it on our server with SQL 2005 Express, which works fine with online viewing but has the same timeout. I removed any firewalls or anything of that nature and have gone into the SQL server on the local machine and made sure all the timeouts are more then sufficient. I believe the timeouts are occuring due to the .NET code that has a default SQL timeout of 30 seconds. But obviously that can't be modified. Supposedly the routines that access the data can have custom timeouts defined.ThanksAnonymous
January 16, 2008
HelloSuccessfully using BCM (on WIn XP SP2) with a shared database on SQL Server 2005 MSDE on a SBS2003 machine.Windows Desktop Seacrh can search the BCM database, but the instant search within outlook does not seem to.Outlook 2003 searched the personal contacts folder and the shared company wide public folder contacts folder. I would like to migrate to BCM in place of a shared public folder for contacts. The instant search within outlook contacts only seems to search the personal contacts folder, not the public folder nor the BCM folder.If I choose search options, I have an option to select personal mailbox and also public folders, but no option to select BCM shared folder.Even if the public folder is ticked, it does not seem to search the public folder either.Seems odd as it obviously being indexed from WDS, just not found within Outlook.Any pointers?Thanksash720Anonymous
January 26, 2008
I have installed the BCM Database tools on a Windows 2003 SP2 machine running SQL 2005 SP2. I am unable to create a new database and I get the following error "Cannot create a new database. The operation has been rolled back. Please make sure the database service is running". I receive this error after entering the database name and clicking next. This database is definitely running as it is storing data from our sharepoint site which works fine. I checked the DQL Server COnfiguration Manager and the services are running. I also checked the TCPIP protocols and it is set to IPAll-> TCP Port ‘5356’.Any other suggestions?Anonymous
January 27, 2008
Hi bcm_user and WPCBCM,Can you please send an e-mail to BCMISVX___at___microsoft.comPlease note that there are no underscores in the above e-mail address.I will respond to you with further instructions.-SateeshAnonymous
January 27, 2008
Hi Calmplex,Do you have enough space in the hard drive to create a database?Try to install BCM on a different drive and create a database.Was this working before and failed to work after some SP install?-SateeshAnonymous
February 04, 2008
Wil their be an update for the BusinessContactManager2007DatabaseTool.EXE in different languages ?Anonymous
February 04, 2008
Hi kenko,There are no plans as of now. This issue will be discussed for future releases.-SateeshAnonymous
February 04, 2008
Calmplex and bcmteam:Good afternoon,I have installed the tool on a Windows 2003 R2 SP2 32bit server that is running SQL 2005 std with service pack 2 and I have exactly the same issue...I am using a named instance and I have no default instance. Calmplex, is that your case as well?Thank youAnonymous
February 04, 2008
I have the same config as gepeto and have the same issue. I also get a "fail" error restoring and backing up the database. There is plenty of room on the hard drive. I was able to get going by manually attaching the databases in SQL but this has me a little uneasy when there are errors like this.Anonymous
February 05, 2008
The comment has been removedAnonymous
February 06, 2008
Disappearing Data=================We are using BCM 2007 with a database shared among about 10 users. 3 of these work remotely via VPN. Mostly everything is ok, although synchronisation via the VPN is terribly slow (other things that we do via the VPN are fine).The real problem that we have relates to only one of the VPN users. Everything appears to work normally but she is repeatedly losing data. Working offline she makes changes, then synchronises, then goes offline again. No errors are daplyed at any time but the changes she has made have vanished. This doesn't happen all the time but it definitely does happen - I've seen it myself. She has lost all confidence and her manager is wanting to throw the tool out if we can't fix it. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling BCM and SQL Server but it didn't fix the problem. Does anyone have any suggestions or similar experiences? I really want the BCM trial to succeed.Thanks in advanceDougAnonymous
February 28, 2008
4 more users have reported the disappearing data problem. Mostly things work ok, sometimes after syncing all changes are lost. Sadly it looks as though we will abandon the BCM trial and look for something more robust and more customisable.DougAnonymous
February 28, 2008
The comment has been removedAnonymous
March 11, 2008
Hello,At the moment we have only one post with Outlook and BCM 2007. On all other posts we run the 2003 version.Now, trying to connect to the 2003 database from the 2007 machine is not possible. Is there any solution?Anonymous
March 18, 2008
Desktop search in BCM Client vs shared database.We have 8 BCM Clients sharing (no offline database) BCM database on a server.As far as I know in this situation there is not local copy of the BCM database, then I'm unsure of the advantages to setup instant desktop search on the Clients.Please argument the advantage or best aproach to speed up BCM data search in an environment like described above ie shared database? Thanks.Anonymous
March 27, 2008
Hi,I know you have answered this question a couple of times before, but nothing sofar has helped me in connecting to a shared BCM database on a remote computer.I installed SQLEXPRESS 2005 on my server and changed port to 1101, which I opened in the servers firewall. I tried both "BCM for Outlook 2007 Database Tool" and letting BCM client create a database on my localmachine, stop the instance and copy the database along with login to the remote server, where I attached it.But when I try to connect to the database using BCM in Outlook 2007, I get an "Cannot find computer ITSERVER. Confirm that the remote computer exists and that is it available on the network". I am able to connect to the database using SQL Management Studio, also with sqlcmd -S ITSERVERSQLEXPRESS,1101.Any ideas for me to get this working?Server is running english Windows Server 2003, english SQLExpress instance (SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS). Running in a domain, my username and password are the same in domain, as on ITSERVER.Anonymous
March 30, 2008
Phew, now it works.I didnt notice that port 137 in firewall was only allowed on same subnet - not on Internet, which blocked authentication.I am not to keen on allowing access on port 137 on the server - is this normal practice for everyone else to do so?Anonymous
April 04, 2008
Thank's to your posts and instructions i've got the database sharing working ok.I've got a question about the calendar, i create an event for a BCM contact (a meeting) it shows up in my calendar, on the BCM client i can see the contact, if i go to details it will show me the appointment, but the appointment never shows up im the client calendar.There is a workaround for this issue. I'm not using exchange, i thought on sharing the calendar on the web, but then it wouldn't link to the respective BCM contact would it?Thank's from Brasil.AlexandreAnonymous
April 16, 2008
is it possible to change the location of the offline database files(mdf/ldf)? i.e. not on the system drive?Anonymous
April 24, 2008
If Using SQL Express you'll need SQL Server Management Studio Express, available here:http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=65110In SQL SMSE go to databasedetach db, 2. move files, 3. attach dbyou can find detach by right click on the databaseyou can find attach by right click on databasesAnonymous
April 30, 2008
I would like to share BCM db over the internet.I have created a Windows and SQL Account using Windows Authentication for the internet user. After doing this he is able to reach the db using the following at the command prompt:sqlcmd -S (IP Address)MSSMLBIZ,5356 1Therefore it seems that he is being authenticated against the correct DB. However, when he attempts to connect through BCM wizard he gets an error stating that the machine cannot be found.What is stopping BCM from connecting?Anonymous
May 21, 2008
I want to input a company for which I have no personnal contact. Why won't BCM allow this???Anonymous
May 21, 2008
HiDo you mean you just want to create a company and do not want to have any contacts associated? You can create an Account as Company if you want.ThanksVinit [MSFT]Anonymous
May 29, 2008
For the record, I got around 'cannot find the remote user account named...' by adding the remote worker laptop to the domain.Anonymous
June 24, 2008
Hope someone can help.Cannot access shared database on server from client (using the same workgroup). I've followed all the instructions including opening ports on server firewall (5356) and my user names and passwords match on both client and server.I went in to my error logs on the server and found these errors that continue to come up.Any help would be greatly appreciated.2008-06-24 12:48:01.95 Server The SQL Network Interface library could not register the Service Principal Name (SPN) for the SQL Server service. Error: 0x54b, state: 3. Failure to register an SPN may cause integrated authentication to fall back to NTLM instead of Kerberos. This is an informational message. Further action is only required if Kerberos authentication is required by authentication policies.2008-06-24 12:48:01.96 Server SQL Server is now ready for client connections. This is an informational message; no user action is required.2008-06-24 12:49:12.46 Logon Login failed for user ''. The user is not associated with a trusted SQL Server connection. [CLIENT: 192.168.2.101]Anonymous
June 25, 2008
The comment has been removedAnonymous
October 23, 2008
I spent a good bit of time trying to troubleshoot sharing our new bcm database in our office and a few of these tips came in handy - thanks guys.Anonymous
November 11, 2008
Can I use OpenVPN to connect my remote BCM to the database on my server back at the office? If so, what setup is needed? Thanks.Anonymous
November 11, 2008
Hi, I dont see a reason why that wouldnt work as long as required ports are open for SQL server to communicate. We havent tested this feature in house though, but there have been other customer who have this working for them. You might want to search for similar experience of our customers on our newsgroup at http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.outlook.bcm Let me know if you have anyother questions. Thanks Vinit [MSFT]Anonymous
January 14, 2009
Hi, *** Fix for Email Autolinking *** I've posted a recent project of mine which fixes the email autolinking issues with Business Contact Manager, specifically with automatic autolinking being disabled in a shared database environment. https://sourceforge.net/projects/businesscontact/ The link above provides access to the software download (free version), which must be installed on the Business Contact Management server, and runs as a service. The software adds autolinking for each user (added in config file), so that users no longer need to run the Email Autolinking tool everyday. This was developed primarily for our own purposes, however whilst trying to come up with a fix we noticed many other businesses who had the same problem. regards, Mark HAnonymous
February 11, 2009
Having problems connecting to a remote shared BCM database over a VPN - tried using sqlcmd -S Namesqlexpress,port and it seemed to work received 1> However when I try connecting to the BCM database in outlook I receive the following message: cannot find the remote computer verify it existsAnonymous
February 12, 2009
Hi MSand, Could you try the following 1.Open Windows Firewall Settings by going to the Control Panel, Security Center, and clicking on the Windows Firewall on the machine your are sharing the DB from. 2.Switch to the Exceptions tab; find exceptions for File and Printer Sharing, if the exception is not checked, check it 3.Click on Properties of this exception, and click on the “Change Scope” 4.In the “Change Scope” dialog window, if it shows “My Subnet Only”, choose “Custom List” and enter the IP addresses of the client computers (separate each with a comma). See if this helps. Thanks Vinit [MSFT]Anonymous
February 12, 2009
Hello Bcmteam, I tried what you asked and I'm still having the same problem. Cannot find "Computer Name" Confirm that the remote computer exist and that it is available on the network. I know the VPN works and I can also do a remote desktop connection. I also read on another blog to add the sqlservr.exe to the exceptions tab and this also did not work. Do I need to reboot the system once I make a change? I'd like to get this resolved asap as we are investigating other CRM systems and I would prefer to use BCM. Thank you, MSandAnonymous
March 23, 2009
Hi BCM Team, We are using Outlook 2007 with BCM. We have installed SQL Express on our server, Laserfiche_serv. The instance of SQL Express is named Laserfiche. When we installed BCM it created an instance of SQL Express named MSSMLBIZ, but we are not using that instance. I have BCM with an offline database on my laptop. I was able to connect to the BCM database and move my business contacts into BCM. I went away for a week and worked offline, now when I try to reconnect to the database, I get the error "business contact manager is unable to connect to your shared database." Testing the SQL connection I get: C:>sqlcmd -S LASERFICHE_SERVLASERFICHE,5356 1> It appears I'm able to connect to shared database from the command prompt. There are no firewalls on either the server or my laptop, and we are part of the same domain. Also, I can connect to the database via SSMSEE and browse the objects. Other computers on the network are able to go offline and online in BCM without any problems. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!Anonymous
March 25, 2009
Hello, I have the same problem as pyramid and bcm_user some posts before. I have setup BCM in a german enviroment and all computers are running OS, Office and BCM in german language with no problems with the sharing. Now we have a new laptop with english OS. I installed a german office with BCM but the creating of the offline database always fails. The sympoms are the same as described by the users before, but I could not find any solution to this. Does anyone has a solution to this topic? Thank you in advance.Anonymous
March 26, 2009
Hi jtkirk, I dont see a reason why you shouldn't be able to create an offline DB. You should turn on logging by going to Help-->About Business Contact Manager, and check the "Enable Logging for Business Contact Manager". Then, try creating an offline db. Once you receive the error go to your %temp% folder and post the logs from the BCMV3_LOG file here. Thanks Vinit [MSFT]Anonymous
March 30, 2009
Hi aisww, Are you able to connect to the shared db? Could you please post the logs here so that i can further investigate? Thanks Vinit [MSFT]Anonymous
March 30, 2009
The comment has been removedAnonymous
March 31, 2009
Hi, Try this Add the code below to the beginning of the db_create_script.sql file located in C:Program FilesMicrosoft Small BusinessBusiness Contact Manageren-US to change the growth of the transaction log. DECLARE @CurrentDatabaseName CHAR(200) SET @CurrentDatabaseName = db_name() DECLARE @SQLStatement1 CHAR(2000) DECLARE @SQLStatement2 CHAR(2000) SET @SQLStatement1 = 'ALTER DATABASE ' + rtrim(ltrim(@CurrentDatabaseName)) + ' MODIFY FILE (NAME= ''' + rtrim(ltrim(@CurrentDatabaseName)) + '_dat'', FILEGROWTH=100);' SET @SQLStatement2 = 'ALTER DATABASE ' + rtrim(ltrim(@CurrentDatabaseName)) + ' MODIFY FILE (NAME= ''' + rtrim(ltrim(@CurrentDatabaseName)) + '_log'', FILEGROWTH=100);' EXEC(@SQLStatement1) EXEC(@SQLStatement2) GO See if this works. Thanks -Vinit [MSFT]Anonymous
March 31, 2009
Hello Vinit, thank you vey much. It worked. BR ChrisAnonymous
April 07, 2009
i am having an issue connecting to the database from the client computers. The database resides on a Windows 2003 Server. The client computers are Vista and XP. Clients all run office 2007 and BCM 2007. "Cannot access the database server on computer XYZ. For more information click Help."Anonymous
May 20, 2009
Is it possible to have the contacts that are stored in the users local personal address book automatically replicated to the shared DB? Also, can the contacts that are in the shared DB be available to all users in the Global Address Book?Anonymous
June 15, 2009
Using the article "Deploying Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager in a Remote Database Configuration" as a guide, we are trying to set up a new database on a remote server: MSSQL 5.2 Buils 3790 SP2 When we run the suggested script (db_create_script.sql) under dba privileges, we get the following error: 126 Cannot find the object "dbo.EAAOptinEmailTable" because it does not exist or you do not have permissions. Do you have any suggestions as to why this might be happening? We also have some concerns that we may not be able to get this to work because one of the suggestions in this document is to "Grant the Network Service Account Access to the Database Folder. ... We recommend that you create the Business Contact Manager database in a specific folder location on the remote computer." We simply may not be able to do this, as our MSSQL server is not on the LAN. Thanks, cnapAnonymous
June 15, 2009
Hi Cnap, If you are creating an en-US db on a remote server, you should use the DB Admin tool to depoly the database. You can find more details here http://blogs.msdn.com/bcm/archive/2007/03/30/database-tool-released.aspx Thanks -Vinit [MSFT]Anonymous
November 08, 2009
We currently have a dutch version SQL database for BCM Outlook 2007 (version 3.00.8619.01). As our organisation becomes more international we are currently switching to the english version, however how can we migrate our dutch BCM database into an English BCM database?Anonymous
November 09, 2009
Hi Tukker, Since BCM doesn't support migrating databases from a language to another, the best possible way for you is to export all your data in to .bcm file using BCM. Open the file and change bcmlocale="en-US" instead of nl-Nl. Update your BCM to english and then import the data using the file above. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks Vinit [MSFT]Anonymous
November 17, 2009
Hi vinit, Thanks for this hint, this did indeed allowed us to migrate the NL version to an EN version. The only problem that still remains is that the Marketing Campaigns are not imported. This is probably due to some accounts or contacts that have been deleted since the Marketing Campaign was done. The message during the import is: Business Contact Manager for Outlook could not import the Marketing Campaign "......" because "Unable to save Marketing Campaign, All recipients must have valid EntryID's or none of them can have EntryID's." Do you have a possible solution on how to remove any orphan contacts from the marketing campaigns as they are probably the cause of this problem? Kind regards, TukkerAnonymous
December 08, 2009
Only one user is unable to connect via BCM with error "cannot find any business contact manager databases on computer (mycomputer)." All other users can connect, even on the same computer. from the malfunctioning user "c:sqlcmd -S exchangemssmlbiz,5356" returns "1>" user is granted permission via database management tool. I've even deleted the user account from all machines and rebuilt it with no success. I've searched everywhere for a solution, but have yet to find one. HELP!?Anonymous
December 09, 2009
Can BCM be run on an exchange server? Is it better to run it on a SQL server. We are a 3 person company and are trying to figure out the best way to run BCM and be able to share the database.Anonymous
December 10, 2009
searchkob, We got ours to run on exchange server. It's probably not the most efficient choice, but it was our best option, financially, after our upgrade from SBS 2003. Also, I fixed my user malfunction by installing SQL Server Management Studio Express, deleting all security and schema instances of the user profile in question and then re-sharing the database using the Business Contact Manager Database tool. Worked like a charm.Anonymous
December 17, 2009
Similar to the issue below from Dec 2007 we have 240,126 records in our ContactAdditionalPropertyBag table but less than 5000 contact/account records combined. How do I reduce the size it kills or WAN users? Hi, I entered a post yesterday about timeout error while when creating a new offline database. I enabled logging and traced the timeout error to the following (from the BCMLog_V3.log): [I] [17:16:42.0156250]BusinessLayer: BCP - Error while BCPing (DoCopyTable) a single table...ContactAdditionalPropertyBag, Error number: -2, Error Message: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding. The statement has been terminated. [E] [17:16:42.0156250]BusinessLayer: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding. The statement has been terminated. I checked the table and it has 571577 rows of data. We have 8025 contacts and 1782 accounts. How do we get around this problem?Anonymous
January 05, 2010
Hello, I want to use BCM 2007 on a SBS2008. After installing the Database Admin tool and adding users no Clint can connect since the Cleint said: can't connect to database. If I install it on a Client machine everythings working fine. What do I do wrong? best regards JoergAnonymous
January 17, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
April 28, 2010
Hi. I feel like a beginner, so a step by step remedy would be greatly appreciated. I use the BCM in Outlook 2007 and divide about 3,000 individual contacts for a variety of marketing campaigns. All contacts are assigned to a specific account. In the "Business Contacts in Business Contact Manager" (My Contacts) window, "Accounts" radio button is selected. The "Account" column appears with all the contacts, but they are no longer sorted by Account. In fact, no account is listed in the "Account" column in this view. If I click an individual Contact, the Account originally entered is still listed, but it's not recognized or sorted on the big list, Business Contacts view. Thanks for your help in advance. Step-by-step walk through this will be appreciated!Anonymous
May 30, 2010
BCM Team, Congratulations on your excelent job! I´ve been using BCM and Outlook on my Windows 7 workstation. All of those are Brazillian Portuguese. Now I have to migrate BCM Database to a SQL Server 2005 server so that I can share information with my colleagues. I was able to install BCM Database Tool and create a new database. But when I try to restore the database (SBB file) generated on my workstation the task doesn't complete. I recieve a message stating that the backup file is pt_BR and is not compatible with the database (en_US). On the other hand if I use the SQL Server Restore tool to restore a database generated on my workstation (using a BAK file) the resulting database is not listed by BCM Database Tool so that I can share it. Can you help me? Tks in advance. EdmarAnonymous
June 28, 2010
Is this Blog still active? I see 5 or 6 entries over the past couple of months and no responses? If this isn't the place to go, can you point me (and others) to the new location?Anonymous
June 28, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
July 14, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
August 09, 2010
The above thought is smart and doesn’t require any further addition. It’s perfect thought from my side. <a href="www.peerspectives.org/" rel="dofollow">Business Writing</a>Anonymous
August 09, 2010
Numerous times folks who are curious in opening their own business make the err of going in direction over their heads and the entire matter easily becomes a huge mistake.Anonymous
August 09, 2010
If you’ve ever wondered why a small business seems to just go over much better then you are definitely in the right place because in this article I am hoping to provide you with some of the answers to questions such as thatAnonymous
August 09, 2010
If you’ve ever wondered why a small business seems to just go over much better then you are definitely in the right place because in this article I am hoping to provide you with some of the answers to questions such as that.Anonymous
October 21, 2010
When I install BCM 2007 on windows 7, there's incompatible issue when I tried to open word???Anonymous
November 14, 2010
Inside my company we use a shared DB BCM 2007, installed on a Windows 2003 server. Clients are connecting to it by using Outlook 2007 and everything is working smoothly. Now I need to move this DB to another Windows 2003 Server, and from what I understand the correct procedure requires the installation of a fresh BCM DB on the new server (using the BusinessContactManager2007DatabaseTool), the backup from inside Outlook of the shared DB (thus creating a .sbb backup), and his subsequent restore on the new server. Unfortunately, if I open Outlook -> BCM -> Database Tools -> Manage DB -> Backup and Restore buttons are disabled. This happens even if I guarantee to Outlook user the DB Owner permissions on this DB. Needless to say, neither reattaching .mdf file nor creating new blank DB on the new server with the same tool and copying files from the old DB work. Someone has never been in a situation like this before? ThanksAnonymous
November 16, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
November 16, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
November 17, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
November 17, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
January 03, 2011
I'm performing a cleanup in my BCM 2010 shared database (since is almost 4 gigas) and I deleted some linked e-mails I'm not interested to keep anymore. After deleting them, they went to the "Deleted Items" folder. I would like also to clean up this foclder, but I receive an error message informing I might not have permission to do so. The thing is that on my BCM server PC, I only have the BCM Database Tool running. What this problem might mean and how can I fix it? Regards, Igor.Anonymous
January 21, 2011
We have created a database using the admin tool on a remote server using an administrator account. How do we "check for errors" since the admin tool does not have that option? I have logged on as the administrator on a client PC and the manage database options are greyed out?!Anonymous
January 21, 2011
We have created a database using the admin tool on a remote server using an administrator account. How do we "check for errors" since the admin tool does not have that option? I have logged on as the administrator on a client PC and the manage database options are greyed out?!Anonymous
February 08, 2011
The comment has been removedAnonymous
March 15, 2011
I'm experiencing some difficulties with the BCM database. We have 5 computers with BCM and each use the one database that was created on one of the computers. One of my main questions right now is, I noticed that when I create categories -- the same categories don't show up in the other comptuers!? Is this a syncing issue? Or how does one make changes and it apply to all the computers linked to that database? When setting up BCM, each computer was set up not to use BCM when the computer is away from the office if that makes any difference? Thanks, RachelAnonymous
December 02, 2011
The comment has been removed