Download AIM SQL Server Migration

Using SQL Server with AIM
Before You Begin
Before you can migrate your AIM database to Microsoft SQL Server, you must first perform the following tasks:
 Install AIM.
 Run the AIM program and log in. If you are upgrading from an earlier version, follow the prompts to
convert your database to the latest version.
 Verify you can login to AIM. Note: You will need an AIM administrator’s login to migrate the database
to SQL Server.
Using SQL Server Express
If you want to use SQL Server with AIM, and you don’t have a copy of the ‘full’ version of SQL Server, you can
download and use SQL Server Express free of charge. This is a great solution for small-to-medium sized groups
that want to run a shared database without the suffering caused by Microsoft Access’ limitations and propensity to
corrupt.
SQL Server Express offers many of the advantages of SQL Server, but with a few restrictions (of most
importance, each database is limited to 4 GB in size, and it can only use 1 CPU and 1 GB of RAM). However,
these restrictions should not have any affect with AIM and small-to-medium sized groups. (If you’re looking at
over a dozen concurrent users, slowdowns might start to appear).
You can download SQL Server Express at http://www.microsoft.com/express/database. If you decide to download
this, make sure you download SQL Server Express AND the Management Tools.
Using SQL Server
Now that you have AIM installed and your database updated, you need to perform some steps to get SQL Server
ready for AIM. The steps below summarize the tasks involved. You may need to read the SQL Server
documentation or talk to your system administrator to perform some of these tasks.
1. If you haven’t already, install SQL Server on your file server or some other computer that will store the
database. The machine used should be running Windows Server 2000 or 2003, although it can also be any
machine which SQL Server supports, although it may not give the same performance.
2. Using the Enterprise Manager or Management Studio, connect to your local machine.
3. AIM uses a specific user name/password combination to connect to the database server. Ergo, it requires
that SQL Server authentication be enabled on the database server. This is done by enabling Mixed Mode
or SQL Server and Windows Authentication under the Security area of the database server.
4. Add a new database login (under the Security→Logins folder). Create the user with these specifications:
Property
Value
Name
aim
Authentication
SQL Server
Password
columbia
Schema
dbo
(Version 2005 and
above)
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AIM I SQL Server Migration Guide
5. Create a new database for use with AIM. You can give it any name, like AIM I or AIM_2. It is not
suggested that you put the version number of the software in the database name, as it can cause confusion
in the future when newer versions of the software are released.
6. Add the user aim created in Step 3 to this database. This user should be granted public and db_owner
roles with this database.
7. Exit the Enterprise Manager/Management Studio.
SQL Server should now be set up correctly for use with AIM.
Migrating AIM data to SQL Server
In order to use the SQL Server database you just created with AIM, the database tables need to be created and all
the data copied into the SQL Server database. This is performed using the SQL Server Migration program (SQL
Server Migration1.exe). This program can be found in your AIM directory. When you run this program, it will
step you through a small wizard, where you need to enter the name of the computer which is running SQL Server,
and the name of the database you created in SQL Server for AIM (the name entered in Step 4 above).
Note: The Server Name field needs to contain the name of the server as seen when connecting via SQL Server
Enterprise Manager/Management Studio. This is usually something like <server name>\SQLExpress.
Note: For SQL Server administrators who’ve created the AIM database under an Instance, the Instance name is
placed after the server name, as shown in the SQL Server Express note above (SQLExpress is the
Instance name by default).
The computer name you use may affect how AIM connects to SQL Server. If you want AIM to connect via
TCP/IP, you should use the IP address of the computer. If the computer doesn’t have a fixed IP address, or if you
don’t want to use the IP address, then use the computer’s name (as found in the System Control Panel). If one
method doesn’t work, try using the other.
Once you’ve entered the name of the server and database, click Next. At this point AIM will attempt to connect to
the SQL Server database. If AIM is unsuccessful in connecting to the database, check to make sure the computer
and database names are spelled correctly. If they are, try using the IP address (or computer name, whichever you
didn’t try the first time). If it still doesn’t work, it may mean that you need to install the SQL Server client
connectivity software on the client computer.
Once AIM has successfully connected to the SQL Server database, you will proceed to the final screen, which
will display a summary of what will be done. When you click Finish, the migration utility will proceed to create
the AIM database tables and copy all the data from your existing Microsoft Access database to the SQL Server
database.
Once the data has been migrated (and this will take some time to complete), the existing AIM database will be
renamed to aim_1.mdb.bak. This is done to prevent users from inadvertently connecting to the Access database
and not realize they aren’t using SQL Server. A new file is also created in the database directory,
AIM Database.ini. This file stores configuration information that tells AIM what database to use. The information
in this file supersedes the information in the AIM.INI in the program directory, and is used to auto-configure client
machines whose AIM directory is local to their computer.
Now that the data has been transferred over to SQL Server, run AIM to verify that it is working correctly. You
should be able to log in, see the data you had previously, etc. You can verify that AIM is connecting to SQL
Server by checking the title bar on the AIM Login screen. If it is connecting to SQL Server, it will add “ (SQL
Server)” to the end of the window’s title. If that title is not there, then it is connecting to an Access database.
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AIM I SQL Server Migration Guide
AIM Users Logging In
Now that the server has been updated to use SQL Server, the other client machines need to be updated. If the
client machines have AIM locally installed, the software needs to be updated to the latest versions on each
machine. If the software is located in a shared directory on a server, then the software just needs to be updated in
that directory (which may already be the case, depending on where the migration utility was run from). If all
works correctly (and the required drivers are found on the client machines), the clients should automatically detect
that the database has been migrated to SQL Server (by using the information in the AIM Database.ini file) and set
up the connection to the database. Connecting to the database for the first time may take some time, as it tries
different methods of connecting. Once it determines a connection method, it stores this information in the user’s
registry on the local machine for each subsequent login. If it cannot connect, it probably indicates the client
machine does not have the proper drivers installed.
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