Installing SQL 2008 on Windows Server 2008 R2

There are a couple of small caveats when installing SQL Server 2008 on top of the Windows Server 2008 R2 OS.

One is that we need to make sure that the .NET Framework 3.5 is installed _before_ we run setup:

• Microsoft KB 955725: List of known issues when you install SQL Server on Windows 7 or on Windows Server 2008 R2

The other caveat came up when we ran the initial SQL setup routine:

The routine wanted a restart before we got to installing the actual SQL bits.

Oh, and one more thing. Make sure to download the appropriate SQL 2008 service pack and have it ready to install once all of the SQL instances are installed.

During the install, SQL will test the firewall setup to make sure the appropriate ports are available:

Specifically:

• MSDN: Configuring the Windows Firewall to Allow SQL Server Access

In our case, our needed instance port will be 1433 TCP and then the required SQL Browser service port of 1434 UDP:

In this case we have an SBS 2003 R2 Premium site that requires a dedicated SQL instance for their AutoCAD Vault setup. But, the management portion of the software is unable to be installed on SBS 2003.

So, we needed another box with SQL. Unfortunately, the client was not willing to go much beyond dropping in a budget Windows Server 2008 R2 box with SQL licenses for the needed number of users at this point.

So, we now have the needed SQL setup in place to get things up and running.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

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