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Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition and the
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express FAQ
This
FAQ contains questions and answers pertaining to users who are planning
to implement Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition, and in particular, those
who are planning to upgrade from a Pervasive version of Maximizer
Enterprise.
| 1. I’ve upgraded an Address Book from a previous version, and can’t login as MASTER. How do I correct this? |
New
installations of Maximizer CRM 10 will automatically create a MASTER
user with the default password of “CONTROL”. If you upgrade an Address
Book from a previous version that has a different password for MASTER,
you can log into this Address Book by entering “CONTROL” when first
prompted for a password. At this point you are prompted for a second
password, and you should enter the previous password from your upgraded
Address Book. To avoid being prompted twice when logging in, simply
change your MASTER password to “CONTROL”. After verifying that you are
no longer prompted twice, you may change the password to whatever you
desire. This will synchronize all of the passwords – you now will be
able to login normally.
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| 2. Why did Maximizer Software Inc. decide to move away from the Pervasive database? |
This
is a major architectural decision for us and we are not taking this
lightly. We are confident that we have made the right choice in
unifying our database backend. Here are some of the reasons:
- This
move will unify our offerings on a single database platform. With
Microsoft SQL Server being the de facto standard database on Microsoft
Windows platforms, making it our single database engine of choice makes
the most sense to us, and to our customers.
- Integrators
can now write one version of customization (programs that interact with
Maximizer Enterprise, add-ons or hooks, reports, etc.) and be confident
that they will run in any Maximizer CRM environment. In the previous
versions, two customizations (one for Pervasive and the other for SQL)
were often necessary, particularly in situations where MaxExchange
synchronization was involved.
- In
the past, we had a lot of interest from our customers inquiring about
support for Microsoft SQL Server Express. With this move, Microsoft
SQL Server Express is finally officially supported.
- We
are now truly on a single database platform. In previous versions, in
the deployment of our Microsoft SQL Server products, additional
installation of Pervasive engine was often required. We have received
many requests to have a pure Microsoft SQL environment. This move has
allowed us to completely remove our dependency on the Pervasive
database engine.
- Last but
not the least, by streamlining our development and support efforts to
one single database platform, we will be able to make better use of our
resources. As a result, our R&D team will be able to develop a more
functional and higher quality product and our Support team will be able
to provide our customers and partners better support.
It
is important to recognize that Microsoft SQL Server Express is
completely embedded into our products. Regular users should not notice
its existence at all. Therefore, they should not even be aware of this
database engine change.
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3. What is the upgrade path for people owning Pervasive Workgroup version of the Maximizer Enterprise product? |
Customers
running Pervasive Workgroup versions of Maximizer Enterprise product
should upgrade to Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition, which runs on
Microsoft SQL Server Express.
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4. What is the upgrade path for people owning Pervasive Client/Server version of the Maximizer Enterprise product? |
Customers
running Pervasive Client/Server versions of Maximizer Enterprise
product should upgrade to Maximizer CRM 10 Professional Edition, which
runs on Microsoft SQL Server.
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| 5. Will
there be any stability or performance issue after upgrading to
Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition (running on Microsoft SQL Server
Express)? |
Maximizer
had used Microsoft SQL Server in the Maximizer Enterprise products for
close to 10 years. In recent years, the SQL products represent nearly
half of our gross revenue. Our R&D team is very experienced and
knowledgeable in working with Microsoft SQL Server. Being the de facto
standard database on Windows platform, Microsoft SQL Server is both
stable and performs extremely well compared to other databases. We are
confident that Microsoft SQL Server Express will serve us as well as
Microsoft SQL Server.
The
following are some sample results from our benchmark testing comparing
the performance of Maximizer when using Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Express and the Pervasive Workgroup Engine:
Scenario |
Pervasive Workgroup Engine |
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express |
Create new user |
1 second |
1 second |
Open or Edit an Address Book entry |
< 1 second |
< 1 second |
Search by All Fields (UDF) |
17 seconds |
9 seconds |
Delete 1000 Address Book entries |
2 min 24 sec |
2 min 17 sec |
Create/Use Column setup in Customer Service |
5 seconds |
2 seconds |
Transfer 1000 Address Book entries |
19 min 33 sec |
19 min 33 sec |
Export 100 Customer Service Cases |
3 minutes |
44 seconds |
Our
benchmark results have shown that most database actions performed by
Microsoft SQL Server Express are either as fast as, or faster than the
Pervasive Workgroup engine.
Another
interesting fact we found during our tests is that the Pervasive
Workgroup engine (45 MB) uses more memory than SQL Server 2005 Express
(39 MB).
With Microsoft SQL
Server being the one and only database engine we support, it will allow
us to focus our effort in continuing improvement and optimization of
our products to work even better with this leading Windows platform
database engine in the coming years.
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| 6. Will a very powerful computer be required to run Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition? |
| The
system requirements are increased from Version 9 to ensure that you
will have the best experience with our software. Although the
requirements are increased, they are very reasonable in today’s
standards. Below is a comparison of the requirements between Version
9 and Version 10: In Version 9, the workstation system requirements are:
- Minimum 350 MHz Pentium II (or equivalent) processor; 1.6GHz or faster processor recommended
- Minimum 256 MB RAM; 512 MB RAM recommended
- Minimum 500 MB of available hard disk space; 800 MB recommended
In Version 10, the workstation system requirements are:
- Minimum 600 MHz Pentium III (or equivalent) processor; 1.6GHz or faster processor recommended
- Minimum 512 MB RAM; 1GB RAM recommended
- Minimum 1000 MB of available hard disk space; 2000 MB recommended
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7. Are there any limitations in the Microsoft SQL Server Express thus limitations in Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition? |
Microsoft
SQL Server Express has a number of limitations including only single
CPU support and a maximum memory usage of 1 GB. Please see the
following URL for a complete list of limitations of Microsoft SQL
Server Express:
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/features/compare-features.mspx
The
other limitation that may affect Maximizer customers is the database
size limit of 4 GB. This means any user with Address Books larger than
4 GB will not be able to use Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition.
However,
we are confident that very few customers will run into this limitation,
as 4 GB is a lot of storage space for storing data.
To put this into perspective, let’s examine some real world numbers:
- On
average, most records in the Maximizer database should contain less
than 200 bytes of data. Based on this average, 4 GB can store up to 20
million records.
- Some record
types are more likely bigger than 200 bytes – e.g. Notes. Let’s say
the average is 1000 bytes per record (i.e. 1000 chars per note), you
can store up to 4 million records in 4GB.
The
only other record type with potentially much bigger record size is
documents. If you have a database that is larger than 4 GB (most
likely caused by large documents), there are other questions and
answers on this FAQ that specifically discuss how to deal with such
database.
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8. When
should I consider upgrading to one of the Microsoft SQL Server versions
(not Express) of Maximizer CRM products (Professional Edition and
Enterprise Edition)? |
You should consider upgrading to Professional Edition or Enterprise Edition:
- When you have more than 15 Maximizer users in your network.
- When you foresee that your database size will exceed the 4GB limitation.
- Or, if you feel your requirements exceed some of the other limitations of SQL Server Express:
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/features/compare-features.mspx - And
of course, when you require some of the advanced functionality
available in Maximizer CRM 10 Professional Edition and Enterprise
Edition.
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| 9. After
upgrading from Maximizer Enterprise Pervasive Workgroup version to
Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition, do I have to go through complicated
steps to upgrade my existing Pervasive Address Book to the new format? |
The
fact that the database backend is Microsoft SQL Server Express is
completely transparent to the user. The database upgrade process
closely resembles how the upgrades are being handled in Version 9.
After installing Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition, simply open the old
Pervasive Address Book, and you will be prompted to upgrade. Then,
follow the instructions on screen to proceed. As part of the database
upgrade process, the program will prompt you to convert embedded
documents to become linked documents. If your database size is well
below 4 GB, you should ignore this screen and press OK.
Each
time you upgrade Address Books from previous versions of Maximizer or
Maximizer Enterprise into Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition, you may
notice irregularities in passwords for any User Ids which exist both in
the newly upgraded Address Book and the pre-existing Address Book(s)
(MASTER is a good example).
If
the password for a common User ID is different for the newly upgraded
Address Book than for pre-existing ones, you will initially be required
to login twice for the newly upgraded Address Book. The FIRST password
you should use is the password for the pre-existing Address Book(s),
you will then be prompted for a second password and should enter the
password for the newly upgraded Address Book. To permanently resolve
this you can then change the password for the common User ID in the
newly upgraded Address Book to be the same as the pre-existing
password. From this point on, all password changes will automatically
by written for all common User IDs to all existing Address Books.
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10. How
do I know if my existing Maximizer Enterprise Pervasive Workgroup
database is over the 4 GB limit? If it is over 4 GB, what will happen
when I try to upgrade to Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition? |
During
installation of Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition, the installation will
first prompt the user to check the sizes of their databases before
proceeding with the installation. This will give the user a chance to
identify the potential issue before upgrading, and abort the
installation at that point.
This
database size check utility is also available as a standalone software
program for checking existing databases prior to purchasing the upgrade.
If
you have a database that is over 4 GB, the most likely reason is the
number and sizes of documents stored in the Address Book. In such
situation, you have the following options:
- Abort
the installation, go back to your old version of Maximizer Enterprise
and use the built-in functionality to backup the original database,
then purge documents and notes by date until the database size is below
4 GB. After that, install Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition and proceed
with upgrading all your databases.
- Proceed
with installation, and deal with the documents during the Address Book
upgrade process. Instead of storing the documents in the database, you
may choose to store them as files in the file system. In such case,
only the paths to the document files are needed to be stored in the
database. As part of the database upgrade process, when you open the
existing Address Book database in Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition, you
will be prompted to upgrade and given the option to convert embedded
documents to linked documents based on size. Adjust the size parameter
until your converted database size become less than 4 GB.
- Upgrade to Maximizer CRM 10 Professional Edition or Enterprise Edition, which runs on Microsoft SQL Server version.
- Contact our technical support for further assistance.
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11. I
have been running Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition for a while now. What
will happen if my database size exceeds the 4 GB limit one day? |
Every
time Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition is started, it will perform a check
on the size of the database. A warning message will appear if the
database being opened is close to the 4GB limit.
Maximizer
CRM 10 Group Edition Administrator also provides a new feature to allow
users to convert embedded documents to linked documents based on size.
You may use this feature to reduce your database size as necessary.
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| 12. We run Maximizer CRM 10 with a number of MaxExchange Remotes. Our synchronized Address Book is larger than 4 GB. What do we do? |
MaxExchange
Remotes including those on the Professional Edition and Enterprise
Edition are by default set to run on Microsoft SQL Server Express.
Therefore, the 4 GB limitation applies. When your synchronized Address
Book reaches 4 GB, you have the following options: - Reduce the size of the synchronized remote Address Book by filtering documents by size, date, etc.
- Upgrade to run Microsoft SQL Server with the MaxExchange Remote.
- Contact our Technical Support team for further assistance.
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| 13. I get a message saying that the Pervasive database engine is required. Why do I need this and where do I find it? |
This
message will only appear if you are dealing with a Maximizer Enterprise
database from previous versions and the Pervasive Workgroup engine is
no longer installed on the machine. To resolve this, install the
Pervasive Workgroup engine on the computer by following the
instructions here:
http://www.maximizer.com/support/maxcrm/maxcrm100_pervasive.html
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| 14. Will
Maximizer support the use of Microsoft SQL Server (not the Express
Edition) as the database engine for Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition? |
No.
Maximizer CRM 10 Group Edition is designed and priced for small
workgroups with 15 users or less. We believe that Microsoft SQL Server
Express will provide sufficient performance for this target audience.
If you have higher requirements, you should upgrade to either Maximizer
CRM 10 Professional Edition or Maximizer CRM 10 Enterprise Edition.
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| 15.
Will Maximizer support the use of Microsoft SQL Server Express as the
database engine for Maximizer CRM 10 Professional Edition or Enterprise
Edition? |
Yes,
Microsoft SQL Server Express is supported on Maximizer CRM 10
Professional Edition or Enterprise Edition. Keep in mind that the
performance limitation of Microsoft SQL Express will limit the number
of users the system can support.
To use Microsoft SQL Server Express with Maximizer CRM 10 Professional
Edition or Enterprise Edition, you must pre-install Microsoft SQL
Server Express prior to installing Maximizer, and then proceed with
using the Microsoft SQL Express server as your database server.
Selecting the SQL Express component in our Installation’s Custom option
will not be enough, as this option installs a special instance of
Microsoft SQL Server Express that can only be used by Maximizer when it
is installed as a MaxExchange Remote or when email transfer
functionality is used.
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| 16. We would like to upgrade from Maximizer CRM Group Edition to Professional Edition or Enterprise Edition. How do I do that? |
Maximizer
CRM Group Edition uses the Microsoft SQL Server Express database
engine. With Maximizer CRM Professional Edition or Enterprise Edition,
you are recommended to upgrade the SQL Express database (i.e. Maximizer
Instance) to use a full Microsoft SQL Server version instead. Here are
the steps:
- Uninstall the Maximizer CRM Group Edition Server and all the Workstations.
- Install the new SQL Server on either the same machine or another machine.
- Use
the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio to connect to the existing
MAXIMIZER SQL Server Instance (\MAXIMIZER).
- Detach the MaConfig database and all your Maximizer CRM databases.
- If
your new MS SQL Server is on a different machine, copy the MaConfig
database files and Maximizer CRM database files to the new Server.
- Use
the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio to connect to the new MS SQL
Server. Attach the MaConfig database and all your Maximizer CRM
databases to the new Microsoft SQL Server.
- Install
Maximizer CRM Professional Edition or Enterprise Edition Server and
when prompted, select the new Microsoft SQL Server and use your
preferred Authentication method.
- Setup the Maximizer CRM workstations as you normally would.
- Apply the new Professional/Enterprise Edition licenses.
- If
you are not using Email Transfer functionality and your machine is not
setup as a MaxExchange Remote, you may consider uninstalling the
Microsoft SQL Server Express instance from your machine.
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| 17. In
a Professional Edition or Enterprise Edition environment, how do I
install the MaxExchange Remote to use Microsoft SQL Server |
By
default, a MaxExchange Remote is always installed with a Micrsoft SQL
Server Express database engine, which has some limitations. To
overcome these limitations, one may consider upgrading Maximizer to use
an installation of Microsoft SQL Server on the local machine. There
are 2 ways to do this:
A) If you intend to use this Microsoft SQL Server only by the same Remote machine:
- First, install the MaxExchange Remote Workstation as normal.
- Use the following command to install Microsoft SQL Server:
setup.exe SKUUPGRADE=1.
During installation of Microsoft SQL Server, specify the Maximizer SQL Server instance (\MAXIMIZER).
- Login as Administrator of your OS and change the Microsoft SQL Server "SA" password.
Note: The advantage of this installation method is that you will only need
one instance of Microsoft SQL Server without a separate Microsoft SQL Server
Express instance on the same machine.
B) If you intend to share this Microsoft SQL Server in the Remote Workgroup:
- First install the Microsoft SQL Server
- Run the Maximizer CRM Server installation.
- During
installation, select Custom install option. When given options of
features to include, make sure to select to install the MaxExchange
Remote.
NOTE:
A SQL Server Express instance will still be installed for packet
handling, but the Remote database will be on the Microsoft SQL Server
you have installed.
Note that Windows Authentication for Microsoft SQL Server is not supported on MaxExchange
Remotes. Therefore, when you installation Microsoft SQL Server, do not attempt to use
this authentication option.
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18. In
a Professional Edition or Enterprise Edition environment, my
MaxExchange Remote on a laptop has been using Microsoft SQL Server
Express. Now, I want to upgrade the database engine to Microsoft SQL
Server. How do I do that? |
Similar
to method A) in the previous question, you have to use the following
command to install and upgrade to Microsoft SQL Server:
setup.exe SKUUPGRADE=1
In
the Micrsoft SQL Server installation wizard screens, specify the
Maximizer SQL Server instance (\MAXIMIZER). Once
installation is completed, you should
consider setting "SA" password by doing so when logged in as Administrator of the OS.
Note
that Windows Authentication for Microsoft SQL Server is not supported
on MaxExchange Remotes. Therefore, when you install Microsoft SQL
Server, do not attempt to use this authentication option.
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| 19. I’ve upgraded an Address Book from a previous version, and can’t login. How do I correct this? |
Each
time you upgrade Address Books from previous versions of Maximizer or
Maximizer Enterprise into Maximizer CRM 10, you may notice
irregularities in passwords for any User Ids which exist both in the
newly upgraded Address Book and the pre-existing Address Book(s)
(MASTER is a good example).
If
the password for a common User ID is different for the newly upgraded
Address Book than for pre-existing ones, you will initially be required
to login twice for the newly upgraded Address Book. The FIRST password
you should use is the password for the pre-existing Address Book(s),
you will then be prompted for a second password and should enter the
password for the newly upgraded Address Book. To permanently resolve
this you can then change the password for the common User ID in the
newly upgraded Address Book to be the same as the pre-existing
password. From this point on, all password changes will automatically
by written for all common User IDs to all existing Address Books.
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