SQL 2008 R2 Master Data Services
Well, I finally got around to taking a look at R2 and specifically Master Data Services (due mostly to some strange decisions on my current data migration project).
First impressions – I actually quite like it. I can see that it is going to require some deep late-night learning to completely get my head around it all but it’s certainly not what I would call a Version 1 product (actually given that it’s born out of Stratature +EDM it’s more like version 4/5) . The new web based UI is pretty clunky though and for sure left me a little frustrated at times. However mosts of my other issues primarily centred around “de-nannying” Windows Server 2008 R2… all I can say (from a guy who likes to be fairly agile) is AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!
So here was the set up.
Virtual Server
- 2 x Processors (2.33ghz)
- 4GB RAM
- 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2 (Enterprise)
SQL Server
- 2008 R2 Enterprise CTP2 (Eval)
Some things I needed to do for later on but may as well have done here
- Upped the server from default to run IIS, Web Services etc
- Ensured .Net 3.5 sp1 was on board
After the SQL Install, you need to run the MDS install from the SQL Install Media.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, I will point you to the msdn installation area and two excellent posts to get installed, web app configured (this took me a couple of attempts until I found Sutha’s article) and run in some test data to see how it works.
Baby Steps (Nick Barclay’s 7 step tutorials)
And the result was this
first hierarchy
One last useful link – when you are importing data, there are a set of error codes applied to the datasets (nice touch). The problem is that they are not documented anywhere (crap touch…attention to detail!!). The result, I spent a couple of hours looking for ERR210000 and what I might have done wrong only to find from Kirk’s helpful list that ERR210000 means “all is well” (great “ERR” can now mean “OK”)
Have a play…
