Please ease the SQL server requirements for Developer edition

A little request

Almost all PCs in our department have some kind of SQL server installed, not only the developer PCs but all test PCs etc. That brings "some" limitations on where Documentum Developer can be installed I.e. on my developer machines I have SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008, all used for different versions of the products, etc.

There is no way I will uninstall all that just to get Documentum up.

Besides, that requirement for no SQL whatsoever seems a bit artificial: Documentum installs it's own named instance and its own copy of SQL 2005 express.

I am fine with it installing SQL Express, but would be nice if it did not ask me to uninstall all other SQL databases Especially, that it does not even touches them

Is there a switch maybe to disable that check, so I can get it on my developer PC without having to uninstall evrything first?

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Comments

PatriciaA

Wow. All those happy faces should buy you something

I will take your request to our product management team to see if there is an explanation or a way to help you out.

scrbollig

I would like to extend that request to add options for other already installed databases. What about OracleXE? The SQLServer install fails on my install everytime. Makes my evaluation of this product not so great

Chris_Campbell

I feel for the developers of the xCP and the effort to make a simple installation package. In the end, you can't please everyone so it's really a no-win situation. For that matter, I really feel for you. You have to deal with three separate versions of SQL server... not to mention all the separate service packs? Yikes. I can see why you wouldn't want to uninstall all that.

The main goal (from what little I know) for this first rollout for the Developer Edition was intended to be installed on a fresh, clean developer machine. Just the Windows OS. Once done, it could be a development system-on-the-go. Of course, not everyone has a spare development box laying around.

For the Developer Edition to work, there has to be a database involved so the install scripts can work and interact with the docbase properly. In other words, the option to completely remove the installation of a database and not install a docbase isn't feasible. At that point, just install Composer on your PC and be done with it.

What you and some other people need is the ability to install a new DB instance or use an already existing DB. I'd like it since I use Oracle and while I don't mind using SQL Server Express, I'd feel better with the ability to install my own DB.

All considered, the fact that they squeezed everything onto one box is pretty impressive.

scrbollig

I agree, the effort to create the dev edition is a good one. However, the developers should have taken into consideration their audience. Namely, corporate developers who don't have a choice to use a "clean" box.

Hopefully, these discussions will help them improve their product, it is a step in the right direction.

Francois Dauberlieu

I agree, the effort to create the dev edition is a good one. However, the developers should have taken into consideration their audience. Namely, corporate developers who don't have a choice to use a "clean" box.Hopefully, these discussions will help them improve their product, it is a step in the right direction.

I do agree but I also disagree.

Most corporate you mention do already have Documentum and have a development environment therefore, on the developer's machines, they'd just need composer, whatever IDE they like and the ability to connect to the dev content server and dev Webtop server if needed (they could have Webtop on their local machine too)

As Chris said, this is the 1st EDN release. With so many people whining about it, I wouldn't be surprised if they do some changes in the future, personally, I'd like indeed to be able to select an existing SQLserver install......

To be honest, I think the EDN people have been putting a lot of pressure on themselves with that. They could also have simply built a VMWare virtual machine with everything installed and running on it (The VM Player is free so still no extra cost), would have been much easier on them

My 2 cents

Andru

The effort with developer edition is a great one - it installed in one go, and strated working right out of the box. I am pretty impressed - this is the first time i used Documentum as a user.

The fact that it is not a VM, has many advantages.

Let me just rescope the topic: I am fine with it installing SQL Express - i can understand the need for a controlled environment to avoid all the questions about different versions of SQL. Just remove the check for other DB engines - if they can happily coexist. And this is a little minor inconvenience, no bigie.

And smilies work

PatriciaA

Actually, we would love to get more audience input on what you want to see -- not just in the download. I think that I will start a discussion thread. I will come back and post the link here as well.

Thanks for the input.

Abdel

Any news from the product management team? I am stuck with the same problem.

PatriciaA

I have received some information back from our product management team, reinforcing the intended use of Documentum Developer Edition. Since our goal was to provide non-customers / non-partners with free access so that they could try Documentum in a strictly non-production environment (per the Developer Edition license agreement), a simpler thus slightly restricted version of Documentum Content Server was developed. For example, the Developer Edition is currently tied to SQL, so no Oracle. Also, the current Developer Edition is only for one machine, so it does not support geographic distribution.

Our customers and partners can easily download more comprehensive versions of the Content Server software from EMC's powerlink network for testing or production, including those with rapid install capabilities like the OEM version of the Content Server. Developer Edition was made available so that people without powerlink access could still have access to the software. That being said, we are very interested in understanding what developers need so that they can play and test in a development environment. To this end, I would like to post a specifications wiki to collect and document developer ideas and requests for our next release of Developer Edition. I will add the requirements that have been discussed so far and will also provide the wiki link for further updates. I plan to meet with a few folks to review the suggestions and requirements and will be happy to pass on the updates