Courion Tip – Before Courion Arrives – Hardware and Software

Basically, you don’t want to scramble ordering software and hardware after Courion has arrived at your door. Why not get ready first?

For starters, please see my other post https://mmdmurphy.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/courion-tip-auxilary-tools/. You obviously need servers – some for SQL Server, and some for Courion, but I can’t give you a simple summary of what you need. It depends on your environment. However, you probably can start off with a virtual machine for SQL Server and a virtual machine for Courion. Try to get that approved and set up as soon as you can. Don’t forget the ability to take snapshots of the VM’s – and I’d take them during the install process so you can always roll back.

Mostly, you need the Business Intellegence Development Studio and the Microsoft SQL Server Administrator tool (sorry, that’s from memory and may only be close to right). You need to get your feet wet with both products. Don’t be shy – courion shouldn’t be there yet, you should be taking snapshots, and you should be ready to loose everything you’ve done – don’t make any permanent changes. (also, make sure you have copies of any SSIS packages you make – preferably in a central place like Sharepoint or VSS or even a network share)

Hardware – Nope, not servers. Your desktop. You will need the biggest monitor you can get. No kidding, it’s not just ‘nice to have’. There are certain Courion configuration screens (specifically, Active Directory Unique Resource Data) that are HUGE and it’s impossible to see the entire thing at once without a large, wide, monitor. It might be a hard sell to management – but it will be worth it. Also, you don’t need the highest performance – you aren’t playing games. Size is the biggest issue.

I would suggest Windows 7, 64 bit, with 8 gig or more of ram. Ideally, you’d like to run a virtual machine on your computer, with SSIS and SQL server, and maybe Couron installed on it. It’s nice to be able to kick around something ‘in private’. However, you’re not trying to replace your developement system, just augment it.

You might consider getting Microsoft Visio and a product like Microsoft Project. It’s good to be able to map out SSIS packages in Visio, and a project management system is obviously a good idea.

(by the way, you don’t need a full blown copy of Microsoft Visual Studio. I wouldn’t bother, but that’s not to say I know the nature of your environment and project)