MICROSOFT SQL CONNECTIONS

Transcription

1 MICROSOFT SQL CONNECTIONS and HP Web Jetadmin CONTENTS Introduction... 2 Accessing SQL Views... 2 Using SQL Server Configuration Manager... 3 Enabling and Starting the SQL Server Browser Service... 5 Checking the Connection... 6 Using an ODBC Connection... 6 Summary... 8 NOTICE: This document describes software and operations that H does not support. The software and operations described in this document are related to HP Web Jetadmin and its data and settings structures. This document is accurate to the extent that it is written in an Active Directory environment with Microsoft Windows 7 and HP Web Jetadmin. Please read and understand all the documentation regarding the Microsoft Windows and Microsoft SQL Server functions and features described in this document.

2 INTRODUCTION HP Web Jetadmin and Microsoft SQL provide a variety of ways to gather and work with device details. Device details are bits of information about a printer or multifunction device, such as page counts and supply levels. The information that can be obtained from devices varies widely and can be used for many purposes and in many functions. Integrating this information into business processes can provide critical value in many types of services plays. This document focuses on what needs to be done to the HP Web Jetadmin SQL instance to make it available to outside processes or applications. A simple use case might be a print fleet administrator running Microsoft Excel on the workstation or desktop. The administrator can use tools in Excel to connect to the SQL instance where HP Web Jetadmin stores its data. Of course, HP Web Jetadmin is limited in its interaction with SQL. HP Web Jetadmin simply uses SQL tables to store and process settings, device data, and other working details. To facilitate a connection to the SQL instance, you must use Microsoft SQL and other tools rather than any HP Web Jetadmin features. Be sure to refer to all the Microsoft support and product documentation when working with these tools and applications. This document serves only as a guide to understanding and using the Microsoft tools. ACCESSING SQL VIEWS HP Web Jetadmin can store a variety of device details in special SQL tables that are known as Views. Views are tables that are meant to be an interface for acquiring data outside of the HP Web Jetadmin/SQL integrated solution. The tables that HP Web Jetadmin uses to process working data and application settings are known as Tables. HP does not support external use of the SQL Tables as this might interrupt important processes and might even lead to data corruption. The remainder of this document refers to SQL Views instead of Tables. You can perform a simple test to see if SQL allows access to its Views. In Figure 1, observe how you can use Microsoft Excel to source data from SQL. Also note an error message that appears when SQL does not allow access or cannot be reached. Figure 1 Error using Excel to source SQL data To access SQL views remotely, the SQL service requires that you enable TCP/IP through SQL Server Configuration Manager. 2

3 USING SQL SERVER CONFIGURATION MANAGER You must use SQL Server Configuration Manager to configure the HP Web Jetadmin SQL instance to open up the remote connection needed to get the device data. This is a fairly simple operation; however, there can be more to allowing access to a system than simply adjusting settings through this utility. Firewalls of all kinds exist that you might need to understand, and there are also a myriad of things that might be going on with local security infrastructure, applications, or on the network that might inhibit connectivity. This document assumes a very basic setup of Microsoft Windows with little more than Microsoft Firewall enabled. It also assumes that both the Windows users and computers are joined to an Active Directory domain. Launch the utility by locating Start, All Programs, SQL Server 2008, Configuration Tools, SQL Server Configuration Manager. Once the utility is launched, you must perform the following steps: Enable TCP/IP on the HP Web Jetadmin SQL instance (this is HPWJA by default) Enable the SQL Server Browser Figure 2 provides an example of enabling TCP/IP for a specific SQL instance. In this case, it is HPWJA based on a default HP Web Jetadmin instance. Figure 2 Adjusting protocols for the HPWJA instance Note that we are enabling the TCP/IP protocol for the instance that HP Web Jetadmin is using. If you are working with a non-default instance, you must adjust its protocol stack to allow remote access. In our example, we are using a very simple default installation of HP Web Jetadmin. Once you enable the TCP/IP stack for the SQL instance, you are presented with a message that states a SQL service restart is required to make the setting take effect. HP recommends that you first stop the HPWJA service in Windows Service Manager, and then restart the HPWJA or other SQL instance that HP Web Jetadmin uses. HP Web Jetadmin maintains a fairly active connection to the SQL instance and should not be running when you restart the actual instance service. You can restart the SQL instance through SQL Server Configuration Manager under the SQL Server Services node shown in Figure 2. 3

4 Next, you must enable the SQL Server Browser that allows remote access to SQL instances. Figure 3 shows the properties for this service, which are also accessible via SQL Server Configuration Manager. Figure 3 SQL Server Browser Properties Note that default installations of SQL Server typically have the SQL Server Browser Service fully disabled by default as shown in Figure 3. In fact, to bring the SQL Browser Service online, you must activate it via Windows Service Manager. If this is the case, go to the next section where this procedure is described. 4

5 ENABLING AND STARTING THE SQL SERVER BROWSER SERVICE Using the Windows Services utility found under Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services, locate the SQL Browser service as shown in Figure 4. Figure 4 SQL Server Browser Service Properties Using these properties, set the Startup type to Manual or Automatic, and then click Apply. Then click Start to start the Browser service. At this point, you have a SQL Server instance that should allow remote connection. WARNING: Enabling remote connectivity to SQL Server instances might be considered a security threat in some environments. Always check with your IT or Security Team before performing any of these operations. Also, check and carefully review all the related SQL product documentation. 5

6 CHECKING THE CONNECTION Now you are ready to test the connection using your remote Microsoft Excel. Simply use the Data Connection Wizard shown in Figure 5. If the connection succeeds, a new Data Connection Wizard dialogue appears as shown in Figure 5. If this dialogue appears, you have established a successful connection to the SQL database instance and can now proceed with Excel or a similar application. Figure 5 Data Connection w/ SQL catalogue and table details USING AN ODBC CONNECTION So far we have talked about how to set up the SQL instance so that it can be accessed remotely. In this section, we talk about a Windows utility that is sometimes needed to set up a data source to a remote system where HP Web Jetadmin is running. An example of when this utility is needed is in Microsoft Excel where using the Microsoft Query tool to establish the data get action requires that an established ODBC connection. First, we will look at establishing the connection and then we will show the MS Query in Excel. Figure 6 Data Sources (ODBC) Figure 6 shows a utility that is launched through Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Data Sources (ODBC). 6

7 Once in the ODBC Data Source Administrator, click Add. Figure 7 shows the resulting driver selection. Select the appropriate driver, and click Finish. Next, a wizard appears that guides you through actually setting up the SQL ODBC connection. Add details as needed to the wizard (shown in Figure 8), and click Next. The format for the SQL host/instance is shown in Figure 8. The next step in the wizard (shown in Figure 9) is authenticating to the SQL Server instance. In many cases, the user who is logged into the system has access to the SQL instance on the remote system. This is true in if the user is an Administrator on both hosts. In most cases, leaving the With Windows NT authentication using the network login ID option selected is sufficient. However, authentication and security varies widely and you might need to experiment and/or use SQL users and authentication in place of Windows authentication. It is important to remember that the test systems used in the creation of this document were joined to Active Directory and user accounts were members in the same Active Directory. Once you have established authentication settings, click Next. Figure 7 Selecting the ODBC driver Figure 8 Creating a New SQL Data Source Figure 9 SQL Data Source Authentication 7

8 If the wizard progresses to the next screen (shown in Figure 10), the utility was able to establish contact with the database instance. This is a good sign! At this point, you can choose to set the data source connection to always go to the HPWJA database catalogue, which HP recommends if you are interested primarily in the HP Web Jetadmin device data. Otherwise, you must tell your tools or applications where the catalogue resides for each and every query. Once you have selected the HPWJA catalogue, click Next, and then click Finish. Figure 10 More Data Source Settings At this point, a pop-up appears confirming your settings as shown in Figure 11. You can test the data source by using the button supplied or simply clicking OK. Your new data source now appears in the list of available User Data Sources as shown in Figure 6 at the beginning of this sequence. Now, you can source the HPWJA instance data into Microsoft Excel through Microsoft Query or other tools that require an ODBC connection. This process is not shown in this document. Figure 11 Confirm SQL Data Source Settings SUMMARY This document should help guide you through establishing a connection to remote HP Web Jetadmin SQL instances. However, you should take great care to understand all the functionality within the scope of this complex topic. Administrators should also review the following important HP Web Jetadmin documents: Database Views in HP Web Jetadmin Using Microsoft SQL Server with HP Web Jetadmin These and other documents can be found by visiting Copyright 2015 HP Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. c en, Rev. 3, August