Getting started with SQL Server 2008 R2’s Master Data Services


The Master Data Management (MDM) platform is built on top of the SQL Server 2008 R2 database and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). This article offers a step-by-step guide to installing and configuring this new capability, called Master Data Services (MDS).

Introduction

SQL
Server 2008 R2 introduced an extensible Master Data Management (MDM) platform,
which is built on top of the SQL Server 2008 R2 database and Windows
Communication Foundation (WCF). This new capability is called Master Data
Services (MDS). In this article, I am going to help you, step by step, to understand
how to install this new capability and then how to configure it to use this
great feature for creating, organizing, and managing master data centrally.

Note:
Master Data Services is available with SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise edition, Datacenter
Edition, Developer edition (for development purpose only) and Evaluation
edition (for evaluating the product) only. For licensing details, you can visit
the Master
Data Service site.

Prerequisites

Master
Data Services (MDS) has two main components viz. MDS database component (which
stores all of the versions of master data, meta data, system wide settings,
security related data, transaction logging, etc.) and Web component (a web portal
called Master Data Manager and WCF Service to programmatically access all the
features of MDS). You can install both of these components on the same machine
or you can install them separately on different machines. These are prerequisites
for installing and configuring Master Data Services:

Installing MDS

When
you install SQL Server 2008 R2, this new capability, called MDS, is not installed
by default or as part of the regular installation. You need to install it
separately from the SQL Server 2008 R2 installation.

Go
to the “Master Data Services” folder in the SQL Server 2008 R2 installation
media, there you will find masterdataservices.msi; double click on this file to
get started, and you will see a welcome screen.

Master Data Services Installation Welcome Screen

Figure
1 – Master Data Services Installation Welcome Screen

Click
Next and then you will see the License Agreement screen. Read through the
details and select “I accept the terms in the license agreement” radio button
and finally click on the Next button to move ahead.

Master Data Services Installation License Agreement

Figure
2 -Master Data Services Installation License Agreement

The
next screen will ask your name and your company name to personalize your
installation. Enter these details and click on the Next button.

Master Data Services Installation Registration Info

Figure
3 – Master Data Services Installation Registration Info

on
the next screen you can see that all of the components of Master Data Services
are selected for installation along with a default installation path. If
required, you can change this default selection to suit your environment and
need.

Master Data Services Installation Features Selection

Figure
4 – Master Data Services Installation Features Selection

The
next screen is the final screen. Here, if you want to change your selection you
can go back and change it or else simply click on the Finish button to start
the installation of Master Data Services.

Master Data Services Begin Installation

Figure
5 – Master Data Services Begin Installation

The
installation will take few minutes and then finally you will see a completion
screen with installation status.

Master Data Services Installation Completion

Figure
6 – Master Data Services Installation Completion

Now
that we have installed the Master Data Services bits on the machine, we need to
configure it to make it available for use. The next section discusses how to
configure both the database and web application components of Master Data
Services.

Arshad Ali
Arshad Ali
Arshad Ali works with Microsoft India R&D Pvt Ltd. He has 8+ years of experience, mostly on Microsoft Technologies. Most recently, as a SQL Developer and BI Developer he has been working on a Data Warehousing project. Arshad is an MCSD, MCITP: Business Intelligence, MCITP: Database Developer 2008 and MCITP: Database Administrator 2008 certified and has presented at several technical events including SQL-School. On an educational front, he has an MCA (Master in Computer Applications) and MBA-IT. Disclaimer : I work for Microsoft and help people and businesses make better use of technology to realize their full potential. The opinions mentioned herein are solely mine and do not reflect those of my current employer or previous employers.

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