Commerce Server Setup - URGENT: CS2002 Enterprise vs. Standard

Author

URGENT: CS2002 Enterprise vs. Standard

maina

2004-05-14, 3:37 pm

I understand the Standard Edition of CS allows for 2 WEB servers and 2 procs
per server max.

We are in the process of setting up our production environment with:
- one front-end web server,
- one admin (BizDesk) server, and
- one SQL server.
We installed CS Enterprise Edition on the front-end server and the Admin
server.

We are now asked to cut cost (surprise)!

Question 1:
The MS web site is not clear on the limits of Standard edition. In our above
config, could we use Standard, even if we wanted to plan for scaling out in
the future to load-balance the front-end (2 WEB servers) and still have a
separate admin server (with CS installed)?

Question 2:
Is there a way to downgrade an installed Enterprise Edition to Standard? Or
would we have to re-install? We just spent a week configuring the servers
according to the Secure Deployment document and would dearly like to avoid
doing that again!

Thank you for your quick feedback on this.

=maina)

David Hargis [MSFT]

2004-05-19, 5:49 pm

Question 1: The good news is that the config you have listed is supported
by standard edition. The bad news is that you will not be able to scale to
the load-balanced front-end in the way you describe without enterprise
edition.

Question 2: Unfortunately, there is no downgrade path. You would have to
uninstall / reinstall.

Thanks,
David
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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

EBusiness Server Team

maina

2004-06-08, 12:00 am

Thanks for the response David.
I have some follow-up questions based on more (very tedious, because
completely undocumented) research. I would appreciate any input on this.

Given our configuration again:
------firewall-----------
- Frontend web server (domain1)
------firewall------------
- Backend admin web server (domain2)
- SQL server (domain2) - OLTP and DW
------firewall------------
- Internal clients (domainInternal)

***Issue 1: BizDesk reporting.
The clients are running on domainInternal, but are authenticating using
domain2 credentials into their BizDesk apps. We are crossing a firewall. We
are not clear at this point if we couldn't make RPC access work thru this
internal firewall (still trying to find port ranges...). If not, we
understand that the OLAP over HTTP access requires SQL Enterprise. If we CAN
use RPC access in our scenario, is it true that we could use SQL Standard?
(we are aware of all SQL Server Edition constraints, but are using
Enterprise ONLY for Commerce Server's OLAP over HTTP requirement).

***Issue 2: Mixing Editions.
Since CS Standard severely restricts data warehousing options, we would like
to consider a mixed environment.
- BizDesk server: Enterprise Edition to facilitate Profile and Campaign
import into the DW and extended reporting; and
- FrontEnd server: Standard Edition.
Is that possible?

***Issue 3: Stupid question.
The document "Differences between CS 2002 Editions", page 4 graphics make it
look like only one Enterprise license is needed for n apps, n procs, etc.
(opposing the Standard graphic where each proc is tied to a license). So
far i've understood that EE is also licensed per processor. Am I still
right?

BTW - we have followed Microsoft's "Deploying a Secure Commerce Server 2002
Site" prescription. It is amazing how much detail (for instance OLAP HTTP
configuration) is omitted from this document, and left to anyone's guess. CS
might be cool if it wasn't such a dratted nightmare to configure and
license!

Thanks!
=maina)

"David Hargis [MSFT]" <dhargis@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:bmsCCVePEHA.3960@cpmsftngxa10.phx.gbl...
> Question 1: The good news is that the config you have listed is supported
> by standard edition. The bad news is that you will not be able to scale
to
> the load-balanced front-end in the way you describe without enterprise
> edition.
>
> Question 2: Unfortunately, there is no downgrade path. You would have to
> uninstall / reinstall.
>
> Thanks,
> David