SQL Server 2008 ?Installing the AdventureWorks Sample Databases

About the Databases

There are several versions of the AdventureWorks databases out there.  There are versions for SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008, but this post is concentrated on the 2008 versions.  For SQL Server 2008, there are 3 databases.

• AdventureWorks OLTP ?A standard online transaction processing database containing a year of data of data for a fictitious bicycle manufacturer (Adventure Works Cycles). This database is useful for demo scenarios, and includes data for Manufacturing, Sales, Purchasing, Product Management, Contact Management, and Human Resources functions.
• AdventureWorks DW -  A data warehouse database containing a year of data in a star schema, containing multiple fact and dimension tables.  This database is excellent for constructing SQL Server Analysis Service (SSAS) OLAP cubes and demonstrating the Business Intelligence (BI) capabilities of SQL Server and BI client technologies like MOSS 2007, Reporting Services, and Excel.
• The AdventureWorks LT (Light) - A highly simplified and smaller sample database which is helpful for those who are new to relational database technology.

Preparing for the Installation

Before attempting the installation, ensure the following services:

Full Text Search
Ensure you have Full-text Filter Daemon Launcher Service running. NOTE: You may receive an error stating that FILESTREAM is not enabled during the install if this service is disabled, which is a bit misleading.

FILESTREAM
If you did not enable FILESTREAM services during the SQL Server 2008 install, you抣l need to light it up prior to installing the sample AdventureWorks OLTP and DW databases.  If you don抰, the AdventureWorks database installation will fail trying to restore the database, and will warn you that FILESTREAM needs to be enabled. To enable FILESTREAM services on SQL Server 2008, see my post, How To Enable FILESTREAM Feature On SQL Server 2008.

Installing the Sample Databases

1. Download the msi installer for SQL Server 2008 AdventureWorks databases you want to install from CodePlex
2. Ensure you have Full-text Filter Daemon Launcher Service running
3. Ensure you have FILESTREAM services enabled on your SQL Server 2008 server (see notes above)
4. Run the msi installer and click through the intro and license screens
5. Turn on the restore database options during the install, as shown below.  This option will automatically restore the databases, but it is turned off by default. 
6. Select the database server and click Next to complete the installation
7. Repeat steps 1 through 6 to install the DW BI and/or LT databases databases
8. If you did not turn on the restore database options (step 5), you will need to attache the database manually after the install is complete.  You can attach them by running database restore SQL scripts located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Samples\.

Notes From the Installation Wizard

The following notes are displayed in the wizard when you attempt to restore the database:

Select the name of the local instance to restore to from the dropdown list provided.

Note: The AdventureWorks databases will not be automatically removed during uninstallation.

The AdventureWorks databases can be automatically installed ONLY to a local instance of Microsoft?SQL Server?2008, and both Full-Text Search and FILESTREAM must be installed and enabled if the AdventureWorks2008 OLTP database is included.

If required, the selected instance will have FILESTREAM automatically enabled, and it will be restarted automatically as necessary.

Warning: Both FILESTREAM and Full-Text Search must be installed and enabled for the AdventureWorks2008 OLTP database to be installed successfully.

If you choose to install the AdventureWorks databases automatically (as determined by the selected features of this installer package), the data files for the AdventureWorks databases will be created in the same directory as the data file (MDF) for the master database.

The AdventureWorks databases can be restored to another server by copying the BAK file to that server and restoring the database there with SQL Server Management Studio or the included T-SQL scripts.

For more information visit: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87843