Hi (and HELP!),
 
I downloaded the Personal WebSite Starter Kit and got it working no problem on my local machine.  But I've had nothing but frustration trying to get it up and running on a webhosting site.  I picked hostmysite.com which uses SQL Server 2005.  I was under the impression that it wouldn't be that big a deal to convert the .MDF files that Sql Server Express uses to a SQL Server 2005 database.  I tried using SQL Server Management Studio Express.  I was able to "see" my remote database on hostmysite.com, but I was not able to import the .mdf files into my database.  I now believe (from reading other posts) that this is not possible using SQL Server Management Studio Express.  What is one to do?  But a full version of SQL Server?  I suppose I can ask the hosting company to import the .mdf files, but as I'm still playing, this seems like a less than ideal solution.  Can anyone point me to a site with ideas, or better yet, explicit directions on how to get the Personal WebSite up and running on a site using SQL Server 2005?
 
Any help is much appreciated.  I'm a Window programmer and am just learing about Web Programming and SQL Server.
Dave

Can through your hosting admin panel backup and or restore your database to a file?  If this is possible you probably should be able to make a backup of your database on your local machine, ftp it to a specific location and restore it to the hosting providers SQL Server.  I know with webhost4life you can do this.
 
- William

Please mark the most helpful reply/replies as "Answer".

Give some of my  PWSK modules a try.

Thanks William for the response.  There is no way to backup or restore a database to/from a file.  However, I do see that there is an area for stored procedures and it looks like one can add a stored procedure.  Perhaps someone can point me to some example code of a stored procedure that (1) reads an mdb file into SQL Server 2005 database?  or (2) other ideas?
 BTW, I checked out your site (looks good!) and downloaded the code. I'll study it.  Do you use SQL Server 2005 or Express on your hosting machine?  If you use 2005, you must have faced these problems and others.  Is there more to it than just getting mdb files to a SQL Server 2005 database?  I'm guessing some lines need to change in web.config and possibly more stuff?
Thanks,
 
Dave
P.S. I'll check ou

Hi,

Your question will be answered in a better way, with more details, if you ask this question in the right section.

Visit " Windows Hosting " section and ask in " Open Hosting " forums.

You will find this in this same forum only

cheers
------------------------------------------
SoftMind

Thanks Softmind.  I have followed your suggestion.
-Dave

 csharpuser:
 
Thanks Softmind.  I have followed your suggestion.
-Dave

The best remains backup and restore, I have posted a faq of all the methods needed and if you don't have Management Studio post again so I can give you the link to download the advanced Express.  Hope this helps.
http://forums.asp.net/thread/1454694.aspx
Kind regards,
Gift Peddie

Caddre,
 
Yes if you have a link to management Studio Express that has backup and retore, please post it.  My understanding was that the Express version does not have this feature. So, if I understand you correctly, I could backup the .mdb Express files to a backup file and then restore it to my SQL 2005 database on my hosting server (which I can see with Studio Express from my local machine.).
 
Thank you.
-Dave.

They lied to you the Advanced Express gives you all but the Agent and you can use a limited DTS when you install the Advanced with service pack 1. Post gain if you still have questions. Hope this helps.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/sql/download/
 
Kind regards,
Gift Peddie

Hi,
Join this thread and read about how you can use backup and restore and you can ask both Mark and Smiling Forever for specific help.  Hope this helps. 
http://forums.asp.net/thread/1452833.aspx
Kind regards,
Gift Peddie

Caddre,
 
Thanks!  The Advanced Express Management Studio does indeed have options "Backup" and "Restore" under "Tasks".  These were missing under the regular Express Management Studio.  I'm still confused how to proceed though.  How do I use this to transfer SQL Server Express mdb files (2 of them) to a SQL Server 2005 database?  Do I need to somehow first get the mdb files into a SQL Server 2005 database on my local machine?  If so, how?  I see that backup/restore work with regsvr file?  I don't see any options for handling mdb files. 
 
Thanks,
 
Dave

(How do I use this to transfer SQL Server Express mdb files (2 of them) to a SQL Server 2005 database?) 
Good you brought it up because mdb is Access file not SQL Server file, SQL Server Express included uses MDF(Microsoft data file) and LDF (log data file) but most starter kits comes with only MDF.

(Do I need to somehow first get the mdb files into a SQL Server 2005 database on my local machine? If so, how? I see that backup/restore work with regsvr file? I don't see any options for handling mdb files. )
That is the job of the Backup and Restore wizard but it creates a .bak file instead of MDF, That is covered in the faq thread with a free backup and restore chapter on SQL Server 2005 I posted earlier. The MDF goes in the first location below and the .bak goes in the second. How to do things in SQL Server just run searches in the BOL(books online) instructions comes in T-SQL and GUI Management Studio. 
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\DATA
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Backup
The other option is to create a blank database and use the limited DTS to move your databases, it is a also a wizard, if you cannot find it check the faq I posted on how to get it. This comes with you adding permissions yourself very complicated, Backup and Restore moves everything permissions included.  So you just adjust your Web.Config to point to the new server. Hope this helps.

http://forums.asp.net/thread/1458004.aspx 
Kind regards,
Gift Peddie

Thanks Caddre for all the help.  I was able to "Attach" the mdf files to a sql server express database on my local machine.  Then I did a backup to get a .bak file.  I transferred this file via ftp to my hosting site (www.hostmysite.com)  However, I am unable to do the last step, restoring the .bak file to my database on the hosting site.  When I try to using Management Studio Express to restore the file and put the file in the appropriate box, I get a message like:
"The database Engiine service could not resolve the specified file location. Either the location does not exist, or the current login account does not have access to it. ......
I checked with my hosting company and they claim I'm using the right file path and that I have permissions but I can't be sure.  They also don't provide any tools on their hosting panel to restore files that way.  So I'm stuck.  Curiously, they did try restoring the file themselves and said they got a message that "the file is a different type".  This might make sense as the backup was done on a SQL Server Express DB and the restore is to a SQL Server 2005 DB, but I thought that should work.  Perhaps I'll try another hosting company.  Do you have any recommendations?  And do you recommend any SQL Server books that cover beginning topics like "Attach", "Backup/Restore" and migrating from SQL Server Express to 2005?
 
Thanks again for all your help.
 
Dave.

If they will restore for you tell them to put the .bak in the location below in their server and then go into Management Studio and use the Backup and Restore wizard choose restore from device option and tell them there will be an Ellipse on the side of the Wizard click it for SQL Server to create the file path because if you create the path SQL Server gets confused, their job is just to verify that the path is correct and it is almost done. 
 C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Backup

Now to the second option there is Attach code in the thread below modify it to fit your needs, if you restored your last backup SQL Server would have created the LDF for you so check the Data sub folder for it.  It is not complicated post again if you still have question.  Hope this helps.
http://forums.asp.net/thread/977493.aspx
Kind regards,
Gift Peddie