Posted below are notes from the March 27, 2008 RochSPUG meeting. The presenter was Paul Stork from Mindsharp, and he discussed both Business Data Catalog and WSS/MOSS SP1.

• BDC discussion
• Use SP as the focal point for finding information without having to redo existing applications
• End user manipulates data, as opposed to dba's
• Write an xml app def file -  takes db of a third party app and reverse engineers it
• Take normalized data tables, write an xml file that pulls them ack and resets them as entities with methods.
• It staff writes the xml file that maps out entities and appropriate methods
• Business users use the web parts to get to their data
• BDC is an MOSS enterprise only feature
• Is bdc meant for read only access?
• Yes and no
• Divide data base storage from business process
• Bdc is db storage - to read it directly bypasses all the business rules
• Can write bcd against xml services - now not bypassing business rules - now can read write.
• Most bdc apps are about reporting rather than reading and writing
• BDC Meta Man from Lightening Tools (www.bdcmetaman.com)
• Developer edition is free, professional version has a cost
• Demo - support most mainstream databases such as SQL server, MySQL, DB2,
• Use bdc meta man to get you 90% of the way to the app def file. Then can tweak the rest by hand
  
• SP1 Discussion
• Read the 20 page readme before attempting the install!
• Backup your system and make sure it is a good one. The only way to back out of sp1 is delete and reinstall the whole thing
• At the completion of the upgrade - backup your system again - the upgrade chanes the schema of the db, so backups previous to sp1 are not restoreable
• Check installation type
• Delete unfinished upgrade jobs
• Scan for orphaned objects
• Review and document customization
• Defrag sql indexes
• Double Check that the update account has the appropriate security
• Use an installer account to perform the upgrade - not the administrator account
• Then do install of sp1
• Size of content db will drive the amount of time the upgrade will take.
• How can you tell if you're running sp1?
• Central admin - servers in farm - 12.0.0.6219 (search for Penny Coventry's blog)
• Any new servers that come online must now be sp1.
• Slipstreaming
• Create your own install media that includes sp1 (procedure exists for this)
• Upgrade process
• Stop the w3wp service
• Detach content db's (optional)
• Install wss sp1
• Don't run configuration wizard
• Install moss sp1 on ca server
• Start configuration wizard on ca server
• Install moss sp1 on other servers
• Complete configuration wizard on ca server
• Binaries have to be on all servers, but config has to be on ca server first
• All this is documented in the 20 page readme file

Please note: These notes were taken based upon the verbal presentation and discussion at the 3/27/08 meeting. 100% accuracy cannot be guarenteed. These notes are for reference only. They are NOT intended to replace official Microsoft documentation.