Creating the SoftwareCentral database

1 Before you start

SoftwareCentral needs a SQL Server database of its own. Check these points first.

Item	What you need
SQL Server	Microsoft SQL Server 2019 or later, Express or Azure SQL. See Prerequisites.
Collation	The SQL Server and the SoftwareCentral database must use the same collation. We recommend SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS.
Account	An account that can create a database and add logins. If it cannot, your database administrator creates the empty database for you (see section 3).
Azure SQL	Auto-pause must be disabled, and the database must be in the same tenant as the app registration.

2 Create the database

Use SQL Server Management Studio to create an empty database named SoftwareCentral.

Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the SQL Server that will host the database.
In Object Explorer, locate the Databases folder. Right-click Databases and choose New Database….
Enter SoftwareCentral as Database name and click OK.

SQL Server Management Studio Object Explorer with the Databases folder selected and its context menu open, showing the command New Database. The server name in the tree is masked as SQL01. — Right-click **Databases** and choose **New Database…**. The server name in the picture is masked.

New Database window on the General page with Database name set to SoftwareCentral. The server is shown as SQL01 and the connection as CONTOSO\svc-swc; both are masked values. — The **New Database** window: enter **SoftwareCentral** in **Database name**. The server and connection values in the picture are masked.

Collation Open the Options page of the same window and set Collation to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. The SQL Server and the database must use the same collation (see the best practice in section 4).

3 Let the installer create the tables

You leave the database empty. The SoftwareCentral installer fills it.

The installer creates the SoftwareCentral tables in the database and runs the database scripts for the version it installs. You do not download a script and you do not run it in SQL Server Management Studio. In the installer, enter the database server and the database name in the step for the site and database information (step 5.3 of the Installation & Setup Guide).

If…	Then
The account you install with can create databases and logins	Create the empty database as in section 2 and let the installer do the rest.
The account cannot create databases and logins	Ask your database administrator to create the empty SoftwareCentral database as in section 2, and a login for the SoftwareCentral service account.

The service account needs read, write and execute permissions on the SoftwareCentral database. This does not apply to Azure SQL. See Prerequisites.

4 Best practice

Use one collation for the server and the database. SoftwareCentral joins its own temporary tables to the database. When the collations differ, those joins fail with the error shown in the troubleshooting table below.
Leave the new database empty. The installer creates the tables, so do not create tables in the database yourself.
Give the service account its own login. Use the login that the installer or your database administrator creates for the service account, not a personal login, and keep the permissions in place after the installation.
Back up the database before you update or uninstall. Without a backup you cannot roll back. See Updating the SoftwareCentral database.
On Azure SQL, keep auto-pause disabled. The database must also stay in the same tenant as the app registration.

5 Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	What to do
An error that contains "Cannot resolve the collation conflict"	The SQL Server and the SoftwareCentral database use different collations, so a join between them fails.	Ask your database administrator to check the collation of the server and of the database. Use SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS for a new database. Changing the collation of an existing database is a database task that SoftwareCentral does not do for you.