Help Designing a DB

I am trying to build something similar to www.alienware.com where it lets you build your own computer. I was wondering if some one could help me design sturcture to do it on my own. I am zero in DB and know little asp. I am trying to do it for my own site.
ThanksCan you list all of the things you need to know about?

Make a list...

Modem, Modem speed, Modem Type, CPU, CPU Speed, Memroy, Memory Amount...

Once your list is complete, group like itemas in to containers/Entities

Mak sure when you make a list to collect what type of data it is, number date, char, and it's size..

Make a definition for each as well...this will be helpful...

Then devlop rules...

a computer may hav 0 to many hard drives...

So you may have a computer table and a hard drive...

Now you know you need a ComputerHardrive table to show which Computer has which Harddrive...

what'dya think?

Oh, and google up data modeling...

Once that's done we can discuss Physical implementation...|||How you design the database involves more than just determining what you want to store. You also have to consider performance, usage, functionality, et al.

But a simple layout would be:

Table: CPU
CPUName-varchar(50)
CPUSn-varchar(25)
CPUManu-varchar(50)

Table: Monitor
MonModel-varchar(50)
MonSerial-varchar(25)
MonDesc-varchar(150)

Table: Storage
Type-varchar(50)
Desc-varchar(100)

And so on..

Basically, tables for the different options, a customer table, order table, and a table to hold what the basics are for your clients. Of course, a better way would be tables to hold the various peripherals joined to whatever index (key) system you want and so on.

If you have MS Access, monkey around with it, get the layout you want then upsize it to SQL Server.|||Originally posted by acral
You also have to consider performance, usage, functionality, et al.


Yeah, That's the physical part...

A sound, solid, logical model is THE place to start...

HELP - problem after copying MDF and Log files

I had a problem where a log file was deleted. I managed to get the database
recovered on my own machine. I sent the MDF and Log files to the client so
he could stop SQL Server, copy the files and then start SQL Server again.
Now I can't get into SQL Server at all - it keeps telling me SQL Server does
not exist or access denied. I tried to delete the files that I copied (after
shutting down SQL Server) but it didn't work - on startup I still can't
access the SQL Server with any of the client tools. HELP!Which database was the log lost for? As long as it was not master or model
you may be able to use sp_attach_single_file_db.
Check if SQL Server is running.
If you did it to master or model, you have messed up the server.
Regards
--
Mike Epprecht, Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Zurich, Switzerland
IM: mike@.epprecht.net
MVP Program: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/epprecht/
"claire" <claire@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:AE9EC5D3-724A-4480-8367-D85855839152@.microsoft.com...
> I had a problem where a log file was deleted. I managed to get the
database
> recovered on my own machine. I sent the MDF and Log files to the client
so
> he could stop SQL Server, copy the files and then start SQL Server again.
> Now I can't get into SQL Server at all - it keeps telling me SQL Server
does
> not exist or access denied. I tried to delete the files that I copied
(after
> shutting down SQL Server) but it didn't work - on startup I still can't
> access the SQL Server with any of the client tools. HELP!
>|||Stopping the server, copying the files then starting was probably not a good
idea.
If you had the database on your machine then sending a backup and gettig the
client to restore would have been a better option.
Check the sql server logs and application logs - you will probably see a
message to say what has happenned. It sounds like he has corrupted master,
model or done something to change the path of the system databases.
This is probably recoverable but you might be better off re-installing sql
server and attaching all the databases (try ttaching on another server first
to check integrity).
You then might want to look at your backup strategy in case this happens
again.

HELP - problem after copying MDF and Log files

I had a problem where a log file was deleted. I managed to get the database
recovered on my own machine. I sent the MDF and Log files to the client so
he could stop SQL Server, copy the files and then start SQL Server again.
Now I can't get into SQL Server at all - it keeps telling me SQL Server does
not exist or access denied. I tried to delete the files that I copied (after
shutting down SQL Server) but it didn't work - on startup I still can't
access the SQL Server with any of the client tools. HELP!
Which database was the log lost for? As long as it was not master or model
you may be able to use sp_attach_single_file_db.
Check if SQL Server is running.
If you did it to master or model, you have messed up the server.
Regards
Mike Epprecht, Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Zurich, Switzerland
IM: mike@.epprecht.net
MVP Program: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/epprecht/
"claire" <claire@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:AE9EC5D3-724A-4480-8367-D85855839152@.microsoft.com...
> I had a problem where a log file was deleted. I managed to get the
database
> recovered on my own machine. I sent the MDF and Log files to the client
so
> he could stop SQL Server, copy the files and then start SQL Server again.
> Now I can't get into SQL Server at all - it keeps telling me SQL Server
does
> not exist or access denied. I tried to delete the files that I copied
(after
> shutting down SQL Server) but it didn't work - on startup I still can't
> access the SQL Server with any of the client tools. HELP!
>
|||Stopping the server, copying the files then starting was probably not a good
idea.
If you had the database on your machine then sending a backup and gettig the
client to restore would have been a better option.
Check the sql server logs and application logs - you will probably see a
message to say what has happenned. It sounds like he has corrupted master,
model or done something to change the path of the system databases.
This is probably recoverable but you might be better off re-installing sql
server and attaching all the databases (try ttaching on another server first
to check integrity).
You then might want to look at your backup strategy in case this happens
again.

HELP - problem after copying MDF and Log files

I had a problem where a log file was deleted. I managed to get the databas
e
recovered on my own machine. I sent the MDF and Log files to the client so
he could stop SQL Server, copy the files and then start SQL Server again.
Now I can't get into SQL Server at all - it keeps telling me SQL Server doe
s
not exist or access denied. I tried to delete the files that I copied (afte
r
shutting down SQL Server) but it didn't work - on startup I still can't
access the SQL Server with any of the client tools. HELP!Which database was the log lost for? As long as it was not master or model
you may be able to use sp_attach_single_file_db.
Check if SQL Server is running.
If you did it to master or model, you have messed up the server.
Regards
--
Mike Epprecht, Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Zurich, Switzerland
IM: mike@.epprecht.net
MVP Program: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/epprecht/
"claire" <claire@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:AE9EC5D3-724A-4480-8367-D85855839152@.microsoft.com...
> I had a problem where a log file was deleted. I managed to get the
database
> recovered on my own machine. I sent the MDF and Log files to the client
so
> he could stop SQL Server, copy the files and then start SQL Server again.
> Now I can't get into SQL Server at all - it keeps telling me SQL Server
does
> not exist or access denied. I tried to delete the files that I copied
(after
> shutting down SQL Server) but it didn't work - on startup I still can't
> access the SQL Server with any of the client tools. HELP!
>|||Stopping the server, copying the files then starting was probably not a good
idea.
If you had the database on your machine then sending a backup and gettig the
client to restore would have been a better option.
Check the sql server logs and application logs - you will probably see a
message to say what has happenned. It sounds like he has corrupted master,
model or done something to change the path of the system databases.
This is probably recoverable but you might be better off re-installing sql
server and attaching all the databases (try ttaching on another server first
to check integrity).
You then might want to look at your backup strategy in case this happens
again.