Getting started with MSE, on SQL Server Express

As you can imagine, I just had to try to install and test the Managed Services Engine for service virtualization when it was made public on CodePlex this week. For a quick intro to MSE, its relation to "Oslo" and SOA governance, and MSE future directions; read this InfoQ interview with William Oellermann.

Not bothering to read the installation guide, I just ran the installer on my Vista machine with SQL Server Express installed - and got a "Failed to create SQL database: MSE6DB" error. The cause of the error is that the installer by default does not target a named SQL Server instance when trying to create the database used by MSE and the sample services provided with the MSE6 toolkit.

The solution is documented in the install guide (but I'm repeating it here for my friend Anders Norås):

• Ensure that SQL Server Express is running on your computer, but close SSE Management Studio
• Open a command windows (CMD.EXE) and navigate to the folder of the MS6.msi installer
• Run the installer (using /i):
  msiexec /i mse6.msi SQLSERVER=.\SQLEXPRESS
• Locate the Microsoft.MSE.Repository.Service.exe.config file in the “~\Program Files\Microsoft Managed Services Engine” folder and change the data source accordingly:
  <DBConnString>Initial Catalog=MSE6DB;Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS; . . . ;

Note that you must be an administrator the local system if you are not in the SSE server role 'dbcreator' or equivalent.

This gives you the database MSE6DB that contains the MSE repository:
Try starting the Managed Services Engine MMC snap-in. If you get a service repository (net.pipe://localhost/ServiceCatalog/Pipe) connection error, then restart the “MSE Catalog Server” and “MSE Runtime Server” services in that order to reload the database config.

Finally, you must install some missing perf counters to make the service virtualization (hosted endpoints) work at run-time, otherwise you'll get an error when invoking the services. You must also restart the “MSE Catalog Server” and “MSE Runtime Server” services for the changes to take effect.

Now you're set to follow the 30min walkthrough to learn more about MSE and the wonderful world of service virtualization and see why it is important for life-cycle management of services in SOA systems.

PS! all of the walkthrough is correct, just pay attention in the POX step: you need to keep the action as-is from the previous step, only change what the text say you should change (binding XML, etc). Do not rediscover or change the selected operation in the grid.