FAQs Index
If you already have SQL Express installed on your machine you do not need SQL Server Local DB to be installed for TRACC to run. You will be able to start up TRACC from the icon on your desktop without installing SQL Server Local DB.
TRACC will run with or without Microsoft Office. If you remove Office from your machine TRACC does not lose any functionality. This means it will still be able to export excel files (.xlsx or .csv) using alternative applications that support these files.
Minimum machine specifications will vary depending on the size of the area being looked at and the datasets being used.
For all of these it is always recommended to install the 64BIT Version of TRACC, as the 32BIT reduces the resource TRACC can utilise.
Small City/County Wide:
- Dual Core 1.6Hz Processor or above
- 16GB RAM (32GB RAM recommended)
- Windows 10 upwards 64-bit Operating System
- 60GB free of local hard disc space
Region Wide or London:
E.g. South East England
- Quad Core machine
- 64GB RAM (128GB RAM recommended)
- Windows 10 upwards 64-bit Operating System
- 60GB free of local hard disc space
Nationwide:
- Multi-Core server
- 256GB RAM (512GB RAM recommended)
- Windows 8 upwards with 64-bit Operating System
- 100GB free of local hard disc space
- Commercial SQL licence might be required for database's over 10GB
The pre-requirements for TRACC are as follows:
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package
• Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1
• Microsoft .NET 4.0
• Microsoft Windows Installer 4.5
(Optional)
• SQL Server LocalDB Engine Installer - minimum 2012
• SQL Server Express Engine Installer - minimum 2012
• SQL Server Commercial Licence - minimum 2012
Get started
- Editions and features: Review the supported features for the different editions and versions of SQL Server to determine which best suits your business needs.
- Requirements: Review hardware and software installation requirements for SQL Server 2016 and SQL Server 2017, SQL Server 2019, SQL Server 2022, or SQL Server on Linux, as well as system configuration checks, and security considerations in Planning a SQL Server Installation
- Sample databases and sample code aren't installed as part of SQL Server Setup by default, but can be installed for non-Express editions of SQL Server. For more information, see Microsoft SQL samples.
Installation media
The download location for SQL Server depends on the edition:
- SQL Server Enterprise, Standard, and Express editions are licensed for production use. For the Enterprise and Standard Editions, contact your software vendor for the installation media. You can find purchasing information and a directory of Microsoft partners on the Microsoft licensing page.
- If you have a volume licensing agreement, for example an Enterprise Agreement, you can download software from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC).
- Free versions.
Other SQL Server components can be found here:
Considerations
- Installation fails if you launch setup through Remote Desktop Connection with the media on a local resource in the RDC client. To install remotely the media must be on a network share or local to the physical or virtual machine. SQL Server installation media may be either on a network share, a mapped drive, a local drive, or presented as an ISO to a virtual machine.
- SQL Server Setup installs the following software components required by the product:
- SQL Server Native Client
- SQL Server Setup support files
There is a 10GB limit to each project in TRACC, which is a SQL limitation. There is no limitation on the number of projects but this does depend on the space available on the machine/ server TRACC is installed on.
There are two ways in which this can be dealt with:
- Split work across multiple projects
- Install a paid for version of SQL Server – aka SQL Server Commercial Licence
Breakdown the project –
This is to simply work out what is required for the project and how much data will be used. You then need to make a decision on how you split the work across multiple projects.
For example, you may be focusing on access to different destination types such as Education and Health. You could have one project that is used for the calculations to the Education destinations and the other for Health. An alternative could be that you split the work based on calculation types.
Don’t forget that results also take up space, so if you don’t require visual outputs always save your results directly to a CSV to save on project space.
Installing SQL Server Commercial Licence –
Installing a SQL Server Commercial Licence is the easiest option at a price. We recommend you check with the IT department to see if there is already one available that you can connect to. By doing so this removes the size restriction on projects.
Once the required SQL instance is purchased/ installed this needs to be defined and set as the default database in TRACC.
Database connections will vary between SQL instances, so it is important that the inputs are correctly setup for the SQL instance that is installed or being used for TRACC.
To connect or edit a SQL instance, launch TRACC and go to Settings > Database Settings.
If a connection already exists based on the SQL instance installed, click the Edit Connection option or if one doesn’t exist yet click on New Connection.
The following inputs are required:
Connection Name
Instance Name – this will vary depending on the SQL instance installed.
e.g. for SQL Server LocalDB 2022 the instance name would be (localdb)\mssqllocaldb
Username/Password – only required if users have been created during installation or a custom connection is being used.
Connect Timeout – this affects the response time between TRACC and SQL, if working with large databases you may want to increase this.
Connection string – auto updates based on the above inputs.
Select Check Connectivity, this will check if TRACC can connect to the SQL instance. If successful, click on Edit/Add. This will edit or add the new connection. Lastly, ensure that the connection is set as the default connection and click Save.
The final check is to create a project in the Home Tab.
If you would like to learn more about purchasing a SQL Server Commercial Licence, see https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/sql-server/sql-server-2019-pricing.
Before using TRACC please ensure that a SQL instance is installed.
Once the required SQL instance is installed this needs to be defined and set as the default database in TRACC.
Database connections will vary between SQL instances, so it is important that the inputs are correctly setup for the SQL instance that is installed or being used for TRACC.
To connect or edit a SQL instance, launch TRACC and go to Settings > Database Settings.
If a connection already exists based on the SQL instance installed, click the Edit Connection option or if one doesn’t exist yet click on New Connection.
The following inputs are required:
Connection Name
Instance Name – this will vary depending on the SQL instance installed.
e.g. for SQL Server LocalDB 2022 the instance name would be (localdb)\mssqllocaldb
Username/Password – only required if users have been created during installation or a custom connection is being used.
Connect Timeout – this affects the response time between TRACC and SQL, if working with large databases you may want to increase this.
Connection string – auto updates based on the above inputs.
Select Check Connectivity, this will check if TRACC can connect to the SQL instance. If successful, click on Edit/Add. This will edit or add the new connection. Lastly, ensure that the connection is set as the default connection and click Save.
The final check is to create a project in the Home Tab.