I was recently e-mailed several interesting deployment questions so thought I would answer them here….

Q. With the DB Server separate from the CS Servers, can we run CS2002 and SQL2005?

A. No, you can’t do that. We have not tested CS2002 to run on SQL2005. You may be able to get them to coexist on the same hardware, but not use SQL2005 as the DB for running Commerce 2002.

Q. Are there pitfalls to avoid with CS2002 and Application Center 2000 SP2?

A. No, we built AppCenter support into CS2002 FP1 and the two were meant to be used together.

Q. How does the clustering feature work in CS2006 and does it replace Application Center?

A. We don’t have a “clustering” feature per se. We provide Commerce Server Staging, which is an effective replacement (and potentially then some depending on your requirements) for the Web farm staging features in Application Center. It is not a replacement for NLB, CLB, or the Health Monitoring aspects of Application Center.

Q. Can CS2006 be installed beside CS2002 or would we need separate servers for that migration?

A. CS2002 and CS2006 cannot live on the same Web or database servers (since MSCS_Admin name is fixed).