Installing software on a hosted system

Hi,

sorry if this is OT but I don't really know who else to ask

I am thinking of getting a cheap hosted server running windows 2003 server
but I am not sure how I would go about installing software that normally
comes on CDs. I will probably need to install office on it (don't ask why!!)
and almost certainly SQL server

would a hosting provider normally allow me to post them the CDs and put them
in the drive for me? - from what I can see on the spec sheets the machine
itself probably wouldn't even have a CD drive. Failing that, can I upload
the contents of the CD onto the local disk or is the installation routine
specifically looking for a CD?

Any of you guys been through this process?

Andy

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 10:33:26 GMT, "Andy Fish"
<ajfish@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>sorry if this is OT but I don't really know who else to ask
>
>I am thinking of getting a cheap hosted server running windows 2003 server
>but I am not sure how I would go about installing software that normally
>comes on CDs. I will probably need to install office on it (don't ask why!!)
>and almost certainly SQL server
>
>would a hosting provider normally allow me to post them the CDs and put them
>in the drive for me? - from what I can see on the spec sheets the machine
>itself probably wouldn't even have a CD drive. Failing that, can I upload
>the contents of the CD onto the local disk or is the installation routine
>specifically looking for a CD?
>

Usually in this situation you would be responsible for maintaining
your own machine, including installation of any necessary software.
How you do that with a Windows box varies, since Windows is very
GUI-centric and thus remote login can be troublesome. It appears,
though, that right now the preferred method is login via Microsoft's
"Remote Desktop Protocol", which is what is used for remote login in
Windows XP. Windows XP comes with a client for it, and I believe the
client can be downloaded separately for Windows 2000.

How you get the software onto the machine will again depend on the
setup, but RDP provides for "mounting" your local drives on the remote
system as I recall.

Having said all this, you might be able to persuade your colo provider
to help you get this stuff installed, but they will probably charge
you extra for it if it is not part of the standard package.

If it wasn't for your need of Microsoft Office (!) I'd suggest that a
server running some kind of UNIX derivative might be less bother...

Have fun,
-Claire