April 5, 2011 at 10:05 am
Hello.
I've inherited the duty of working on a win2k3 sp2 web server with iis6 and sql server 2000 r4. I want to use a few new technologies that will help me after an upgrade. The problem is that there are about 30 websites live on this machine and most of them are hooked up to the database. I didn't create them so if they go bang I'm going to have my work cut out for me rushing to put them back online.
So far as I've seen they hook up to the database with a fairly simple
<connectionStrings>
<add name="myconn" connectionString="Data Source=myserver;Initial Catalog=mydbname;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
</connectionStrings>
The actual code in the applications doesn't look like anything special with nothing more than a few common SQL calls. Doesn't seem to be any reporting or advanced features etc.
So the question is this really - (Assuming the install goes fine) What can go wrong to these sites during the upgrade? Is it right or wrong to expect a seemless transition? What else do I need to worry about?
Thanks :0)
April 5, 2011 at 11:07 am
I would start by running the Upgrade Advisor against the 2000 server (during low utilization or off hours) to see what recommendations it makes and fully address each: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144256.aspx
Here too is a white paper from MS on the topic: http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/0/B/20B90384-F3FE-4331-AA12-FD58E6AB66C2/SQL%20Server%202000%20to%202008%20Upgrade%20White%20Paper.docx
You are better off thinking of it as having your work cut out for you already...a lot could go wrong...too much to cover in a forum setting. But then again nothing could go wrong...the best plan test, and then test some more. Do you have a machine where you can run a copy of the websites against a 2008 instance hosting upgraded versions of your databases?
It sounds like you have mostly embedded SQL in the website code which makes it tougher to evaluate what may cause problems after an upgrade. The Upgrade Advisor won't be able to help you with that...but Profiler may be able to. I am not sure if it's possible, I have never tried it, but in theory you could run a trace on the production SQL 2000 server and then run the trace as a workload against the 2008 server to see if all the SQL is valid.
There are no special teachers of virtue, because virtue is taught by the whole community.
--Plato
April 5, 2011 at 11:44 am
Lots can go wrong. Upgrading away from 2000 can be quite dangerous. It really depends on what kind of code was written against the 2000 server and how it was written. I would strongly suggest either a side-by-side upgrade so you can switch back in the event of an issue, or at least have a very thorough testing cycle. Running the upgrade advisor is excellent advice.
----------------------------------------------------The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood... Theodore RooseveltThe Scary DBAAuthor of: SQL Server 2017 Query Performance Tuning, 5th Edition and SQL Server Execution Plans, 3rd EditionProduct Evangelist for Red Gate Software
April 6, 2011 at 2:10 am
Thanks guys. They are some good starting points.
I might try setting up another machine for testing if it's possible.
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