Some Important links to help you upgrade your databases from SQL Server 2000 and 2005 to SQL Server 2008

Since SQL Server 2008 has been released, I find a lot of companies seriously considering the option to move their instances of SQL Server 2000 and 2005 databases to SQL Server 2008. However for a smooth upgrade, there are a couple of points that should be reviewed by a DBA, before carrying out the process. If you have already purchased SQL Server 2008 (SQL Server: How to Buy), then here are some important links from SQL Server Books Online to help you in the upgrade process:

Using Upgrade Advisor to Prepare for Upgrades - Upgrade Advisor is a tool that analyzes instances of SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005 to identify known upgrade issues

Version and Edition Upgrades – A nice chart that shows all the upgrade paths to SQL Server 2008 from previous versions of SQL Server

Backward Compatibility - significant changes that might affect your applications after you upgrade to SQL Server 2008.

How to: Upgrade to SQL Server 2008 (Setup) - upgrade a stand-alone instance of SQL Server to SQL Server 2008

Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2008 - the minimum hardware and software requirements to install and run SQL Server 2008

Some other important links that may prove helpful are:

Migrating a SQL Server 2000 Log Shipping Configuration to SQL Server 2008

How to: Minimize Downtime for Mirrored Databases When Upgrading Server Instances

Upgrading SQL Server 2005 Log Shipping to SQL Server 2008

Upgrading Business Intelligence Components

Considerations for Upgrading Analysis Services

Considerations for Upgrading Reporting Services

Considerations for Upgrading Integration Services

Considerations for Upgrading Data Transformation Services

Let me know if there any other important links you can share and I will update this post.

About The Author

Suprotim Agarwal, MCSD, MCAD, MCDBA, MCSE, is the founder of DotNetCurry, DNC Magazine for Developers, SQLServerCurry and DevCurry. He has also authored a couple of books 51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls and a new one recently at The Absolutely Awesome jQuery CookBook.

Suprotim has received the prestigous Microsoft MVP award for nine times in a row now. In a professional capacity, he is the CEO of A2Z Knowledge Visuals Pvt Ltd, a digital group that represents premium web sites and digital publications comprising of Professional web, windows, mobile and cloud developers, technical managers, and architects.

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