February 2, 2009 at 9:29 am
We are a startup that is expecting substantial growth in the next year and are about to upgrade to SQL Server 2008 from SQL Server 2000 Enterprise. We can live with SQL Server 2008 Standard's feature limitations for the next year but will definitely want the Enterprise version after that, if not sooner. I am tasked with making a recommendation to management on the best path for upgrade while ensuring the best tool for future growth without wasting money.
Question:
1. Can you upgrade from 2008 Standard edition to 2008 Enterprise edition without having to "waste" the standard license? i.e. Does Microsoft give a credit or discount on the Enterprise version if you upgrade from Standard? Spending $5k now instead of $20k is attractive but not if I have to spend the $20k in a year anyway.
2. I dont have my 2008 dev environment set up yet, that should be this week. Will 2008 run in 80 compatibility mode or is 90 the new baseline?
3. Any pitfalls with going from 2000 Enterprise to 2008 Standard?
Thanks Guys!
'nix
February 2, 2009 at 2:32 pm
1) I don't believe so.
However, worth investigating the best value licensing options for your specific circumstances e.g. SQL server processor license vs. Server license + CALs.
2) Not sure I understand the question, but 2008 will run a database in 2000 compatibility mode.
3) Learning curve administration-wise (completely new management GUI).
DTS replaced by SSIS, learning curve there on both the administrative and development fronts, and decisions to take on what to do with your existing packages.
February 3, 2009 at 7:17 am
make sure you install "Developer Edition" on the development server. Developer Edition is full blown EE but only costs $50 bucks (last I checked).
Tim White
February 3, 2009 at 8:18 am
Don't forget to get a quote with and without SA (Software Assurance). There are advantage and disadvantage with this option, I am not an expert in this area, but it's something you want to seriously think about.
This helps a lot of those people who bought SA when they purchase 2005 license so they got free upgrade to 2008.
Sopheap
February 3, 2009 at 8:36 am
phoenixrising1599, having tried to read over the licensing terms previously, I think you are better consulting a lawyer than a group of DBAs on that questions, but here is my understand:
Microsoft does not have financial incentives to upgrade to EE, but by buying both you would wind up with both. One server is rarely enough and you are likely to quickly find yourself setting up a second anyway to handle reporting, analysis, etc.
Also, make sure there is a sufficient ROI on going to EE. I work for a mid-sized company and while I would love to upgrade to EE and it has some very nice features that SE does not, we have not been able to justify an ROI on that price difference.
Sql Server 2008 will run in 2000 compatibility mode, but compatibility modes for versions prior to 2000 have been dropped entirely.
And The biggest hurdle in going from 2000 to 2008 is the change from DTS to SSIS. The management tools have also changed a little, but that does not take long to get used to, going from DTS to SSIS did take me a while to adjust.
---
Timothy A Wiseman
SQL Blog: http://timothyawiseman.wordpress.com/
February 3, 2009 at 8:42 am
Stupid question but why would you want to upgrade if you're going to use 80 compatability ? Surely you lose most of the benefits of the upgrade so why not just stay on 2000 until you're ready to go the whole way?
Andy
February 3, 2009 at 9:15 am
Thanks to everyone for your input. Good information all!
Andrew, I asked about 80 compatibility mode as I have been unable to get a definitive answer on whether one of our databases has ever been tested for 90. I am testing upgrading that database now but dont want to wait to finish testing to purchase SS and wanted to make sure sure sure it would work.
Mr. or Mrs. 500, We've decided that Enterprise is where we want to be long-term as we may (likely) will have the need to exceed 15 instances on a server occasionally and we are planning an Active/Active/Passive Cluster as well as Replication/Log Shipping. I am doing the analysis on whether we can just do an Active/Active Cluster for the next year or so and hold off on the major expense of Enterprise Edition. I also think, given the environment with multiple instances and clustering on some servers that the Resource Governor will come in very useful....
Sopheap, Thanks for reminding me about the Software Assurance program. I usually dont participate but in this case it may be the way to go.
Andy, We are definitely going to want to go with the per processor license and get a nice shiney six core processor and run just one license for one core for now.
If we have to keep that license (Standard) we could probably use it in our DR server offsite that is going to be doing replication. I have to look much closer at the limits on replication between sql server '08 Enterprise and Standard if there is any diff on Replication features lke there are in '05....
I know I'm a little late out of the gate with eval'ing SS08 but I've been pretty busy an studying for my certs on 05...lol
'nix
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