August 6, 2002 at 8:56 am
I am supporting several SQL 6.5 servers on NT4. My firm is going to be upgrading (clean install) these servers to Windows 2000 Advanced Server. My first thought was to go ahead and upgrade to SQL 2000 since I will be doing this any in a few months. My managers do not want to make two changes (OS and SQL version) at the same time. My only experience with SQL 6.5 on Win2k has been for upgrading purposes only, never for production. I found one knowledge base article (Q283023) that states that although they don't recommend it, it can be done. I was wondering if anyone has any experience using SQL 6.5 on Win2k in production and what problems they may have found. I have already checked/rewritten our stored procs for SQL 2000 compliance.
Thanks,
Kathi
Aunt Kathi Data Platform MVP
Author of Expert T-SQL Window Functions
Simple-Talk Editor
August 6, 2002 at 12:27 pm
I have had issues with the install, but that was early on. I know there are some Q articles about workarounds, but we experienced corruption and strange unreproduceable errors. Following the same Process (restore dbs, etc.) on NT 4 gave no errors. Bailed on 65 on W2K.
I'd recommend going to SQL 2K (in 65 mode) first. Then W2K. Easier and cleaner. Less issues.
Steve Jones
August 6, 2002 at 1:16 pm
I agree. Moving from 65 to 2k isnt too bad, but best to get it out of the way first. If you've got your data/logs separate from the OS, you can then use a little trick to save some time. Once upgrade is complete, stop the service and rename the sql folder. Then format/reinstall Win2k. Install SQL2K, using same folder locations you had originally. Stop the service, rename the sql folder you just created, then rename the original upgraded sql folder back to the original name. Restart the service.
Make sure you run sp_updatestats after the upgrade to make sure you get good query plans.
Andy
August 6, 2002 at 1:17 pm
One other thought - only real issue we had was a couple places where were concatenating a string with a null. In 65 you get a string, in 70/2k you get a null.
Andy
August 8, 2002 at 7:55 am
I think what you are saying is that I should upgrade to SQL 2000 first before going to Win2k. I doubt that my managers would go for that, but I think it is a good idea. You brought up a good point, though. Is there a command like sp_attach_db in SQL 6.5? I was assuming that the person doing the Win2k installation would reformat everything. The databases are on a separate volume, so I could possibly save some time by just detaching/attaching instead of restoring.
Aunt Kathi Data Platform MVP
Author of Expert T-SQL Window Functions
Simple-Talk Editor
August 8, 2002 at 9:16 am
negative. No attach. You must restore, which can be tricky. Your segment and device layout must be the same. Be sure you script the database creation exactly on the old server and TEST TEST TEST
Steve Jones
August 8, 2002 at 10:34 am
Yeah, I've had to deal with incorrectly restored databases before. There is a cool stored proc called sp_help_revdatabase that will create the script. Thanks for your advice on the Win2k issues. We are now looking into upgrading to SQL 2000 first.
Aunt Kathi Data Platform MVP
Author of Expert T-SQL Window Functions
Simple-Talk Editor
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