February 8, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Not sure where to place this question, so I hope that I have this in the correct forum.
I am upgrading a server that has SQL 2005 installed on it. I am completing a upgrade for this server, but only hardware upgrade, not software. So I have ordered new hardware to replace the server, but I have a dilemma.... In the end, I need to maintain the same naming of the old server on the new server. I know with server 2003 (Print / file) servers you can build the server with any name, then when ready, shutdown old server, rename new server and all is OK.. But when SQL is added to the mix of installed software on the server, then renaming the server is not an option.. There must be a way of doing this, where you are able to build the server to compete testing, then take backup of DB on old server import DB to new server... rename new server to correct naming and go??
Any input would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks,
February 8, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Well, I'm not an expert on the field but I have had to do a couple of renamings of servers in my life. The steps are easy. First of all you have to rename it using SYSPREP. You could just rename it in the system properties too if you like, but I have always felt better using SYSPREP just to be sure of not having problems in the future (in Win2k I experienced a couple), and truth be told I have never done a rename of a server with SQL without sysprep, so I'm not sure if the result is the same.
Once that's done, the server must join the domain, if you have one and used sysprep, and restart. The SQL Server service should have no problems starting up and you should be able to see the databases in the instance.
However, there is one final step to take and it is to fix the local reference to the instance. This is an easy task, you just need to run this:EXEC sp_dropserver 'OLD_INSTANCE_NAME'
EXEC sp_addserver 'NEW_INSTANCE_NAME', 'local' Where both names are in the form SERVERNAME\INSTANCE or just SERVERNAME, it depends on your installation.
I think that's all you should need to rename the server and get the instance back to normal with the new name.;-)
I hope this helps you in some way with your task and if I'm missing something please correct me people.
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