Is it legal to restore a SQL 2014 "Enterprise" DB BACKUP to a SQL 2016 "Standard" edition instance?

  • Is it legal to restore a SQL 2014 "Enterprise" database BACKUP to a SQL 2016 "Standard" edition instance?

    BT
  • Express12 - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 7:37 AM

    Is it legal to restore a SQL 2014 "Enterprise" database BACKUP to a SQL 2016 "Standard" edition instance?

    Yes.

    The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
    - Martin Rees
    The absence of consumable DDL, sample data and desired results is, however, evidence of the absence of my response
    - Phil Parkin

  • The database belongs to you. However, an enterprise backup may not restore or the database may be left in an offline state if restored to a standard edition. You can first run the following query on your database to determine if you're using any enterprise specific features.

    SELECT feature_name FROM sys.dm_db_persisted_sku_features ;

    But I believe the latest release of SQL Server 2016 is now mostly feature complete when compared to enterprise edition. First insure you have installed 2016 SP1.
    https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/4574/new-features-in-sql-server-2016-service-pack-1/

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • Cool post!  I've never tried restoring from Enterprise to Standard.  Just confirmed that I was able to restore without any issues (from 2012 Enterprise to 2014 Standard). 
    SELECT feature_name FROM sys.dm_db_persisted_sku_features returned no results so we don't have any Enterprise only features the database I restored.

  • Phil Parkin - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 7:39 AM

    Express12 - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 7:37 AM

    Is it legal to restore a SQL 2014 "Enterprise" database BACKUP to a SQL 2016 "Standard" edition instance?

    Yes.

    Although the backward server needs to have the same Service Pack and (I think) the same CU level.

    From a licensing perspective there aren't any problems.

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