SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Gotchas & Fixes

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Gotchas & Fixes

  • Another gotcha you need to add the hotfix for filestream regardless of whether you select to use it (Windows 2003) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937444/.

    Also on a new install of a 2008 cluster no matter what you do the default collation installed willl be SQL_Latin1_General_CI_AS so to change it you need to rebuild the Master database, its OK if you upgrade from 2005 the collation won't be altered, so you won't have this issue.

    Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable - Mark Twain
    Carolyn
    SQLServerSpecialists[/url]

  • I recently upgraded a SQL Server 2005 Express installation to 2008 Express (with advanced).

    My gotchas were:

    1)Permissions on the new reporting services installation - much fiddling required to allow anonymous users to render reports without being prompted for username/password

    2)Reporting services on port 8080 - I had to make changes to the web app to allow a port to be specified in report URL's, I also had to get port 8080 opened on the firewall, because the server in question was locked down to only allow traffic on port 80.

  • we might go to R2 next year, but will probably wait until 2011. for the 2005 upgrade we waited until SP2 was released and PSS was still swamped with support calls and the quality of the support was so so.

    i priced out some new hardware yesterday and it's amazing how much power you can get. but the 32nm CPU's come out next year and we'll probably wait for that as well

  • If the DB server doesn't have Visual Studio installed, but does have software that uses .NET 3.5, is it really necessary to install VS2008 SP1? Isn't there a .NET framework patch or something that will do the job?

    Seems like a lot to install VS just to upgrade SQL Server.

  • BIDS is VS2008. CRM & MOSS2007 have the updated .NET framework.

  • If you have VS already installed, you'll need SP1 to proceed. No need to install VS 2008 just for the SQL install.

    Hope that helps.

    Great little article, and the gotcha about the filestream fix should get added to the main article. I found that to be problematic.

    If you are using a slipstream install, I would also make sure to do the 1) installer 4.5, 2) .net 3.5 sp1, and 3)filestream fix, then a reboot, then do the SQL install.

    Take care,

    Steve

  • requiring RS for SUA seems a right royal pain. You have to ask yourself why.

    could 2008 clients have been rolled out before the server upgrades? Does 2008 client tools support earlier versions as 2005 does 2000?

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  • i run SQL 2008 management tools on my PC's and 2005 in production. the client tools work great and offer more functionality than the 2005 Management studio. only thing is SSIS won't work. packages created in 2008 won't work on 2005 servers

  • SQL Noob (11/18/2009)


    i run SQL 2008 management tools on my PC's and 2005 in production. the client tools work great and offer more functionality than the 2005 Management studio. only thing is SSIS won't work. packages created in 2008 won't work on 2005 servers

    thanks!

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  • Never mind the upgrades, with SQL Server 2008 the real gotchas come in when installing a clustered instance. All sorts of little nasties to contend with there 😉

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

  • I upgraded four clustered server instances and found it fairly straight forward, but that's just my experience. I'd be interested in hearing about your Gotchas. Everyone has different challenges to overcome when upgrading. Oops, just re-read your post, yup installing a clustered instance from scratch is challenging. I'd still like to hear about your gotchas, as it would be valuable thread to expose to others going down that road.

    Brandon_Forest@sbcglobal.net

  • For starters: the syspolicy_purge_history job -- needs to be updated for the virtual server name of the sql instance; if you install node A on the D:\program files\... path, when you add the B node to to the failover cluster, it will put the binaries automatically on the C:\program files\... path. So, when a failover occurs, that job will look for the SQLPS.exe file in the D:\ path, but it won't be there. Haven't opened a case with MS or posted a connect on this one, but its annoying. The concept of using powershell out of the box for SQL Server disturbed me a bit...

  • S.K. (11/19/2009)


    For starters: the syspolicy_purge_history job -- needs to be updated for the virtual server name of the sql instance;

    if you install node A on the D:\program files\... path, when you add the B node to to the failover cluster, it will put the binaries automatically on the C:\program files\... path. So, when a failover occurs, that job will look for the SQLPS.exe file in the D:\ path, but it won't be there.

    these are just a couple. There's also the licence key issue and the famous "Current SKU invalid" problem. When addding a cluster node and getting to the point where the licence key appears if you dont delete the key first and click next then go back and re type the key you get a message informing the current sku is invalid and setup shuts down.

    I have also found problems when supplying the password details for the service accounts.

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

  • I'm not sure what you've done.. but I've found I don't need to install Reporting Services to run the Upgrade Advisor, and it seems to work just fine against remote servers too.

    Very good point about planning the reboot(s) for the pre-requisites. The .Net3.5 can take a while.

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