Is a 2005 and 2014 side-by-side install a supported scenario?

  • http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143393(v=sql.120).aspx (Supported Version and Edition Upgrades) seems to indicate that upgrade installs are okay but side-by-side installs are not:

    SQL Server 2014 supports upgrade from the following versions of SQL Server:

    SQL Server 2005 SP4 or later

    The table below lists the supported upgrade scenarios from earlier versions of SQL Server to SQL Server 2014.

    UPGRADE FROMSUPPORTED UPGRADE PATH

    SQL Server 2005 SP4 StandardSQL Server 2014 Standard

    Any scenarios not specified in the list above are not supported, including but not limited to the following:

    Installing SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2014 on same computer (side by side).

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143694(v=sql.120).aspx (Work with Multiple Versions and Instances of SQL Server) however clearly indicates that side-by-side installs are fine:

    You can install SQL Server on a computer that is already running instances of an earlier SQL Server version. If a default instance already exists on the computer, SQL Server must be installed as a named instance.

    The following table shows side-by-side support for SQL Server 2014:

    EXISTING INSTANCE OF SQL SERVER 2014SIDE-BY-SIDE SUPPORT

    SQL Server 2014 (32-bit)SQL Server 2005 (32-bit)

    SQL Server 2005 (64-bit) x64

    SQL Server 2014 (64-bit) x64SQL Server 2005 (32-bit)

    SQL Server 2005 (64-bit) x64

    I'm also not sure if there's any significance to that text; where it refers to installing newer versions after older versions, in contrast to the heading titles that refer to "existing instance of 2014" which implies installing an older version after a newer one...

    Poor documentation, or my mistake?

  • I have not tested it, but there's no reason why it won't work just fine. Each instance of SQL Server and each version gets it's own installation.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • Here is a doc with the limitations and supported side-by-side versions:

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143694.aspx

    [font="Verdana"]-- Wally
    -- Reluctant DBA[/font]

  • the one thing I'd be wary of is shared stuff. If you run any of the non-instanc-aware features, be careful of the 2014 install. However like Grant, i'd think this would work.

  • For what it's worth, have a test system with 2005 and 2014 on it, not on the same drives though, 2005 is a default 1433 instance, 2014 a named instance, so far so good.

    😎

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