Lowell (11/13/2012)
Just one question, though. Why do you leave the new server unpatched until later in the migration?
it's just something i saved in my notes...i think it has more to do with getting a server up as soon as possiible for disaster recovery....you could patch at the close of business hours, when you might not be pressed for time.
vs making it perfect before allowing users to access the new server.
OK - thanks. We have an official downtime, rare and not desirable from an availability standpoint, but we really want to move off of SQL 2000 and this is our best window, all things considered. In theory, we will have no new transactions, so if something fails during the migration, then we can back out to the point when we started the migration and re-enable the old servers.
However, I realize that if something happens after we have cut over and allowed people in, if there is an issue at that point, we wouldn't be able to go back to the old servers and would have to troubleshoot as is or use transaction log backups to piece things together. That's the part where I am having trouble being creative enough to imagine what could go wrong that I'm not considering.
Thanks again,
webrunner
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A SQL query walks into a bar and sees two tables. He walks up to them and asks, "Can I join you?"
Ref.: http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2009/02/sql-joke.html