1.888.SQL.DBA1

Call us for help finding the right option for you. We don't have sales people, so there's never a "sales pitch".



sample newsletter

enter email address    

 

SQL Server Upgrade Recommendations and Best Practices

Part 1 – Upgrade Overview and Project Planning

Written by: Jeremy Kadlec of Edgewood Solutions - February 27, 2003

This article is the first of a multi-part series detailing the SQL Server Upgrade process from the technical, logistical and business perspective. In the coming weeks, expanded articles will be published in the following areas:

  • Part 1 – Upgrade Overview and Project Planning
  • SQL Server 6.5 and 7.0 Critical Upgrade Decisions and Redundant Upgrade Architecture
  • SQL Server 6.5 and 7.0 Upgrade Checklist and Application
  • Access Upgrades to SQL Server 2000
  • Upgrade from SQL Server 2000 to Yukon
  • Sybase, Oracle and Data Upgrades to SQL Server 2000
  • Post SQL Server 2000 Upgrade Recommendations

Introduction – SQL Server Upgrades

As the DBA in your organization, you are central to the success of the SQL Server environment.  In the case of a system upgrade, you need to act as a ‘driver’ for an upgrade project to ensure success based on your technical expertise and role in the organization. Over this multi-part series, these articles will outline proven and recommended best practices for the upgrade process. This process is detailed from both technical and logistical perspectives which are both critical to the success of the project.

Needless to say, upgrading to SQL Server 2000 can be a daunting task based on the criticality of the systems, level of coordination and technical planning. As such, the series of articles will provide valuable explanations, charts and graphics to best illustrate the points to assist you in the project. With this being said, be prepared to work with new team members, wear new hats and resolve challenging issues in the course of upgrading to SQL Server 2000.

The motivation for this article is the realization that in many companies applications are in place, but the right tool for the job is not being leveraged. Too often, piece-meal applications are supporting business critical functions that cannot be leveraged to save time nor generate revenue. To further elaborate:

  • Companies are still running SQL Server 6.5 and limping along by having IT staff spending hours resolving server down, corruption and data integrity problems with minimal user productivity
  • Microsoft Access has grown from a desktop database to a department of users that are severely stressing the database ultimately leading to corruption and frustration
  • 3rd party Applications need to be upgraded in order to leverage new functionality released by the vendor and needed for the business
  • Microsoft Excel is being used to run business critical functions and important data is scattered across the organization and is sometimes mistakenly lost

The bottom line contribution by the DBAs for the business is to improve efficiency and accuracy for the user community as well as save time and money for the business. The DBAs win by being able focus on more challenging IT projects on the latest and greatest technology. I am sure you can agree this is a WIN-WIN scenario for everyone involved.

Business Justification - SQL Server 2000 Upgrade

For those companies that have not migrated existing servers to SQL Server 2000, the rewards certainly outweigh the effort. The level of effort may be moderate to high, but the overall platform stability and feature rich capabilities of SQL Server 2000 are unprecedented. As a DBA, your ultimate responsibility is to ensure your systems are available to support the business needs to include the proper platform to efficiently and accurately process the transactions in a cost effective manner. Below outlines the Business Justification to leverage SQL Server 2000.

Business Justification
ID Justification Supporting Information
1 Total Cost of Ownership3
  • Total Cost of Ownership (TOC) lower than any other DBMS in the market
2 System Performance3
  • Unprecedented System Performance for both OLTP and OLAP environments
  • Improved ability to scale up and out by leveraging expanded hardware resources
    • As much as 64 GB of Memory and 32 Processors
3 Microsoft Support
  • As SQL Server 6.5 ages, Microsoft is providing less support for the product and will eventually have few Support Engineers available to address critical needs
  • Currently, if you have a business critical issue with SQL Server 6.5, the typical Microsoft Support recommendation is to ‘Upgrade to SQL Server 2000’
4 Regulated Industry Requirements
  • Upgrading to SQL Server 2000 becomes especially important for companies in regulated industries that may require a several year data retention period
  • Relying on SQL Server 6.5 for the short term may not be an issue because staff is familiar with the technology
5 DBA Support
  • In five years, finding individuals to administer SQL Server 6.5 will be difficult and not attractive to DBAs who are typically interested in the latest and greatest technologies
6 Level of Automation
  • The level of automation from the SQL Server tool set
    • Enterprise Manager
    • Query Analyzer
    • Profiler
    • Data Transformation Services (DTS)
7 New Capabilities2
  • Analysis Services
  • DTS
  • XML Integration
  • Optimizer Enhancements
  • Functions
  • DBCC’s
  • Log Shipping
  • New Replication Models
  • Full Text Indexing
  • Database Recovery Models
  • Linked Servers
8 Third Party Products


Building the Upgrade Project Plan

An Upgrade project that is critical to the business requires project planning in order to efficiently and accurately complete the project. Due to the sheer size of the project and the number of individuals involved, completing the project properly becomes more of a challenge. Although this can be challenging, as the DBA you are the cornerstone of the SQL Server environment. You can take on this project to benefit the company and showcase your skills to demonstrate that you can take on more responsibility. In order to break down the SQL Server Upgrade project, a DBA must:

  • Identify the major project phases1

  • Expand the project phases to granular tasks in the proper sequence1

  • Determine time frame and responsibility per task1

  • Incorporate meetings, sign-off and hyperlinks to existing information into the plan1



 


The next section of the article provides a fundamental outline of the Upgrade Project Phases for the SQL Server 2000 project which can serve as a starting point for the Project Plan.

For additional IT Project Management information, be on the lookout for a Project Management eBook from Jeremy Kadlec in the summer of 2003.

Upgrade Project Phases

In order to properly address the SQL Server 2000 Upgrade, it is necessary to setup a project plan with the necessary components for your environment. Below outlines a set of recommendations for the upgrade project plan. Can be further broken down with dates and time frames

Upgrade Project Phases1
ID Phase Description
1 Requirements Analysis
  • Setup a comprehensive Project Plan with tasks granular enough to assign to a single individual on the project
  • Hold a Kick-Off Meeting to properly start the project
  • Determine Upgrade Date and Time with the associated Downtime
  • Determine the Upgrade Freeze and Thaw Dates for Testing Purposes
  • Setup Roles and Responsibilities in order to establish Project Accountability
  • Submit a Change Management Request to notify key players in the corporation
  • Determine SQL Server Hardware Needs via Capacity Planning (disks, memory, processors, etc.)
  • Sign-Off – Requirements Analysis
2 Design and Development
  • Build an Upgrade Checklist to determine time frames and proposed processes to complete the Upgrade
  • Test the Upgrade Checklist and verify the results
  • Communicate the process to the team especially in terms of configurations
  • Sign-Off – Upgrade Methodology
3 Functional, Integration, End User and Load Testing
  • Setup a Test Environment to include the necessary SQL, Middle Tier and Web Servers as well as a Client PC; these machines should be configured as closely as possible to the Production Environment to ensure project success
  • Implement a Load Testing Tool
  • Build Test Plans for Functional, Integration, End User and Load Testing
  • Complete Functional, Integration, End User and Load Testing
  • Manage the Testing Exceptions until Completion for the Upgrade
  • Determine if Front End or T-SQL code must be applied prior to or following the upgrade in order to determine the code roll-out coordination
  • Update previously submitted Change Management request based on Testing results
  • Sign-Off – Testing
4 Production Hardware Setup
  • Server Assembly as well as Windows and SQL Server 2000 Installation
  • Configure, setup and burn-in the new hardware
  • Sign-Off – Production Hardware
5 Upgrade
  • GO | NO GO Meeting
  • Execute the Upgrade Checklist
  • Sign-Off SQL Server 2000 Upgrade
  • Monitor SQL Server Performance
  • Sign-Off – SQL Server 2000 Upgrade

Part 2 – Critical Upgrade Decisions and Redundant Upgrade Architecture

In the coming weeks, the next article in the series will detail the Critical Upgrade Decisions related to ANSI NULLS, Quoted Identifiers, etc as well as a valuable Redundant Upgrade Architecture for the project. These decisions can make or break the upgrade and require fore thought at the inception of the project. Further, find out how to prevent management’s biggest fear during systems upgrades with a redundant architecture. Be sure to check it out!

Resources

  1. Successful Project Management for Database Administrators – Jeremy Kadlec – http://www.edgewoodsolutions.com/resources/presentations.asp - November 2002 - SQL PASS 2002 Seattle Community Summit - Accessed 01.28.2003
  2. SQL Server 2000 Books Online - Microsoft Corporation – Published January 2003 - Accessed 01.28.2003
  3. Upgrading to SQL Server 2000 – Microsoft Corporation - http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/Upgrade_to_SQL_Server_2000.doc - Published September 2000 – Accessed 01.28.2003

Published 02.25.2003 – Jeremy Kadlec – Edgewood Solutions. All rights reserved 2003

About the Author – Jeremy Kadlec

Jeremy Kadlec serves as the Principal Database Engineer at Edgewood Solutions. He has been building technical solutions for the last five years primarily focused on SQL Server 6.5, 7.0 and 2000. Mr. Kadlec has set and implemented a number of SQL Server standards to include Upgrades to SQL Server 2000, EMC Migrations, Unattended Installations, Hardware/Software Configurations, Disaster Recovery, Database Security, Server Maintenance and System Performance Tuning. Mr. Kadlec has been able to implement these solutions as a Project Manager and Lead DBA by standardizing a project management methodology which can be used across projects and passed on to new team members.

Edgewood Solutions

Edgewood Solutions (www.edgewoodsolutions.com) is focused on enhancing the Microsoft SQL Server platform and delivering database solutions to further benefit the investments companies have already made based on this product platform. We recommend and implement processes that are often overlooked, but should be part of every database installation. We have partnered with additional companies we feel enhance the SQL Server platform to include: Lumigent, DBAssociates and Precise Software Solutions.

In addition, our employees have taken an active role in the SQL Server community. We are members of PASS and one of our employees is the Vice Chair of the PASS DBA Special Interest Group. We had the distinct opportunity to provide two presentations at the PASS Summit in Seattle, ‘Change Management for SQL Server’ and ‘Successful Project Management for Database Administrators’.

Edgewood Solutions delivers the following SQL Server services:

  • Disaster Recovery Planning
  • Security Strategy
  • Performance Analysis and Tuning
  • Data Modeling and Database Development
  • Database Maintenance
  • System Upgrades
  • Change Management
  • Project Management
  • Customized Training

Learn more about how Edgewood Solutions can deliver ‘databases at their finest’ at www.edgewoodsolutions.com.

Copyright © 2002-2003 Edgewood Solutions All Rights Reserved

Some names and products listed are the registered trademarks of their respective owners.