Upgrade to SQL Server 2008

Upgrading to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 lets you enable people throughout your organization to be more productive while driving valuable business insights. SQL Server 2008 provides a host of new database features and functionality, including:

Resource Governor
Data Compression
Transparent Encryption
Comprehensive Auditing
Enhanced Mirroring
Support for new spatial, FILESTREAM, and Hierarchical data types

SQL Server 2008 enhances DBA productivity with new features like Policy-Based management that allows you to create policies that control security, database options, object naming conventions, and other settings at a highly granular level. It also simplifies development of data-driven applications with tighter integration of Visual Studio and the .NET Framework. SQL Server 2008 helps deliver richer information to users through advanced visualization capabilities, detailed reports, and integrated analysis.

Why Upgrade to SQL Server 2008?

SQL Server provides a compelling set of new capabilities that provide immediate business and technical benefits without requiring major system changes.

Upgrade Assistance and Tools

SQL Server Upgrade Technical Reference Guide

This 490-page reference guide explains the step-by-step best practices for upgrading instances of SQL Server 2000 and 2005 to SQL Server 2008. These include preparation tasks, upgrade tasks, and post-upgrade tasks.

Download SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Technical Reference Guide
SQL Server 2005 to 2008 Upgrade Datasheet
SQL Server 2005 to 2008 Upgrade Whitepaper
SQL Server 2000 to 2008 Upgrade Datasheet
SQL Server 2000 to 2008 Upgrade Whitepaper
SQL Server 2008 Upgrade: Assessment and Planning
Get network-wide inventory of legacy SQL Server instances, edition identification, and hardware assessment when you use the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit as part of a comprehensive process for planning upgrade of legacy SQL Server instances to SQL Server 2008.

SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Advisor

Upgrade Advisor is a tool that analyzes instances of SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005 to identify known upgrade issues.

SQL Server 2008 Upgrade with MSDN

This page walks through installation requirements, system configuration checks run by SQL Server Setup, and security considerations for a SQL Server installation.

Planning SQL Server 2008 Upgrade

Partner Tools:

SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Assistant

This tool uses a test environment to let you determine how an application currently running on SQL Server 2000 will run on SQL Server 2008. This tool uses Upgrade Advisor, along with baseline and trace replay in a test environment, to help identify compatibility issues.