Upgrading to SQL Server 2005

In addition to creating new installations, the SQL Server 2005 setup program can also be used to upgrade existing SQL Server 7 and SQL Server 2000 installations. However, it cannot be used to upgrade existing SQL Server 6.5 installations.

Upgrading from SQL Server 7 and 2000

The setup program supports direct upgrades from SQL Server 7 and SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. SQL Server’s essential on-disk structures are the same, and the setup program can successfully perform an in-place migration for SQL Server 7 and SQL Server 2000 installations to SQL Server 2005. Table A-4 lists the supported upgrade scenarios for SQL Server 7 and SQL Server 2000.

Table A-4: SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Options

Existing SQL Server Edition	>Upgrade to SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition (32-bit & 64-bit)	>Upgrade to SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition (32-bit & 64-bit)
MSDE 2000	Yes	No
SQL Server 7 Standard Edition	Yes	Yes
SQL Server 7 Enterprise Edition	No	Yes
SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition	Yes	Yes
SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition	No	Yes

Upgrading from SQL Server 6.5 (or Earlier)

Directly upgrading from SQL Server 6.5 or any earlier edition of SQL Server to SQL Server 2005 is not supported. The on-disk structures and database storage used by SQL Server 6.5 and earlier versions are different than the on-disk structures used by SQL Server 2005. Therefore, you cannot directly perform an in-place upgrade. The only way to accomplish an in-place upgrade is indirectly, by first upgrading SQL Server 6.5 to SQL Server 2000 and then upgrading SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. However, performing two upgrades to accomplish one probably isn’t the most efficient method. Assuming adequate hardware and minimum operating system levels, the setup program can be used to install a new instance of SQL Server 2005 on a system running SQL Server 6.5. However, most existing SQL Server 6.5 installations will probably be running on dated hardware, and in most cases you would want to get new hardware anyway. The bottom line is that the best way to migrate from SQL Server 6.5 to SQL Server 2005 is to perform a new installation of SQL Server 2005 on fresh hardware and then perform a manual upgrade by moving your data and database objects with DTS and recompiling your stored procedures and other user database objects.