With the release of SQL Server 2012 about to occur next month you may wonder why you would upgrade now. Surely the smart thing to do is to wait for SQL Server 2012, then upgrade to the latest version?
Well maybe. If you are very aggressive in implementing new technology then this may certainly be a good strategy. However customers that are a little more cautious may not be so prepared to do so, especially true when the platforms they are running today (SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008) have been so robust for many years. In this article we provide our perspective on why, despite this, it is an ideal time to upgrade earlier versions to at least SQL Server 2008 R2.
Reason 1 - End of life
We see a lot of SQL Server Instances. We manage over 6000 databases and our management tool (RockSolid) looks after more than 14,000 SQL Server cores around the world. It might be surprising to you to learn, that across our customer base approximately 39% of SQL Server Instances are not on the current release. That figure split shows 12% of Instances are still SQL Server 2000 and the other 27% SQL Server 2005. SQL Server 2000 and 2005 are still widely used, and with good reason. SQL Server 2000 was one of the best product releases from Microsoft ever, in our opinion. But the problem is SQL Server 2000 is now 12 years old and official support options have been winding up for some time. But that alone is not necessarily justification to upgrade. Vendor support ending is one thing, but if a SQL Server has been running fine for many years and hasn't required vendor support, then then there is a good chance it will continue to run for many more years without requiring vendor support. We are strong believers of the "if it ain't broken don't fix it" philosophy, which is why we don't push customers to upgrade just because the vendor ends support.
A more significant issue is that the hardware on which these SQL Server instances run is often reaching end of life. Old hardware is much less forgiving than old software. Hardware wears out, old disks crash and over time things can become unstable. Many of these older systems have to have upgraded hardware and because of this you may have trouble getting the old OS and SQL to run on some of the latest 64bit hardware. But the simple justification here is if you are spending time upgrading the hardware you should also spend time upgrading the SQL Server platform to give you the maximum potential life for your new investment.
Reason 2 - SQL Server 2012 Licensing
SQL Server 2012 changes the way in which SQL Server is licensed. Firstly, SQL Server 2012 changes from per socket based licensing to per core based licenses. As modern CPUs can have 8 or more cores this may represent a dramatic increase in the number of licenses required and potentially a dramatic increase in license costs.
The second license change is SQL Server Enterprise licensing changes so "per seat" based licensing is no longer an option. Per core is the only option which may again represent a dramatic increase in licensing costs. While some licensing arrangements, such as software assurance, may mitigate some of the impact of these changes you should definitely speak to your license provider to understand how these changes will affect your organization.
Moving to SQL Server 2008 R2 now may give you the window needed to take cost optimization measures such as consolidation, before upgrading to SQL Server 2012 and later versions in the future.
Reason 3 - No Direct Upgrade Path
A technical limitation is that SQL Server 2000 will have no direct upgrade path to SQL Server 2012. This means upgrades from 2000 to 2012 will have to undergo additional steps to upgrade to either SQL Server 2005 or 2008 temporarily. This may be manageable for small upgrades but a lot of extra planning and testing will need to be undertaken to upgrade at scale. Taking the benefits discussed above into consideration, an upgrade now to get you onto the current version may well be worthwhile to avoid a more complicate upgrade path in future.
RockSolid SQL Server Upgrade Framework
RockSolid SQL have developed a framework for more easily upgrading large numbers of SQL Server 2000 and 2005 instances to SQL Server 2008 R2. This framework focuses on the design, testing and implementation of upgrade projects at any scale. It is a combination of our tools for analysis, and process for project delivery. If you have interest in discussing the benefits of the RockSolid Upgrade Framework please speak with your account manager.
Next month we will be continuing the upgrade theme by discussing at SQL Server Consolidation, the RockSolid SQL Server Consolidation Methodology and the HP Database Consolidation Appliance.
