Sims SQL 2005 upgrade on a new server?

[zag]

Ok so I have read the instructions and they seem a little complicated.

What is the basic procedure for updating SQL 2005 for SIMS and migrating it to a new server at the same time?

Has anyone done it?

[DreddMetal]

I have done this at a number of schools now, on the old server run through the migration executable with the advanced option box ticked, this will allow you to export the database to a file (just seems to dettach the database and move the file where ever you want but I can't be sure if it does more).

Then on the new server run though the September installable release, once done go to the setups folder and run the migration executable, again with the advanced option box ticked, instead of searching for a sql db to migrate tell it to look for a file (the same file you exported on the old server).

Its worth mentioning that if you do it this way you will need to dettach and delete the blank db that is created on the new server by running the installable release otherwise you get an error saying it already exists.

Hope this helps.

[ictstbenedicts]

essentially you do as follows, assuming you are running SQL2000 on your current SIMS Server.

Install SQL2005 server as another instance on your server and call this instance SIMS2005. seem SIMS KB71936 on support net.

Then assuming you are upgrading to the August release do the upgrade and then follow the instructions on p14 of Migrating SIMS.net to SQl 2005, noting that on p14 section 3 (a) you need to go to page 19 and not 18. The Migration tool is very good and does everything for you, the August update itself was more difficult that the database migration.

The flow-chart on page 3 is quite helpful, except it is slightly wrong as other Capita documentation says you should install SQL2005 before attempting the upgrade.

It should also be possible to upgrade using the September release ISO image, however as we did the August update I have no experience in dong this upgrade. This ISO image comes with good documentation.

Hope the above helps.

mark

[zag]

Great advice, exactly what I was looking for, will let you know how it goes.

[Uraken]

ictstbenedicts can i upgrade from sql server 2000 (full) to sql express 2005 as the instructions flowchart says if full sql server 2000 then i install sql server 2005 , but i don't want to pay a load of cash for the full version of 2005.

thanks

[ictstbenedicts]

I'm afraid I don't know. I believe the migration tools are either SQL2000 -> SQl 2005 or MSDE -> SQL Express .

What I did before I did the upgrade on the live system was to download a copy of MS Virtual PC 2007 on to my laptop (you need 2gb of RAM, but could get away with 1Gb), install windows 2003 server, installed SQL2000 and setup SIMS, and then did a dummy run of the migration i.e install SQL2005, SIMS Aug release and then used the upgrade tool. I learn a lot about SIMS by playing with it in this way and we now use this as our pre-production test environment for all new SIMS releases, although we are planning to go over to VMware as Virtual PC is rather slow.

Are you a Primary school or a secondary school?

The reason I ask is that Capita recomend that Secondary Schools, because of their size and the potential size of the data set, use SQL2005 rather than SQL Express. The SQL Express is really aimed at Primary schools whcih are generally considerably smaller.

[Uraken]

yeah thats the way i'm doing it but have not got it setup yet, did you copy your sims folder to the vm machine or jsut run the august setup and attach your existing sims.dbf?

[ictstbenedicts]

From what I recall, after doing a standard install of SIMS, I renamed the original SIMS folder to SIMS.old (just in case!) and copied over our S: drive (esentially the SIMS folder and everything below) and then did a restore of our database using dbattach. You will also need to copy over the document server folders, otherwise you will not have any reports. DMS is separate to the main SIMS SQL database.
The restore option is a hidden feature in dbattach, in this way we did not have to take down the live system. Basically if you edit the shortcut for dbattach add /restoreui at the end of the line after the last " and the option appears.

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Binn\SIMSSQLLoad.exe" "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Binn\\dbAttach.exe" /restoreui

A very useful feature.

[zag]

Its worth mentioning that if you do it this way you will need to dettach and delete the blank db that is created on the new server by running the installable release otherwise you get an error saying it already exists.

Hope this helps.

How do I detach and delete the current SIMS database? and do I drop the sqlsqlserver logins?

[DreddMetal]

Just run DBAttach to dettach the DB and then just browse to the folder and delete the files.

[Grommit]

Ok so I have read the instructions and they seem a little complicated.

What is the basic procedure for updating SQL 2005 for SIMS and migrating it to a new server at the same time?

Has anyone done it?

Just pay them 600 quid and they'll do it for you

[zag]

Well thanks to the advice from DreddMetal I finally completed this 5 days after starting, and 2 server rebuilds later.

The Capita documentation was terrible, their flow chart forgot to mention that I had to detach the database and manually delete the current .mdf and .ldf files. It just said to run the SQL migration tool over and over again. I followed the flowcharts and documentation to the letter and got stuck at least 3 times with random error messages.

Well anyway thanks Dredd, our school saved 600 quid which we can spend on books and stuff instead of sims support