Upgrading to SQL Server 2008 : Upgrading Other SQL Server Components

The following sections highlight some important considerations you should be aware of when upgrading Analysis Services.

Upgrading from SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services

You can upgrade an existing instance of SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services to SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services using the Upgrade Wizard. The wizard automatically migrates existing databases from the old instance to the new instance. The metadata and binary data is compatible between the SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008, so the data is retained after you upgrade. You do not have to manually migrate the data. To upgrade an existing instance of SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services, run the Upgrade Wizard and specify the name of the existing AS instance as the name of the new AS instance. The AS databases are upgraded automatically.

Upgrading from SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services

Because of changes to the underlying architecture of Analysis Services between SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2008, you cannot perform an in-place upgrade. You have to migrate your SQL Server 2000 AS databases to SQL Server 2008.

The first task is to install a new named instance of SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services (SSAS) by using the SQL Server 2008 Installation Center program. When this process is complete, you can use the Analysis Services Migration Wizard to import your SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services content into the SQL Server 2008 AS format. This wizard re-creates your existing OLAP structures on the new instance, without altering the original source material.

If you remove the prior instance of SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services after you have migrated its databases, you can use the Analysis Services Instance Rename tool to make the named instance of SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services the default instance on the server.

To launch the Analysis Services Migration Wizard, open the Object Browser and connect to Analysis Services. Then navigate to the top-level Analysis Services node to find the wizard. You can also simply select Start, Run and then enter the command MigrationWizard.exe. You need to make sure that MSSQLServerOLAPService is running before you begin; you can verify this by using the SQL Server Service Manager.

Click Next on the Welcome page, and the Specify Source and Destination screen appears (see Figure 1). You need to enter the name of your SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services server as the source. Then you have two options:

• Server— You can choose this radio button and enter the name of your new SSAS instance to immediately migrate your OLAP databases.

• Script File— If you select this radio button and enter a filename, the wizard can generate an XML for Analysis (XMLA) script, which you can later run to perform the same migration.

Click Next, and the Select Databases to Migrate screen appears; this screen is fairly self-explanatory. Make your selections and then click Next. The Validating Databases screen appears. At this point, the wizard performs the migration and reports on its progress, noting any issues along the way.

When the wizard is done, click Next, and the Completing the Wizard screen appears, showing a summary report.

When your migration is complete, you need to remember to reprocess your cubes; otherwise, you are unable to query the new database. In addition, the migrated database doesn’t yet exploit the features of SSAS’s Unified Dimensional Model (UDM) in your existing cubes.

Upgrading Reporting Services

SQL Server 2008 supports upgrading from the following earlier editions of Reporting Services:

• SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services with Service Pack 2 (SP2)

• SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services

You can choose to perform an in-place upgrade or migrate a Reporting Services Installation to SQL Server 2008. You can run the Upgrade Advisor tool on the Report Server computer to determine any issues that might prevent a successful upgrade. Known upgrade issues currently include the following:

• There is no upgrade support for a Report Server that uses a remote SQL Server 2000 Database Engine instance to host the Report Server database.

• There is no support for the SQL Server 2000 Report Server Web service in SQL Server 2008 because this endpoint is discontinued, and any custom features that point to the ReportServer2000 endpoint no longer run.

• There is no support for earlier versions of the Reporting Services WMI provider because the Reporting Services WMI provider is not backward compatible with previous versions. You cannot use the SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services WMI provider with earlier versions of Reporting Services.

Performing an In-Place Upgrade of Reporting Services

If you’ve run the Upgrade Advisor and it doesn’t report any issues that would prevent a successful upgrade (or you’ve addressed any issues it raises), you can perform an in-place upgrade of any instance of SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services SP2 or SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services.

Before upgrading Reporting Services, you should first back up the following:

• The symmetric key (by using the RSKEYMGMT tool)

• Your Report Server databases

• Configuration files: Rsreportserver.config, Rswebapplication.config, Rssvrpolicy.config, Rsmgrpolicy.config, Reportingservicesservice.exe.config, Web.configMachine.config (for ASP.NET if you modified it for Report Server operations) (for both the Report Server and Report Manager ASP.NET applications), and

• Any customizations to existing Reporting Services virtual directories in IIS

• Your reports

Before running the upgrade, you first need to stop IIS and the Report Services Windows service on each machine on which you will be running the in-place upgrade. (For a Web farm [now known as a scale-out implementation] the upgrade must be run on every node.) Then run the Installation Center and select your existing instance for upgrade at the appropriate screen. The Installation Center upgrades the instance in-place, including all its components and any published reports and snapshots.

Upgrading Reporting Services also requires updates to your Report Server databases. Because the Report Server database schema can change with each new release of Reporting Services, it is required that the database version match the version of the Report Server instance you are using. In most cases, a Report Server database can be upgraded automatically with no specific action on your part. The following list identifies all the conditions under which a Report Server database is upgraded:

• After a Reporting Services instance is upgraded, the database schema is automatically upgraded after service startup and the Report Server determines that the database schema version does not match the server version.

• At service startup, the Report Server checks the database schema version to verify that it matches the server version. If the database schema version is an older version, it is automatically upgraded to the schema version that is required by the Report Server. Automatic upgrade is especially useful if you restored or attached an older Report Server database. A message is entered in the Report Server trace log file indicating that the database schema version was upgraded.

• The Reporting Services Configuration tool upgrades a local or remote Report Server database when you select an older version to use with a newer Report Server instance. In this case, you must confirm the upgrade action before it happens.

After the database schema is updated, you cannot roll back the upgrade to an earlier version. Always back up the Report Server database in case you need to re-create a previous installation.

SQL Server 2008 introduces changes to the Report Definition Language (RDL), the report object model, and the rendering object model that affect reports created in earlier versions of the software. When you upgrade a Reporting Services installation from a prior version to a SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services installation, existing reports and snapshots that have been uploaded to a Report Server are automatically upgraded to the new schema the first time they are processed. If a report cannot be automatically upgraded, the report is processed using the backward-compatibility mode. Also, if you open an .rdl file in Report Designer that was created for the SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005 namespace, Report Designer automatically upgrades the report to the current namespace. After you save the report, you cannot open it in earlier versions of Report Designer.

If you are unable to perform an in-place upgrade of your existing installation for any reason, your other option is to install a new instance of SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services and then migrate your Report Server database and configuration files to the new instance.

Migrating to Reporting Services 2008

The migration process for Reporting Services includes a combination of manual and automated steps. The following tasks are required to perform a Reporting Services migration:

• Back up your Report Server databases, applications, and configuration files.
  
  
• Back up the encryption key.
  
  
• If it is not installed already, install a new instance of SQL Server 2008 or 2008 R2.
  
  
• Move your Report Server database(s) from your SQL Server 2000 or 2005 installation to your new installation using the detach/attach or backup/restore method.
  
  
• Move any custom report items, assemblies, or extensions to the new installation.
  
  
• Configure the Report Server.
  
  
• Edit the RSReportServer.config file to include any custom settings from your previous installation.
  
  
• Optionally, configure custom Access Control Lists (ACLs) for the new Reporting Services Windows service group.
  
  
• Remove unused applications and tools after you have confirmed that the new instance is fully operational.
  
  

When you are backing up the Report Server configuration files, the files to back up include

• Rsreportserver.config

• Rswebapplication.config

• Rssvrpolicy.config

• Rsmgrpolicy.config

• Reportingservicesservice.exe.config

• Web.config for both the Report Server and Report Manager ASP.NET applications

• Machine.config for ASP.NET if you modified it for Report Server operations

During the install of your new instance of Reporting Services, when you reach the Reporting Services screen, you need to be sure to select the Install but Do Not Configure option. After moving your Report Server databases, launch the new Reporting Services Configuration tool and select the Report Server database that you’ve moved from the previous installation to automatically upgrade it. Then restore your backed-up encryption key.

Just as with an in-place upgrade, to upgrade the reports themselves, all you need to do is open them in the Report Designer, which automatically converts them to the new Report Definition Language format.

After you successfully migrate your Report Server to a SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services instance, you might want to perform the following steps to remove programs and files that are no longer necessary:

• Uninstall the previous version of Reporting Services if it’s no longer needed.
  
  
• Remove IIS if you no longer need it on the computer (it’s no longer needed by Reporting Services 2008).
  
  
• Delete RSActivate.exe (if you migrated from SQL Server 2000 installations only).
  
  

Upgrading SSIS Packages

When you upgrade an instance of SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008, your existing SQL Server 2005 Integration Services packages are not automatically upgraded to the package format that SQL Server 2008 Integration Services uses. You have to manually upgrade your SQL Server 2005 packages.

There are multiple methods to upgrade SQL Server 2005 packages. Some of the methods are only temporary. For others, the upgrade is permanent. Table 1 lists each of the upgrade methods and whether the upgrade is temporary or permanent.

The SSIS Package Upgrade Wizard is the recommended approach for upgrading your SQL Server 2005 SSIS packages. Because you can configure the wizard to back up your original packages, you can continue to use the original packages if you experience upgrade difficulties. You can run the SSIS Package Upgrade Wizard from SQL Server Management Studio, from SQL Server Installation Center, or at the command prompt.

To run the wizard from SQL Server Management Studio, connect to Integration Services, expand the Stored Packages node, right-click the File System or MSDB node, and then click Upgrade Packages. To run the wizard from SQL Server Installation Center, click Tools and then click Upgrade Integration Services packages. At the command prompt, run the SSISUpgrade.exe file from the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn folder.

Migrating DTS Packages

SSIS is a complete rewrite of the DTS runtime, and this is why your DTS packages are not automatically migrated to SQL Server 2008 when running an in-place upgrade. You essentially have two options for how to handle your existing DTS packages:

• Install runtime support for DTS packages so you can continue to run your existing DTS packages.

• Migrate your DTS packages to SSIS using the DTS Package Migration Wizard.

Full DTS support in SQL Server 2008 consists of multiple components. The first component is the Client Tools Backward Compatibility option. During an installation or upgrade, on the Feature Selection page, select Integration Services and choose to install the Client Tools Backward Compatibility option. This option installs the Execute DTS 2000 Package task for SSIS.

The next component you need to install is DTS runtime support. To install runtime support for Data Transformation Services packages, go to the Microsoft Download Center and locate the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack page. From there, download the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility Components (this component has not been updated for SQL Server 2008). If you also want to use the SQL Server 2008 tools to open and view DTS packages, you have to download and install the design-time support as well. This support can also be found in the Microsoft Download Center on the Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 page.

After you install the DTS runtime support, your DTS packages can run as before. You can run your DTS packages one of the following ways:

• From the command prompt using the dtsrun.exe utility

• Via SQL Server Agent Jobs by setting the job step to Operating system (CmdExec) and use the dtsrun utility (dtsrun.exe) to run the package

• Via Integration Services Packages using the Execute DTS 2000 Package task

If you also installed the design-time support, you are able to continue to edit and manage your DTS packages. You can manage your DTS packages from SQL Server Management Studio under the Data Transformation Services node, which is available in the Management/Legacy folder. Here, you can open existing DTS packages stored on the file system or in the msdb database, or add additional packages to the server by clicking the Import button. Although DTS packages can be modified and renamed, you cannot create new DTS packages within SSMS.

The DTS runtime support is intended to be used only on a temporary basis until you have the opportunity to migrate your DTS packages to SSIS. To migrate your DTS packages to SSIS, you can use the DTS Package Migration Wizard.

To run the DTS Package Migration Wizard, you first need to make sure that the SSIS service is in the running state. In SSMS, open the Object Explorer and navigate to the Legacy node, under Management. Then right-click the Data Transformation Services (DTS) node and select the Package Migration Wizard option to migrate one or more packages (those stored on a server or as files) to SSIS.

When you run the Package Migration Wizard, you first need to select the source and destination servers (the source must be a SQL Server 7 or 2000 instance, and the destination must be a 2008 instance with SSIS running) on the Choose Source Location and Choose Destination Location screens.

Then click Next to reach the List Packages screen (see Figure 2), where you check the check boxes for the packages you want to bring over. The name for each imported package is listed in the Destination Package column, and you can click there to edit it.

Figure 2. The Package Migration Wizard’s List Packages screen.

At the next screen, you can specify a log file for the process. You click Next again and then click Finish to complete the migration.

As with all the other wizards provided with SQL Server 2008, the Package Migration Wizard reports progress and any issues on a per-package basis, offering an exportable report at the end.

After migration is complete, the original DTS package is still available on the SQL Server 7 or 2000 instance, in unmodified form. You can import packages into SQL Server in SSMS by connecting to SSIS in the Object Explorer and then navigating to the Stored Packages node and then the MSDB node. If you selected a file system folder as the destination, right-click the File System node and then select Import Package to display the migrated packages.