SQL Server Upgrade Assistant

SQL Server Upgrade Assistant for making upgrades, trace replay easier! 

I had a chance to work with Scalability Experts "SQL Server Upgrade Assistant" the other day at the Microsoft MTC in Irving, TX, and have to say it's a pretty nice tool.  Although I tested it under conditions to look mostly at syntax issues (and not performance issues) I found it very beneficial and recommend its use. It can be downloaded at their site; look for some documentation to go with it to instruct you on how to use the tool as you upgrade SQL 2000 or SQL 2005 to SQL Server 2008. The documentation follows my methodology - outlined elsewhere in this blog - for uncovering issues before you do a migration or upgrade.  Reviewing this may assist in giving a clearer picture of the process. Essentially, the tool helps with the step-by-step instructions for replaying a workload on the new system so that you don't get bit by code or processes that don't work quite the same as they do on previous editions.

A couple of things that I noted. First, the trace replay can work just fine with no data in your database for uncovering syntax/deprecation of syntax issues. Second, the in-place upgrade is really sweet and only takes a few minutes to complete. Granted, not many people will opt for this route, but thought it was cool nonetheless.

Tools such as this one, and the Upgrade Advisor, should be used for upgrading or migrating to SQL Server 2008 without question. Take advantage of these so that upgrade day goes as smoothly as possible.

Lee

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All of these folks making my life easier!!!