The feeding frenzy

SQL Server 2008 setup notes and technical resources

OK, with the announcement of the release of SQL Server 2008, I've decided to go ahead and upgrade my production lab box. And of course I have to add to the feeding frenzy and write about my upgrade. I'll be honest though, I tried before, but I couldn't get RC0 to install on Win2K8. There was apparently some work done between RC0 and RTM because I'm going through the upgrade as I'm typing this and things are going ok so far.

OOPS, looks like I spoke too soon. There's a red flag on my 'SQL Server 2008 Feature Upgrade'. It says that the specified feature upgrade is not supported. I'm on Yukon x64 Enterprise and I'm trying to go to Katmai x64 Enterprise. So after looking in BOL, I found that that truly isn't a supported upgrade path. So what you're telling me is that shops in x64 Enterprise can't upgrade their production databases to Katmai Enterprise. WHAT?!?!?
Here's the path to the upgrade matrix on MSDN. Just look for 'SQL Server 2005 X64 (64-bit) Enterprise'

So the upgrade path as I'm seeing it in BOL now is like this:
1. Upgrade Yukon x64 Enterprise to Katmai x64 Developer.
2. Upgrade Katmai x64 Developer to Katmai x64 Enterprise.
3. Shoot myself in the head.

So I'm about to embark on this mission and I'll let you know how it comes out. This is a good exercise though because my production system at work is the same version so it'll be good to see this in action. I'll tell you what though. Had I gone through this for the first time on my production system at work I'd just be pissed at the extra downtime. At least now I can plan for it. And yeah, it is documented, but I never would have dreamed that you couldn't upgrade an enterprise version to another enterprise version. Especially when you can do a direct upgrade to enterprise on pretty much every other version.

Guys, is this really what upgrading production systems to SQL Server 2008 is going to be like? Really? I'm hoping that someone at MS can explain this to me.

OK, on to happier topics though. I managed to find a list of new SQL Server 2008 whitepapers and I thought I'd share them with you. Here's the link to the main page.

I havent gone through them much yet, but I was interested in SQL on Win2K8 so I did read that one. Frankly, I was disappointed as it was mostly marketing fluff so I wouldn't even bother with that one if I were you. I'm getting to the others though and I'll let you know how they are as I read them.