Installing SQL Server Express 2008

Notice:

Current goal: upgrading an existing SQLExpress 2005 with Advanced Services and related tools, including the companion Toolkit components to 2008 version.

The upgrade scenario is supported and we select the appropriate action in the SQL Server Installation Center dialog

After the traditional rules check we have to select the instance to be upgraded in the Select Instance dialog

that correctly identifies current snapshot situation; we can further verify that snapshot at the file system level, where

We can proceed selecting the instance to be upgraded. It seems not to be possible to upgrade in one single pass both the services and the additional tools and components, but the successive dialog reports that part of them, Business Intelligence Development Studio will be part of the current upgrade process

The instance configuration dialog refresh the current snapshot

For Reporting Services configuration we elect to use mixed mode authentication

and after a traditional rules check we finally get to the end report of the current installation

It tok about 25 minutes to upgrade this virtual machine but we finally are rewarded with it's succesfull completation

later confirmed by the final summary, ending the current upgrade process.

We upgraded therefore both the relational and the report server engins, as well as the Business Intelligence Development Studio bits

File system reflects this upgrade,

where 2 brand news folders have been created for the relative 2 upgraded engines, maintaining the older directories as well;
the original folders are now cleared in the binaries sense, and only log, data and the like folders are still active

Checking installed applications, it could seem both instance editions are still available

but some sort of internal clean up has been performed for sure, as we are not allowed to uninstall 2005 version related bits

Back to the installation application, we now have to install SQL Server Management Studio and select to add features to existing instances of SQL Server 2008

In one single run we are able to install we are even allowed to add additional features as the Full Text search feature

For this kind of setup we are required to provide security context information regarding the account to be used for the Full Text filter deamon launcher, and we once again use the custom defined account we already registered

We are then reported with the installation summary

and after a couple of minutes we are welcome with a succesfully completation of the installation process

again remarked by the traditional completation dialog

We are now little disoriented as a little confusion seems to rule our machine;
at the application level we can verify

and here we have access to Business Intelligence projects

indicating we have access to both SQL Server Management Studio Basic and Business Intelligence Development Studio, as already available in the Visual Studio 2008 features set.

At installed application level, again a little confusion and promisquity is there to welcome us, as both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 are there enlisted, even if all 2005 elements shoud have been upgraded to 2008 version

The file system point of view has little changes but Full Text features, we are somehow (even if quiet confident on that) disappointed the relative files has been installed in the older original folder of the upgraded instance, even if those installed files only are the search thesaurus related data files and not the actual binaries files

Using SQL Server Configuration Manager it's time to refine our upgrade settings, modifying the security context credentials for the account running the services other than the original Local System sistem account

as well for the Filestream new available feature

and modify the startup mode for the Full Text Search service.

We then check all network protocols related settings. in order to verify thy have been correctly migrated

Accessing to the upgraded instance via SQL Server Management Studio Basic we can verify the existing user's databases have been upgraded an are available as well

As we already had to, at SQL Server 2005 upgrade time, we have to modify the compatibility level of all upgraded databases, as they have been only upgraded at the medatada level (you can no longer attach them to SQL Server 2005 instances), but they maintained the original compatibility level 90 setting we have to manually modify

Again, using the facets feature dialog, we verify all our required instance settings have been correctly maintained, such as enabled CLR integration, enabled xp_cmdshell extended stored procedure and the like

A local connection via a custom application of ours is then tested, with succesfull and brillant results

and so does a remote connection from the very same custom application of ours, with similar succesfull and brillant results

After a system reboot, in order to have a comparable unloaded scenario, we are pleased to see a comparable load as well on this machine, even considering the added Full Text service