Many organizations start investigating what WSS can do by installing WSS using a local SQL Server 2005 Express database. The idea is often to run a pilot project. More often than not, this pilot project then incidentally turns into a production environment, with lots of important data that cannot be discarded. I am sure you don't belong to such an organization, but you probably know somebody else who does, right? Well, you can tell your friend that it is possible to move up from the SQL Server 2005 Express database to the full MS SQL 2000 or 2005 Server, so there is no need to worry.
You have two types of possible upgrade scenarios:
An in-place upgrade of SQL Server 2005 Express to a local MS SQL Server.
Moving from a local SQL Server 2005 Express to a separate MS SQL Server.
The first scenario is straightforward: Simply run the setup program for MS SQL Server to upgrade SQL Server 2005 Express. The other scenario are more complicated, but not impossible. You might remember from earlier sections in this chapter that a remote SQL Server gives you better performance and also makes it possible to build a fault-tolerant MS SQL Server cluster. You will find the steps for each upgrade scenario in the following sections.
The first and most important thing to remember is to back up your current WSS data. You are about to perform a very sensitive operation, and if something goes wrong, you must be sure you can go back to the previous version.
If it is a simple server configuration with just the WSS and the SQL Server 2005 Express database, you can of course perform a full Windows 2003 Server backup, including the system state (the local Registry, the IIS Metabase, and the boot files). The other option is to make a backup of the content database alone to make sure that you have all data intact in case the upgrade to MS SQL for some reason does not work as expected.
The first option, doing a full server backup, is always a good idea even if you will do a separate database backup later. This option ensures that you can do a complete restore of the Windows 2003 Server, including the WSS environment and all its data. You can use the backup utility that comes with Windows 2003 Server for this operation, if you want. See the following Try It Out.
Try It Out: Do a Full Server Backup
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Of course, you can use whatever backup routine you normally run for your computers instead of this procedure. Just make sure that it is a complete backup, including the system state.
There is one drawback to this type of backup procedure: You will only be able to do a complete restore, if necessary. For example, you cannot just restore the WSS content database. That is why the second backup option is interesting.
Once again, you have two options for this. You can simply stop the SQL Server 2005 Express database and make a file copy of all the database files, or you can use the STSADM tool that comes along with WSS for backing up parts or the entire content database.
NOTE
There are lots of good and very cheap backup management tools for all types of MS SQL databases, including MS SQL Server 2005 Express. For example, check out www.simego.com and www.msde.biz. You can also use a local copy of the MS SQL Enterprise Manager.
Try It Out: Copy All WSS Database Files ManuallyTo make a simple file copy of the database in SQL Server 2005 Express, do this:
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If you need to restore these database files after a failed MS SQL upgrade procedure, make sure to have a working WSS and SQL Server 2005 Express installation and then copy the WSS and SharePoint files back to the original file location.
This method is very fast and selective. You will only back up the content for the WSS environment. The result will be files that can be used to migrate into any WSS or even MOSS environment. The tool you must use here is STSADM.EXE. It is stored deep down in the file system, or to be exact, in this folder:
C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft Sharedweb server extensions12BIN
This is a command-based tool that you need to run in a command window. You will often need to access STSADM and other tools in this folder, and instead of entering the full path to these tools every time, it is easier to configure Windows to search in this folder directly. If you are old enough to remember when MS-DOS ruled the computer world, you might remember there is a system variable named PATH. When you enter a program name in a command window, Windows looks for that file in all file paths defined in this variable. The following Try It Out explains how to add the path to STSADM to this system variable.
Try It Out: Update the PATH System Variable
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By now, you have access to STSADM and the other tools in the same folder, regardless of where you are in the folder tree. But before you can perform your backup, you must know how it works. Every web site you create in WSS is either a top site or a subsite. Top sites are the start of a tree with any number of nested subsites, much like a top folder and subfolders in a file system. SharePoint calls this a site collection. All site collections are stored in a given content database in SQL Server. STSADM will help you back up a given site collection (a top site and all its subsites).
If you installed WSS using the Basic installation option, a site collection was automatically created containing one top site. In Chapter 3, you will learn how to create new top sites and subsites for each of these top sites. To make it simple, say you only have a site collection consisting of one top site with five subsites. The URL address for this top site is http://srv1, and you want to back up this complete site structure to a file named WSS-back.bak in the folder C:Bkup. To do this, follow these steps:
Try It Out: Use STSADM to Back Up a Site Structure
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By now, you have your WSS environment backed up. It is time to upgrade your SQL Server 2005 Express database to the full MS SQL 2005 Server. As mentioned before, this is a very straightforward process. Just make sure that no one is using the system before you start to upgrade. Follow the steps in the Try It Out to upgrade the database.
NOTE
The following is a quick guide for upgrading to SQL Server 2005. Be sure to follow Microsoft's detailed instructions for upgrading more complex SQL Server scenarios: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143516.aspx.
Try It Out: Upgrade SQL Server 2005 Express to a Local MS SQL 2005 Server
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