Installing and Upgrading to SQL Server 2005

This document will outline some important consideration when carrying out the installation or upgrading your version of SQL Server to SQL Server 2005. It provide a “how to” section for installing SQL Server 2005

Pre-Installation Plan

Ensure your server meets the system requirements for SQL Server 2005. Microsoft provides a hardware and software requirements check list.

Make sure you have administrator permissions on the computer where SQL Server will be installed. If you install SQL Server from a remote share, you must use a domain account that has read and execute permissions on the remote share. To create a failover cluster, you must be a local administrator with permissions to logon as a service, and to act as part of the operating system on all nodes of the virtual server.

Create one or more domain user accounts if you are installing SQL Server 2005 on a computer running Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 2003, and you want SQL Server 2005 to communicate with other clients and servers.

Do not install SQL Server 2005 on a domain controller.

Back up your current installation of SQL Server if you are running an instance of SQL Server on the computer where SQL Server 2005 is to be installed.

Verify that the disk where SQL Server will be installed is uncompressed. If you attempt to install SQL Server to a compressed drive the setup process will fail.

Some recommend stopping any Anti-virus software while installing, although this may not be essential, and SQL Server should install ok with it running. I would recommend you exclude your anti-virus software from scanning you database files when SQL Server is running as this can have and adverse affect on performance.

Review all SQL Server installation options, and prepare to make the appropriate selections when running Setup. These options will differ depending on the edition of SQL Server that is being installed.

Installing SQL Server 2005

To install SQL Server 2005 you can run Setup using the SQL Server 2005 Installation Wizard or you can install from the command prompt. You can also add components to an instance of SQL Server 2005, or upgrade to SQL Server 2005 from a previous SQL Server version. Installing using the GUI provides a step by step walk through the SQL Server installation process. Installing using the command prompt is generally used in more advanced scenarios like silent installations.

To install SQL Server 2005

1. To begin the installation process, insert the SQL Server 2005 DVD into your DVD drive. If autorun does not launch the installation program, double click splash.hta on the DVD. If you are installing from a network share, navigate to the network folder and launch splash.hta.

2. From the autorun dialog click .

3. On the End User License Agreement page, accept the license agreement click

4. On the SQL Server Component Update page Click

5. On the Welcome page of the SQL Server Installation Wizard, click

6. On the System Configuration Check (SCC) page, the installation computer is scanned for conditions that may block Setup. To view a report of the results, click the Report button and then select an option from the drop-down list. After the scan completes click .

7. On the Registration Information page, enter the name and company information and click.

8. On the Components to Install page, select the components you wish to install. A description for each component group appears in the Components to be Installed pane when you select it.

9.To install individual components, click . Otherwise, click to continue.

Clicking takes you to the Feature Selection page. You can select the program features to install using the drop-down boxes. When you have selected all your features click .

10. On the Instance Name page, select a default or named instance for your installation.

11. On the Service Account page, specify the user name, password, and domain name for SQL Server service accounts. You can use one account for all of the services.Alternatively, you can specify an individual account for each service. To specify an individual account for each service, select Customize for each service account, select a service name from the drop-down box, and then provide login credentials for the service. Click to continue.

13. On the Authentication Mode page, choose the authentication mode to use for your SQL Server installation. Windows Authentication or Mixed Mode. If you select mixed mode ensure you provide an appropriate complex sa password.

To proceed, click .

14. On the Error Reporting page, accept the default setting and click to continue.

15. On the Ready to Install page, review the summary of features and components for your SQL Server installation. To proceed, click .

The Installation Progress page allows you can monitor installation progress as Setup proceeds.

16. On the Completing the Microsoft SQL Server Installation Wizard page, click to exit the setup wizard

You may be prompted to restart your computer if please follow this instruction. Failure to restart the computer may cause failures when you run the Setup program in the future.

Upgrade to 2005

You can directly upgrade instances of SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later, and instances of SQL Server 7.0 SP4 or later, to SQL Server 2005. You can perform most upgrade operations through Setup using the GUI. However, some components support or require you to migrate applications or solutions after running Setup.

Run SQL Server Upgrade Advisor to analyze your instances of SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 7.0. Upgrade Advisor produces lists of issues specific to your installations that you must fix before or after upgrading. SQL Server Setup will detect blocking issues that will prevent you from upgrading to SQL Server 2005, but will not list issues that may affect your applications.

Conclusion

This article has provided some important points to consider and plan for when planning and installation or upgrade of SQL Server 2005. it also provides a detailed guide of the SQL Server 2005 installation process. the installation process may have slight variation depending on the options and component you select but this can be used as a guide for your SQL Server 2005 installation

If you would like us to assist you with your installation please contact us

SQL Server Installation Service