Question

I'm running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2 for Small Business Sever Premium Edition, which includes Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (Standard Edition, I believe). Since current versions of FogBugz require SQL Server 2005 or above, I'm considering moving to the free SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition.

Some other questions have partially addressed this but I'm wondering about some details.

Assuming my FogBugz database is smaller than the maximum size supported SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition, what steps should I follow to both install 2008 and migrate my data to it?

In particular, can I install 2008 R2 Express side-by-side with my existing 2000 installation? Do I need to worry about the 2008 installer trying to upgrade the 2000 installation since according to Microsoft, there is no supported upgrade path from Standard (paid) to Express (free)?

Assuming I can install 2000 and 2008 Express side-by-side, I assume I can migrate by following these steps. After I verify that the migration worked, can/should I remove the 2000 installation (I was only using it to run FogBugz)?

Answer 1

You should be able to run the SQL Server 2008 R2 Express installer and it will install right alongside SQL 2000. I have SQL 2005 Express, SQL 2005 Developer Edition, and SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition all running on my dev machine (thanks for awesome hardware, Joel!)

Once you've got the database server running, you should be able to attach your FogBugz database to the SQL 2008 Express instance using the steps you cited. No data conversion is necessary -- SQL 2008 is backward compatible.