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Intermingling SQL Server 7 and 2000

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by bob sellman

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We currently have a number of applications running on SQL Server 7. If we can obtain another server, we would like to set up a separate SQL server for testing and development. However, SQL Server 7 can no longer be purchased.

Can SQL Server 2000 be set up in a way so that applications and databases developed using it in a test/development environment can be moved to our production SQL Server 7 server transparently (i.e., no "fiddling" needed)? Is anyone doing this? References to articles, etc., will also be appreciated.

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by joseph moore

Well, SQL Server 2000 was made to be backwards-compatible with 7.0 and 6.5 to an extent. There are commands in version 6.5 and 7.0 that do not work in 2000, and vice versa. So the simple truth of the matter is, it is a safe bet that any application coded for SQL 7.0 will have to be tweaked a little to be fully compatible with SQL Server 2000. There is just no way around that. Just off the top of my head, TABLOCK and sp_dropuser are both different in SQL 2000 then in 7.0. I think they both stillwork, but they are flagged for future deletion.
I have 2 suggestions for you on this. First off, the best SQL Server manual you can get is the SQL Server Books Online. That will tell you about EVERY command, and if it still works in SQL Server 2000and/or what its replacement command is. Here is the URL to download it:
http://www.microsoft.com/SQL/techinfo/productdoc/2000/books.asp
(please remove any spaces)

by joseph moore

Now, my second suggestion is for you to get SQL Server 2000, and install it on a machine as a NAMED INSTANCE. This is a nice new feature. You can install up to 16 running instances of SQL Server on one machine! Now sure, the machine needs enough drive space, processor power and RAM to handle this, but it is still cool! Each named instance is a fully separate running version of SQL Server. You can set up named instances, and point ODBC connections to the different instances individually. Each named instance is somewhat more than a "virtual SQL Server" but not quite a fully separate SQL Server on another machine. It is a really helpful addition to SQL Server.
You can run a named instance of SQL Server 2000 on a machine that is currently running SQL Server 7.0 AT THE SAME TIME. So, I suggest install the named instance on the box that is currently running SQL Server 7.0 (again, providing the machine has enough resources to handle this). You can then set up Replication between the two SQLServers to replicate your database(s) from the SQL7 install to the SQL2K install.
At that point, you can start testing your application against the databases in the named instance. You can see if there are problems, resource bottlenecks, etc.
RunSQL Profiler against the named instance when you are testing your application, to get a real good look at what is happening.

But first, get SQL books online and start looking stuff up!

hope this helps

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