Now is the time to get your plan straight to upgrade existing operating system platform to higher version, in specific to Windows 2003 version.
Windows Server 2003 support is ending July 14, 2015.
What does end of support mean for you?
After July 14, Microsoft will no longer issue security updates for any version of Windows Server 2003. If you are still running Windows Server 2003 in your datacentre, you need to take steps now to plan and execute a migration strategy to protect your infrastructure. By migrating to Windows Server 2012 R2, Microsoft Azure or Office 365, you can achieve concrete benefits, including improved performance, reduced maintenance requirements, and increased agility and speed of response to the business.
Worth a look about It’s the End of the World As You Know It… Windows Server 2003 End of Life: Infrastructure Migration presentation.
Not just with the operating system this is big time to consider upgrade your existing SQL Server 2000 and 2005 versions to 2012 or 2014 (though there is no direct path from 2000 to 2012 see relevant blog posts here). With SQL Server 2016, and what-not! (see hardware and software requirements) you need a special attention on 2005 instances.
With regard to the upgrade options for you from 2005 to SQL Server 2014 is limited, which means you can still support certain aspects of multi-version and cross-functionality (based on documentation).
- Upgrade a SQL Server 2005 instance of database engine to SQL Server 2014 by running SQL Server 2014 setup using the installation wizard or from the command prompt.
- Attach a SQL Server 2005 database (mdf/ldf files) to SQL Server 2014 instance of database engine.
- Restore a SQL Server 2005 database to SQL Server 2014 instance of database engine from a backup.
- Upgrade a SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) package to SQL Server 2014. Execute packages with automatic-in-place upgrade.
- Upgrade a SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) to SQL Server 2014 by running SQL Server 2014 setup.
- Back up a SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) cube and restoring on SQL Server 2014.
- Upgrade SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (SSRS) to SQL Server 2014 by running SQL Server 2014 setup.
When a SQL Server 2005 database is upgraded to SQL Server 2014, the database compatibility level will be changed from 90 to 100. (In SQL Server 2014, valid values for the database compatibility level are 100, 110 and 120.)ALTER DATABASE Compatibility Level (Transact-SQL) discusses how the compatibility level change could affect SQL Server applications.
Any scenarios not specified in the list above are not supported, including but not limited to the following:
- Installing SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2014 on same computer (side by side).
- Using a SQL Server 2005 instance as a member of the replication topology that involves a SQL Server 2014 instance.
- Configuring database mirroring between SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2005 instances.
- Backing up the transaction log with log shipping between SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2005 instances.
- Configuring linked servers between SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2005 instances.
- Managing a SQL Server 2005 instance from a SQL Server 2014 Management Studio.
- Attaching a SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) cube in SQL Server 2014 Management Studio.
- Connecting to SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) from SQL Server 2014 Management Studio.
- Managing a SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) service from SQL Server 2014 Management Studio.
- Support for SQL Server 2005 third party custom Integration Services components, such as execute and upgrade.