Comments for The MidnightDBA Star

Comment on Why should we upgrade off of SQL Server 2000? by @chuckboycejr

@chuckboycejr — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:45:54 +0000

AJ, do you have the URL for that DoD SQL 2000 attack? That’s a great anecdote to use to encourage upgrading.

Comment on Why should we upgrade off of SQL Server 2000? by Jen McCown

Jen McCown — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:51:56 +0000

I wish I could upvote your comment…

Comment on Why should we upgrade off of SQL Server 2000? by AJ

AJ — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:49:12 +0000

Jen,
It is definitely the wrong choice to put off an upgrade. Especially without support for security patching. In a 2004 study by the Aberdeen Group… they state that the average cost of a data breach to be somewhere in the ballpark of $2 million/incident. 2 MILLION. If business wants a case for coming up with funds for an upgrade that should be it.

There was an incident at DoD that shut down an entire state off the grid for 4 full days….want to guess what the focal point of the attack was? …. SQL Server 2000 …..whoopsie

Spend a little now, give yourself a feeling of peace, and get to sleep at night people.

Comment on Why should we upgrade off of SQL Server 2000? by Jen McCown

Jen McCown — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:27:15 +0000

Been there, done that!

But the arguments for updating your applications are the same arguments for upgrading SQL. The app may be vulnerable, isn’t supported, isn’t maintainable in the strictest sense, and is getting harder to migrate off of with every passing moment. I get that it’s difficult to create or procure new solutions to existing legacy apps, but when would you rather do it? Now, next month, or in another 15 years, when NO ONE who understands the thing is within a 200 mile radius?

For many companies, the answer is “in 15 years, or maybe never ever”. It’s definitely a choice, but I stand by what I say: it’s the wrong choice.

Good comment man…

Comment on Why should we upgrade off of SQL Server 2000? by Mike Hillwig

Mike Hillwig — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:12:05 +0000

Yes.

And No.

Many companies have legacy applications that haven’t updated in years. Those applications haven’t been updated to support later versions of SQL Server. It’s a total catch-22. Microsoft won’t support the older version of SQL Server and the application vendor won’t support you on newer versions of SQL Server.

In other cases, companies will wait until the cost of maintaining the old version is more expensive than the cost of upgrading to a more modern version.

From a technical perspective, upgrading makes perfect sense. But from a business perspective, maybe not.

Comment on Great Tools for Formatting T-SQL by Jen McCown

Jen McCown — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:01:52 +0000

That does look pretty nice, thanks for the link!