Upgrade SQL Server 2008 R2 (premium local SSD) to 2012 or 2016

For more information about the features that are provided by different SQL Server versions on each RDS edition, see Feature differences between editions.

Prerequisites

Your RDS instance meets the following requirements:

• The RDS instance runs SQL Server 2008 R2 with Premium Local SSDs.

• The storage capacity of the RDS instance is no less than 20 GB. For more information about how to expand the storage capacity, see Change instance specifications.

• The Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) feature is disabled for the RDS instance. For more information about how to disable the TDE feature, see Configure transparent data encryption (TDE).

• The instance cannot contain temporary instances. If it does, release them before you upgrade the version. For more information, see Release temporary instances.

Usage notes

• After the upgrade is complete, your RDS instance cannot be rolled back to an earlier major engine version.

  Warning

  Before you start the upgrade, we recommend that you create a temporary RDS instance that runs the required SQL Server version and use the temporary RDS instance to test the compatibility with your workloads. For more information, see Upgrade an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance with local disks from SQL Server 2008 R2 to SQL Server 2012 or SQL Server 2016.

• After the upgrade is complete, you must switch over your workloads. The downtime caused by the switchover varies based on the data volume of your RDS instance. In most cases, the switchover requires approximately 20 minutes. We recommend that you switch over your workloads during the specified maintenance window. Make sure that your application is configured to automatically reconnect to your RDS instance.

• Do not use the default VPC or vSwitch for the upgrade. You must configure a VPC and a vSwitch based on your business requirements.

• During the upgrade, we recommend that you do not modify metadata of your RDS instance. Otherwise, data inconsistency issues may occur after the upgrade. For example, we recommend that you do not create databases, delete databases, or modify the recovery models of databases.

Change the endpoints of your RDS instance

After the upgrade, your RDS instance resides in a VPC. The following table describes how to change the endpoints of your RDS instance after the upgrade based on the original network type of your RDS instance.

Impacts

• Once started, the upgrade process cannot be canceled, and it cannot be rolled back after completion.

• Your existing settings, such as the instance name, port, tags, and database accounts, remain unchanged after the upgrade.

• The upgrade duration depends on factors such as the data volume of your instance. For more information, see the FAQ section in this topic.

• The upgrade involves a network switchover, which causes a service interruption that can last up to 20 minutes. For more information, see the FAQ section in this topic. Ensure that your application has an automatic reconnection mechanism.

• During the upgrade, the process migrates the instance's underlying resources, which causes the virtual IP (VIP) address to change. To ensure business stability and continuity, you must use the internal or public endpoint of the RDS instance to connect to your application. Do not use the resolved IP address. The RDS endpoint is a dynamic domain name with automatic routing capabilities that seamlessly adapts to backend IP changes.

• If you choose to switch within the maintenance window, regular instance backups are disabled from when you submit the upgrade task until the migration is complete.

• Clear the DNS cache on your client. If your client is a JVM-based application, we recommend setting the TTL in the JVM configuration to 60 seconds or less. This ensures that when the VIP address of the endpoint changes, the application can obtain the new VIP address by re-querying the DNS.

  Note

  The following methods for setting the TTL in the JVM are for your reference:

  • To set the TTL for all JVM-based applications, set the networkaddress.cache.ttl parameter in the $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security/java.security file to 60.

  • To set the TTL for only a local application, set java.security.Security.setProperty("networkaddress.cache.ttl" , "60"); in the application's initialization code before any network connections are established, specifically before the first call to InetAddress.getByName().

• If you have an ongoing Data Transmission Service (DTS) task, you must reconfigure and restart the task after the upgrade.

Billing rules

You are charged fees for the upgrade. The fees displayed on the buy page shall prevail. For more information, see Change instance specifications.

Procedure

1. Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console and go to the Instances page. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which the RDS instance resides. Then, find the RDS instance and click the instance ID.

2. On the Basic Information page, click Upgrade Version. In the dialog box that appears, click OK.

   Note

   If the Upgrade Version button is not displayed, you must check whether the prerequisites are met. For example, you can check whether TDE is enabled for your RDS instance or whether your RDS instance has a temporary instance.

3. On the Upgrade Engine Version page, configure the following parameters.

   Parameter	Description
   Upgrade To	Select the required SQL Server version. The valid values of the Edition, Storage Type, and Instance Type parameters vary based on the selected SQL Server version. You can upgrade your RDS instance with Premium Local SSDs from SQL Server 2008 R2 to one of the following versions: SQL Server 2012 EE SQL Server 2016 SE SQL Server 2016 EE Important If you upgrade your RDS instance to SQL Server 2012 EE or SQL Server 2016 EE, the TDE feature remains available. If you upgrade your RDS instance to SQL Server 2016 SE, the TDE feature becomes unavailable.
   Edition	Select High-availability Edition. The database system consists of a primary RDS instance and a secondary RDS instance. These instances work in high availability mode to achieve balanced performance in all aspects.
   Storage Type	Select PL1 ESSD. An Enterprise SSD (ESSD) is an ultra-high performance disk that is designed by Alibaba Cloud based on the next-generation distributed block storage architecture. ESSDs deliver ultra high storage performance. ESSDs are integrated with 25 Gigabit Ethernet and remote direct memory access (RDMA) technologies. ESSDs can help you reduce one-way latencies and process up to 1 million read and write requests at random per second. For more information, see Storage types.
   Zone	Select the required zone. Multi-zone Deployment and Single-zone Deployment are supported. If your database system consists of primary and secondary RDS instances, we recommend that you select Multi-zone Deployment to achieve cross-zone disaster recovery. Important If you select Multi-zone Deployment, you must manually select Zone of Secondary Node instead of retaining the default zone.
   Instance Type	Select an instance type. Each instance type provides a specific number of CPU cores, memory capacity, maximum number of connections, and maximum IOPS. For more information, see Instance families and Primary ApsaraDB RDS instance types.
   Network Type	Select VPC. VPC is unavailable. If your RDS instance is connected over the classic network before the upgrade, you can change its network type to VPC and configure a vSwitch. If the original instance is in a VPC or in hybrid access mode, you cannot modify the VPC, but you can modify the vSwitch. The available vSwitches are determined by the selected Zone and VPC.
   VPC	The destination VPC. If no VPC is available, create a VPC. Important Do not use the default VPC. You must manually select a VPC based on your business requirements.
   VSwitch of Primary Node	Select the required vSwitch. If you select multiple zones for your RDS instance, you must select VSwitch of Secondary Node. If no vSwitches are available, you must create a vSwitch. Important If your RDS instance is connected over the classic network, do not use the default vSwitch. You must manually select a vSwitch based on your business requirements. If your RDS instance is connected over a VPC or can be connected over both the classic network and a VPC, you cannot change its VPC.
   Switching Time	Switch Immediately After Data Migration: Data is migrated and workloads are switched over immediately. Switch Within Maintenance Window: Data is migrated immediately, and workloads are switched over during the specified maintenance window. Take Effect at Specified Time Range: Data is migrated immediately, and workloads are switched over at a specified point in time. The specified point in time must be at least 12 hours later than the current time.

4. Read and select the terms of service, and then click Pay Now.

5. Click Pay Now. In the dialog box that appears, click OK.

   The status of the instance changes to Upgrading/Downgrading > Upgrading Across Networks. When the status of the instance changes to Running, the upgrade is complete. The time required depends on the amount of data. Please wait patiently.

Create a temporary RDS instance that runs the required SQL Server version

Before you start the upgrade, we recommend that you create a temporary RDS instance that runs the required SQL Server version and use the temporary RDS instance to test the compatibility with your workloads. A temporary RDS instance is a new and independent instance, and the data on the original RDS instance is not affected when you create a temporary RDS instance.

1. Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console and go to the Instances page. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which the RDS instance resides. Then, find the RDS instance and click the instance ID.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Backup and Restoration.

3. On the Temporary Instance tab, select a point in time from which to clone data, and then click Create Temporary Instance of Higher Version.

4. Configure the following parameters.

   Parameter	Description
   Zone	Select the zone in which you want to create the temporary RDS instance.
   Upgrade To	Select the SQL Server version that the temporary RDS instance runs. Valid values: SQL Server 2016 SE SQL Server 2016 EE SQL Server 2012 EE
   VPC	Select the VPC to which the temporary RDS instance belongs. You must select the VPC of the Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance to which you want to connect. Otherwise, the temporary RDS instance cannot communicate with the ECS instance over the internal network.
   VSwitch	Select a vSwitch from the specified VPC.

   Important

   The system provides a default instance type and storage type for the temporary RDS instance. The temporary RDS instance is available for seven days. After the seven-day validity period elapses, the system releases the temporary RDS instance.

5. Click OK.

References

Restore SQL Server data with a temporary instance