Upgrading to SQL Server 2019 CTP 3

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In this post I want to cover my experience of upgrading to SQL Server 2019 CTP 3.

In a previous post I discussed some interesting findings whilst testing the updates for sp_estimate_data_compression_savings in SQL Server 2019. Which you can read about in detail here.

However, just after the post was published last week SQL Server 2019 CTP 3 was announced. To clarify, CTP stands for Community Technology Preview.

So, I decided to test upgrading the installation that I had used for that testing. It had SQL Server 2019 CTP 2.5 installed.

Now, this was a SQL Server instance that I had previously installed using a local repository. You can read my previous post about installing it using a local repository in detail here.

Not supported

Before attempting an upgrade I read the documentation from Microsoft about SQL Server CTP 3. Because it tells you what is new in the latest release. Which you can read in detail here.

In addition, it states that upgrading from a previous SQL Server 2019 CTP is not supported.

However, that did not stop me trying. Especially since I had already managed to upgrade from CTP 2.4 to CTP 2.5, which I discussed here.

As it turns out, trying it was a good idea. Because after trying a few things I was able to upgrade the version of SQL Server 2019 CTP on the server.

In fact, all my settings and databases were still there.
In addition, I have not experienced any issues yet, however I will update if I do.

Conclusion

To clarify, even though it’s not supported it’s still possible to upgrade from SQL Server 2019 on Linux from CTP 2.5 to CTP 3.

If you are experimenting in your own envionment this can be useful. Because it can save you some time. Of course, the same can be said if you decide to use a Docker image for testing instead.

Being not supported simply means you’ll get no help if there’s an issue. Of course, you can add any other upgrade tips here as a comment to help others.