Endpoint Protection

We have a SEPM site that currently uses a SQL Server 2005 on an external database server.  We need to migrate the database to SQL Server 2008, and I could use some guidance. 

The only knowledgebase article I can find on the subject is https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/migrating-sepm-db-sql-2008, which actually deal with a migration from an embedded database to SQL Server 2008.  These instructions tell me to

• backup the server certificate
• backup the database,
• uninstall SEPM
• Reinstall SEPM
• restore the certificate
• restore the database from backup

These instructions seem reasonable for moving from an embedded database to SQL Server, but they seem like overkill when I'm basically moving from one instance of SQL Server to another.  Anyway, I tried the procedure on a small test site and it worked OK.  But now I'm trying to migrate our production site, and I'm getting stuck when I try to backup the database.  The Database Backup and Restore wizard runs for a while and then fails with the message:

Backup failed writing due to a problem writing to the file system: invalid entry side (expected 94278669 but got 44468000 bytes)

I don't know exactly what this means, but I suspect that the backup is being written to a disk that's running out of space.  Unfortunately, this is the server's system disk, and there's not much I can delete to make room for the backup.  I would be happy to write the backup to another device (the E: drive has lots of free space) but the database backup program doesn't give me that option.   Is there a way to get around this problem?

Ideally, I'd like to avoid jumping through these hoops.  Is there a way to move the database from a 2005 server to a 2008 server and modify my site to point to that new server?   I'd much prefer to do that, but I don't know how.

I found this (locked) discussion on database migration -- https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/migrate-sepm-database-sql-2005-sql-2008 -- which seems to indicate that I do have to uninstall and reinstall SEPM to migrate the database. 

I'm not happy with that but this is not the time to argue.

But I do need to know how I can back up my database without completely reconfiguring my server.  Is there a way to direct the backup to a non-default location?

when you backup the DB, use the SQL backup with extension .bak.

You then restore the copied DB to know if it works, once confirmed follow the steps to upgrade to 2008.

reinstall of SEPM is required becuase you need to reconfigure the SEPM to new SQL DB ( 2008) and also SQL client also needs to be upgraded.

You have to follow the same steps which is mentioned in the first post only for migrating to SQL 2008

You can change the database backup location refer this KB

How to modify the Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager (SEPM) Database Backup and Restore Wizard backup location

For migration Refer this KB
Moving an existing Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager 11 RU5 database to SQL Server 2008

You may use a partition resizer tool to re-organize the disk space if those partitions are on the same physical disk. But this would be too risky for your environment if you do not have any backups.

So it is up to you :(

If you're moving the SQL database to a different server you don't need to uninstall the SEPM.  All you need to do is stop the SEPM services, detach the database from the 2005 SQL server, reattach the database to the new SQL 2008 server, then run the management server configuration wizard on the SEPM. 

Alternatively, you could create a full backup on the 2005 server and then restore the backup on the 2008 server.  In either case, once the database is on the new SQL 2008 instance, you just need to run the management server configuration wizard on the SEPM to point to the new SQL server. 

You may also need to ensure that the database user has been created with the appropriate permissions when you restore/reattach the database to the new SQL server. 

Check out these documents instead. The document you referenced isn't really the best option for going from SQL '05 to SQL '08. We should probably edit or pull the document you linked, as it's the best practice method for going from Sybase to SQL.

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH132761

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH104723

Citlali could be on the right track here. Instead of looking at SEP for update procedures, you may also want to look into MS for their take on migrating their products. And I'm sure MS has backwards compatibility for this one.

As discussed you can just move the SQL DB and run the migration wizard again.

If you have never done a full disaster recovery though, it seems now would be a perfect opportunity :)

I also like taking the opportunity to re-install and freshen up the SEPM

I had the DBA backup the database on the old 2005 server, and restored it to the new 2008 server.  All the necessary permissions and configurations migrated to the new server.  After I ran the Management Server Configuration wizard (and restarted the server -- I had some trouble getting the SEPM service to start), everything worked.

Thanks to everybody for their help.