Description:

Database Compatibility levels are very important when upgrading from SQL Server 2000 to 2005 or 7.0 to 2000, for example, but db compatibility levels are also important for software testing and unit testing. You can test your applications that run on SQL Server 2005 as though they were running on SQL Server 2000 - a very handy backward compatibility feature! The ability to set the compatibility level of your SQL Server database is a tremendous feature, one that is not highlighted often or championed nearly often enough. This video gives you the how and the why of using database compatibility levels including scenarios when this is appropriate and even talks about how when you do certain actions in SQL Server, your database may automatically use an older compatibility level.

NOTE: This video is shot using SQL Server 2005 but the concepts are valid for all versions of SQL Server

Highlights from this video:

• Valid compatibility levels
• How to force SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) in SQL Server 2005 to use the 65 compatibility mode
• sp_dbcmptlevel and its parameters
• Upgrading and migrating from previous versions
• Backwards compatibility options in SQL Server
• Uses both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000
• Changing Compatibility levels with dbcmptlevel and the GUI (SSMS and SQLEM)
• Migration scenarios and testing scenarios where older compatibility levels are appropriate
• How to force SQL Server 2005 to use 65 compatibility level
• Discussions of 60, 65, 70, 80 and 90 compatibility modes

and much more

Download and watch this video