Summary

The main difference between a Laserfiche repository using MSDE and a Laserfiche repository using full Microsoft SQL Server is the existence of expansion databases. This feature was introduced as a way to mitigate MSDE's built-in two gigabytes database size limit. As OCR location data and thumbnail information are two of the fastest growing tables in the database, they were moved out of the main database into expansion databases. Converting a MSDE database to a full Microsoft SQL Server database requires two procedures:

• The data in any expansion databases must be merged back into the main database.
• Stored procedures must be updated to no longer use the expansion databases.

More Information

The following SQL scripts are provided as a tool to convert the MSDE databases associated with Laserfiche 7.0.1, 7.0.2, 7.0.3, 7.1.x, or 7.2.x to Microsoft SQL. It assumes that the MSDE databases (including the expansion databases) are already detached from MSDE and attached to Microsoft SQL.

Note: These conversion scripts are not for use with Laserfiche 7.0.0.

Important: Please backup all appropriate databases before running a conversion script.

To convert the MSDE databases associated with a Laserfiche repository for use with Microsoft SQL Server

1. Unregister the repository in the Laserfiche Administration Console by selecting the repository, then opening the Action menu and selecting All Tasks and then Unregister Repository.
2. Stop the Laserfiche Server service.
3. Detach the main MSDE database along with all of the expansion databases associated with it.
4. Attach those databases to Microsoft SQL Server.
5. Run the SQL conversion script on the main database associated with the Laserfiche repository. The SQL conversion script should not be executed on an expansion database.
6. After the SQL conversion process finishes, replace your old Laserfiche Server lf.lic license file with a new version that supports the full version of Microsoft SQL Server.
7. Start the Laserfiche Server service.
8. Register your repository in the Administration Console. For more information on registering your repository, please see Registering and Unregistering a Laserfiche Repository.

To detach your MSDE databases

1. Click here to download a vbscript file to detach a database.
2. Double-click DetachDB.vbs to run the script.
3. In the first dialog box, type the name of your MSDE server and click OK.
4. In the second dialog box, type in the name of the MSDE database that you want to detach and click OK.
5. Repeat steps 2 - 4 for each expansion database.

To attach your MSDE databases

1. Click here to download a vbscript file to attach a database.
2. Double-click AttachDb.vbs to run the script.
3. In the first dialog box, type the name of your Microsoft SQL Server and click OK.
4. In the second dialog box, type the name of the database you want to attach and click OK.
5. In the third dialog box, type the full path to the MDF file of the database and click OK.
6. Repeat steps 2 - 5 for each expansion database.

To run the SQL conversion script

1. Download the conversion script for your version of Laserfiche:
   • Click here to download a zip file containing the conversion SQL script for Laserfiche 7.0.x. (revmsde.sql)
   • Click here to download a zip file containing the conversion SQL script for Laserfiche 7.1.x. (revmsde712.sql)
   • Click here to download a zip file containing the conversion SQL script for Laserfiche 7.2.0. (MSDE720toMSSQL720.sql)
   • Click here to download a zip file containing the conversion SQL script for Laserfiche 7.2.1. (MSDE721toMSSQL721.sql)
2. Extract the contents of the desired zip file to a temporary location.
3. Run the script directly from OSQL.
   1. Click Start and then click Run.
   2. In the Run dialog box, type the following and click OK to load a command prompt:

      cmd

   3. At the command prompt, type the following and press ENTER to run the script:

      OSQL -S SQLInstance -E -d DatabaseName -i "PathtoScript"

      SQLInstance is the name assigned to the instance of SQL Server to which MSDE databases were attached. By default, the instance name is the name of the computer hosting SQL Server.
      
      DatabaseName is the name of the main MSDE database that was attached to SQL Server. It is important that you specify the main database and not one of the expansion databases.
      
      PathtoScript is the location of the conversion script (revmsde.sql, revmsde712.sql, MSDE720toMSSQL720.sql, or MSDE721toMSSQL721.sql).