Migrating TimeControl from SQL 2005 to 2008

Many clients have asked about the technical process of how to migrate the TimeControl database from SQL Server 2005 instance to SQL Server 2008 R2.  Here is a step-by-step description from our technical department:

1.    Stop all three TimeControl services from the Windows Services console (ATS, TTS and Scheduler).  This will prevent anyone from accessing TimeControl while the transfer is being done.
2.    Back up the current TimeControl databases in SQL Server 2005.  There will be two databases, with names similar to TCSECURE and TIMECTRL.  This may be different if you elected to use different names during the original installation.
3.    Create the same logins that exist in SQL Server 2005 as SQL Server 2008.  There will be one for the TCSECURE database and another for the TIMECTRL database.  If you used the default entries, these will be tcuser and sysdba.  These logins should be mapped to the appropriate TimeControl databases (tcuser should be mapped to TCSECURE and sysdba should be mapped to TIMECTRL).
4.    Restore the SQL Server 2005 backups from Step 1 into SLQ Server 2008 and ensure the logins you created can login to SQL Server and have access to the appropriate databases.
5.    Reconfigure the “TimeControl.ini” file found in the TimeControl installation to point to the new SQL Server 2008 instance (this should be the SERVER_NAME property).  Save and close the file when finished making the necessary changes.
6.    Restart all three TimeControl services and check to make sure access to TimeControl is working as expected.

If any issues arise, the original SQL Server 2005 databases are still intact and fully functional so rolling back is very fast. 

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