Downgrade SQL Server Enterprise Edition to SQL Server Standard Edition

Question

There is a requirement in our project where they want to evaluate if it is possible to downgrade SQL Server from Enterprise to Standard edition and if a server can be decommissioned.

How can I identify which servers are suitable for downgrade?

Answer 1

Kendra Little did a great article on this: http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2014/08/sql-server-edition-change-standard-edition-enterprise-evaluation/

Microsoft article on supported upgrade paths: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143393.aspx

First, note that not all downgrade scenarios are supported (You didn't provide the exact version you are running).

Second, run this query to check if there are any Enterprise features in use (those features will not work when you downgrade).

SELECT * FROM sys.dm_db_persisted_sku_features

Third, if your downgrade isn't supported (it doesn't seem like many are), then you are essentially going to have to do a fresh install with standard edition, then migrate to the new server.

Answer 2

In order to "downgrade" you'd have to uninstall enterprise and install standard. There is no in-place downgrade in the versions I've installed (2005+). As mentioned, you'd want to look at the sys.dm_db_persisted_sku_features for each database, it is not an instance-level dmv. You might want to look at this a write-up about two methods of downgrading. You'll also probably want to use that dmv in combination with Aaron Bertrand's sp_foreachdb because sp_msforeachdb can miss some databases.