BUG: Upgrade/Install Fails if Model DB is Larger Than Msdb

• Microsoft SQL Server, version 6.0

SYMPTOMS

An upgrade from SQL Server version 4.2x to version 6.0 will fail if the model database has been altered to a size larger than 4 MB. A similar problem can occur if the model database is altered to a size larger than 4 MB after 6.0 is installed and the msdb database has to be recreated using the Instmsdb.sql file.

CAUSE

The Setup.inf and Instmsdb.sql files are used by the upgrade process to create a 2 MB database device and a 2 MB log device for the msdb database, which is also 2 MB. These values are hardcoded.

If the model db is altered to a size greater than 4 MB before the upgrade from version 4.2x, the upgrade will fail. This is because the creation of a new database can never be smaller than model. This poses a size limitation, not only in the size of the devices, which are created in the Setup.inf file set by the VdevDatNo and VdevLogNo, but also in the size of the msdb database, which is created in the Instmsdb.sql file.

WORKAROUND

Backup all databases and rebuild the master db to change the size of model back to the default size. If you rebuild the master database, you must recreate the user databases, reload each database from the most recent dump, and then reapply any changes not included in the dump.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft SQL Server versions 4.21a and 6.0. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.