It is possible to upgrade existing CS2002 sites to Windows 2003. It is NOT possible to upgrade CS2000 sites, as CS2000 is not supported on Windows 2003. There are several options for doing in place upgrades to Windows 2003, with the process looking like:

1. Upgrade to CS2002 if not already there – this is an in-place upgrade for CS2000 customers.
2. Install CS2002 SP3 or FP1. If you do not plan to use the FP1 features, it is probably simpler to just go to SP3. The patch-levels are the same in both packages.
3. Upgrade the OS from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003.
4. After the OS upgrade, run the EnableCS2002Settings.vbs file – otherwise many things will break and you will get some annoying error messages.

Voila – it’s not that much more complicated than that. And it’s a good idea to do so – as well as get your sites on ASP.NET – as CS2006’s plan-of-record (based on feedback through this blog and other channels) is now officially to only support Windows 2003+ and ASP.NET site development.

One reader wrote in asking about single versus multiple databases for Commerce Server sites. From a security and deployment management perspective, having a separate database for each resource is the way to go. However, this is not the default of the PuP utility. So, when setting up a site, I would always recommend using a Custom UnPuP and putting each resource in its own database. If you have an existing site, the easiest way to get it from a single to multiple database is to PuP it and then UnPuP it again. This has to be done quite carefully – especially if you are using a non-standard schema for profiles or have made any alterations or extensions to other schemas without using the management tools provide by Commerce Server – as these would need to be handled manually after the UnPuP.

Well, after ~18 months of work on behalf of the team, the Commerce Server 2006 Technical Preview is now complete. Follow-ups/kick-offs with TAP customers that have filled out the requisite nomination paperwork will be starting throughout the remainder of this week. Although nominations are closed for the moment, we will be looking to take on more shortly once we have taken care of the logistics for those that have signed up thus far. I’m quite excited, as though even not completely feature complete, it is still the most revoluationary revision of Commerce Server since 2000 shipped ~5 years ago. Stay tuned to check it out for yourself at TechEd in a few weeks!

And, now that it’s done, I can finally get some personal rest and get caught up on blogging…