I cannot answer all your questions but I do know the DNN 3.2.2 will run on SQL 2005.

The only issue I have heard, regardless of dnn 3 or 4 is that some modules don't behave well on sql 2005 but again, it's only what I've heard, gleamed over forums and passing on. So don't treat that as gospel!

If you've backed up your site and db I'd be giving it a shot - the only thing I think that will get you caught out is the sql connection strings which I found were very tedious to work out but when you got it right - it should work likea charm.

Nina Meiers

I am a SQL Server developer, and I have successfully transferred DNN sites running on SQL 2000 to SQL 2005. You should not expect to experience any problems moving to SQL 2005. SQL 2005 is designed to run databases that were built in SQL 2000 with no problem.

There is also no need to change the structure of the connection strings in web.config. The standard structure is correct for SQL 2005 as well as 2000 (obviously if your SQL 2005 database is on a different server than before then you need to change the values):

"Server=xxxxx;Database=xxxxxxx;uid=xxxxxx;pwd=xxxxxx;"

Don't use the "SQL 2005 Express" connection string sample you see in the web.config for your SQL 2005 database ("Data Source=.\SQLExpress;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|Database.mdf;"). That is for SQL Express only, and incidentally it is not obligatory for SQL Express - you can use the standard connection string just fine for Express.

As Nina says, you should do a test upgrade before committing to the new platform. Once on SQL 2005 however be aware that you can't go back to SQL 2000. You cannot backup a SQL 2005 database and restore it to SQL 2000.