Microsoft has recently released the SQL Server 2012 Upgrade Whitepaper.
This technical guide takes you through the essentials for upgrading SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, and SQL Server 2008 R2 instances to SQL Server 2012.
SQL Server 2012 Upgrade Technical Guide
| Chapter 1 |
Upgrade Planning and Deployment |
| Chapter 2 |
Management Tools |
| Chapter 3 |
Relational Databases |
| Chapter 4 |
High Availability |
| Chapter 5 |
Database Security |
| Chapter 6 |
Full-Text Search |
| Chapter 7 |
Service Broker |
| Chapter 8 |
SQL Server Express |
| Chapter 9 |
SQL Server Data Tools |
| Chapter 10 |
Transact-SQL Queries |
| Chapter 11 |
Spatial Data |
| Chapter 12 |
XML and XQuery |
| Chapter 13 |
CLR |
| Chapter 14 |
SQL Server Management Objects |
| Chapter 15 |
Business Intelligence Tools |
| Chapter 16 |
Analysis Services |
| Chapter 17 |
Integration Services |
| Chapter 18 |
Reporting Services |
| Chapter 19 |
Data Mining |
| Chapter 20 |
Other Microsoft Applications and Platforms |
| Appendix 1 |
Version and Edition Upgrade Paths |
| Appendix 2 |
SQL Server 2012: Upgrade Planning Checklist |
It is a must read - take a closer look to the appendix :-)
I wish you a nice day,
tosc