8.0 upgrade scenario

[expoit]

I've been with  my company for about a year and had no prior SLX experience before coming here. I inherited a system running SLX 7.2 on SQL 2000, Windows 2003 server.

The server itself was having so many issues, I couldn't get SQL or SLX to upgrade on that box, following the upgrade documentation from 7.2 to 7.5, then from 7.5 to 7.2. Since that server was older, we reloaded a better server with Windows 2008.

So my question: I have a 7.2 database and information sitting on the old server, and I need to get to SLX 8.0 on the new server. Would it be smarter to do a clean install of 8 on the new server and then move my data over? Or would I actualy have to install 7.2 on the new box, migrate the data, then go thru the upgrade steps on the new server? Can anyone tell me if they have seen documentation for what I'm describing?

I'm Googling, I'm reading the install docs for SLX, but I also wanted to see if anyone in the community could point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance. 

[MikeSpragg]

Firstly, you don't want to attempt this in one step. You will want to put the system back to v7.2 to get it running again. Then, you can upgrade from v7.2 to v8 in steps. Otherwise, there will be so many issues for you that you will fail to make sense of them. That way, you can then simply do an inplace upgrade that the Upgrading from v7.2 to v8.0 document does actually walk you through. Trying to put v8 on first and then upgrading will not work *unless* - you upgrade on a different box (stepped as before) and then you can load v8 "clean" on the new box. Regards

[EmmaNixon]

Alternatively get a good Business Partner to assit you, this is likely to be messy if you aren't familiar with SLX.

[RJLedger]

Recommend you work with an experienced Business Partner Certified SalesLogix Consultant like Emma points out.