White Paper

Sybase ASE, SQL Anywhere to SQL Server migration Guide

Introduction to Sybase ASE and Its Sunset Announcement

Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) has been a critical relational database management system (RDBMS) in various industries, valued for its transaction processing capabilities and support for high-performance data operations. However, SAP’s decision to sunset Sybase ASE by 2025 underscores the need for organizations to plan migrations carefully to maintain operational efficiency, stability, and system support.

Migrating from Sybase ASE to SQL Server offers a modernized platform with better compatibility, enhanced cloud integration capabilities, and access to continuous updates. This strategic move ensures long-term system scalability and adherence to contemporary data management standards.

Sybase Migration Challenges Covered:

Introduction and rationale for Sybase to SQL Server migration
Complexity factors involved
Overview of SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) tool
Areas that need migration (code, objects, jobs, settings etc.)
Typical challenges and need for manual migration effort
Specific migration issues and differences between Sybase and SQL Server
Differences in data types, functionality, SQL syntax
Considerations for data migration
Other miscellaneous migration issues

About RalanTech

RalanTech is specialized in database managed services. We are passionate about leveraging cutting-edge solutions to drive innovation, efficiency, and growth for our clients.

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Sybase ASE, SQL Anywhere to SQL Server migration Guide

Introduction to Sybase ASE and Its Sunset Announcement

Though SAP announced the decision a while ago, there have been no new feature releases so far or new upgrade announcements from SAP regarding Sybase ASE beyond 2025. The original end-of-maintenance (EOM) date for Sybase ASE is still set for 2025, which means customers need to either migrate away from Sybase ASE or refrain from investing further into their running Sybase systems, as there is no longer a viable return on investment (ROI) due to the impending end-of-life. This white paper covers the challenges, technical tips and tricks of migrating Sybase ASE to Microsoft SQL Server database. This paper is a result of our numerous such migration performed for many larger Sybase landscape customer. Though our team have done hundreds of migration using migration tools such as SSMA, Ispirer and AWS DMS , this paper if purely focused on SSMA based migration.

Sybase Migration Challenges Covered:

Introduction and rationale for Sybase to SQL Server migration
Complexity factors involved
Overview of SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) tool
Areas that need migration (code, objects, jobs, settings etc.)
Typical challenges and need for manual migration effort
Specific migration issues and differences between Sybase and SQL Server
Differences in data types, functionality, SQL syntax
Considerations for data migration
Other miscellaneous migration issues

Introduction and Rationale for Sybase Migration

End-of-life for Sybase ASE approaching in 2025
Migrating to SQL Server offers compatibility and essential migration tools
Opportunity to migrate to a cloud-based SQL Server deployment

Complexity Factors

Heterogeneous technology stack
Application types (custom-built vs. off-the-shelf)
Volume of Sybase-specific SQL code
Customization level
Database Size
Number of database Objects
Backend Processes such as batch jobs
Table Replication/HA

SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA)

Free tool from Microsoft to simplify migration process
Automates assessment, schema conversion, SQL conversion, data migration, and testing
Supports migration from Sybase ASE 11.9 and higher to SQL Server 2012 through 2022
Few other competitive tools to consider ispirer and AWS Database migration services(DMS)

Areas of Migration

T-SQL code, stored procedures, triggers, UDFs
Sybase system functions and global variables
Tables, data types, user-defined types
Batch jobs, maintenance jobs, proxy tables
Data replication, high availability, disaster recovery
Cron jobs, language/charsets, locales, configurations
CT-Library/DB-Library applications

Typical Sybase to SQL Server Migration Challenges

80/20 rule: 80% can be converted using SSMA, 20% requires manual effort
Manual migration for dynamic SQL, proxy tables, incompatible objects, DB-LIB/CT-LIB code, deprecated functions/variables, custom objects

Notable Migration Issues

String concatenation
Binary to numeric conversion
Group by clause
Emulated functions
Remote procedure calls
Temporary tables
Inserting timestamps
Default column nullability
Variable behavior in update statements
Data truncation during inserts
Default date/datetime format
Cursor behavior

Data Types and Functionality Differences

Date/time data types
String lengths
Date range
String concatenation syntax
NULL handling
CASE expression nesting
Implicit conversions

SQL Command Differences

Transaction management
Locking
Error handling
Isolation levels
SELECT with DISTINCT

Data Types and Functions

Handling dates before 1753
String concatenation
Aggregate functions in UPDATE
Character columns with NULLs
Nested aggregates
MIN/MAX with character columns

T-SQL Syntax Differences

ROLLBACK syntax
Table hints
ORDER BY with table name
Global variables (@@ERROR, @@PAGESIZE, @@SQLSTATUS, @@TRANCHAINED, @@TRANSTATE, @@UNICHARSIZE)

Data Migration Considerations

Timestamps
Numeric with scale > 26
Constraints and bound rules
Defaults vs. NULLs
Identity columns
Triggers

Other Migration Issues

Cursor scope
Case sensitivity
Reserved keywords
Syb_identity pseudo column
IDENTITY function syntax
Login triggers
Cross-database foreign keys
Deprecated equivalents (DEFAULTS, RULES)
Constraint names
Dynamic SQL
Proxy tables
Variables in cursor declaration

SQL Server Migration Tips

Here are all the technical tips for migrating from Sybase ASE to SQL Server detailed in the document:

String Concatenation:

Use rtrim function in SQL Server to match Sybase behavior of trimming trailing spaces from nullable character columns before concatenation.

Binary to Numeric Conversion:

Modify queries to convert binary to integer before using it in numeric operations.

Group By Clause:

Modify queries to aggregate or include required columns in the group by clause.

Emulated Functions:

Replace emulated functions created by SSMA with native SQL Server functions or logic to avoid performance impact.

Remote Procedure Calls:

Set up linked servers in SQL Server to access Sybase procedures using four-part naming convention.

Temporary Tables:

Use ##tablename syntax in SQL Server for temporary tables instead of tempdb.schema.tablename used in Sybase.

Inserting Timestamps:

Use SSMA to create a new ssma_timestamp column and migrate data. Update applications to use the new column.

Default Column Nullability:

Explicitly specify NOT NULL for required columns during migration since SQL Server defaults to NULL.

Variable Behavior in Update Statements:

Restructure update logic in SQL Server since it updates variables before columns, unlike Sybase.

Data Truncation During Inserts:

Ensure data doesn’t violate column length limitations before inserting into SQL Server.

Default Date/Datetime Format:

Convert source data to the target format before migration.

Cursor Behavior:

Reorganize cursor logic in SQL Server to declare and open inner cursor within outer cursor’s open block. Explicitly deallocate cursors.

Data Types:

For dates before 1753, use native Sybase handling or implement special handling in SQL Server.
Use SSIS or change data type for numerics with scale > 26 in SQL Server.

Functionality:

Use + for string concatenation instead of || in SQL Server.
Handle NULL comparisons/concatenations explicitly in SQL Server if needed.
Avoid deep CASE nesting in SQL Server.
Use explicit casting when mixing binary and character data in SQL Server.

SQL Commands:

Use @@TRANCOUNT checks for transaction management in SQL Server.
Use DELETE TOP (0) WITH (TABLOCK) for locking instead of LOCK TABLE.
Adjust RAISERROR usage for argument handling and formatting.
Use isolation hints (WITH (READUNCOMMITTED)) for isolation levels.
Make adjustments for DISTINCT with ORDER BY.

Data Migration:

Map timestamps to binary(8) and add timestamp column with @@DBTS default.
Set Check Constraint=true to check constraints/bound rules.
Verify KeepNulls and Fire Triggers settings in SSMA.

Other Issues:

Declare cursors as local or rewrite to deallocate explicitly.
Enclose reserved keywords in square brackets (e.g. [FUNCTION]).
Replace Syb_identity with IDENTITYCOL.
Replace identity(precision) with identity(numeric(precision)).
Rewrite dynamic SQL manually or use Statements window in SSMA.
Use linked servers, views, four-part names for proxy tables.
Move variable declarations before open and add DEALLOCATE for cursors.

Best Practices to follow for Post-Migration Testing

Data Integrity Checks: Verify all data has been accurately migrated.
Performance Benchmarking: Compare pre- and post-migration performance.
System Stress Testing: Test system behavior under high load.
End-User Testing: Involve end-users to ensure application functionality.

Why Choose Us?

RalanTech Advantage:

Our Experience + Knowledge base + Custom Accelerator + Proven processes
Minimal disruption
Faster migration
Expert Tuning – we just don’t duplicate poor performance.
Best practice setup from the ground up
Expert License / Infrastructure / Architecture recommendations
Right sizing the target Systems (Cloud/on-prem)
Getting it right the first time
On-Time project completion
Dedicated resources / Leads / PM

What we can do?

We can migrate any version of Sybase from ASE 12.x through ASE16: Sybase To Oracle, Sybase to SQL Server, Sybase to PostgreSQL, Sybase to AWS Aurora.

RalanTech’s database migration experts have done hundreds of cross database migrations. Feel free to contact us at info@ralantech.com for more information. Subscribe to our newsletter and stay tuned for the upcoming blogs on Sybase Replication migration, Sybase HA migration and other latest technology trends.

Click to know more about our Sybase Consulting Visit us: https://www.ralantech.com/sybase-database-support/

About RalanTech

RalanTech is specialized in database managed services. We are passionate about leveraging cutting-edge solutions to drive innovation, efficiency, and growth for our clients.