Sometime there are certain requirements which does not get fulfilled or individual faces some limitations with SQL server because of unavalaiblity of feature or unsupported component in the existing edition of SQL server they are using in that case upgrading to a edition which support that feature fills the requirement.

In one of our consulting projects, Client was using the SQL Server 2017 Developer edition and wanted to utilise the some features of enterprise edition.

Before upgrading from one edition of SQL Server to another, verify the below points:

• The functionality you are currently using is supported in the edition to which you are moving. In our case we were moving to Enterprise edition which includes all the features so this was not the issue for us.
• Before upgrading SQL Server, enable Windows Authentication for SQL Server Agent and verify the default configuration: that the SQL Server Agent service account is a member of the SQL Server sysadmin group.
• If upgrading from old version to SQL Server 2017 , you must be running a supported operating system.
• Also, SQL Server 2017 supports upgrade from the following versions of SQL Server only:

  - SQL Server 2008 SP4 or later
  - SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3 or later
  - SQL Server 2012 SP2 or later
  - SQL Server 2014 or later
  - SQL Server 2016 or later