CRM2015 / CRM2016 on the same database server?

Question

At our company we currently have a Dynamics CRM 2015 instance running, which has all its databases located on our central database server. Recently, we started developing a new solution, this time based on Dynamics CRM 2016, and for this version too we want to have its databases located on our central database server.

However, when I try to install this CRM 2016 instance, the CRM 2016 installer reports the following error (which is correct, as the existing database is from our CRM 2015 instance):

The following databases already exist on the specified SQL Server: MSCRM_CONFIG

Is it supported to deploy two different versions of Dynamics CRM on the same database server, and if so, how?

Answer 1

It's not supported to have two CRM installation (even same version) on the same SQL server instance. Also installing CRM on same server but on separate instances might put you in trouble with for example SSRS Report Connector.

Answer 2

I take it that you currently have your SQL server deployed using the default instance? (ie; you reference you SQL server as <machine_name>)

If you're not in a position to create a new SQL server (the main limitation being licensing) one option you can consider would be to deploy an additional named instance on the existing server. You could then point your new CRM deployment at, for example, <machine_name>\CRM2016