HOW TO ALTER PARTITION FUNCTION IN SQL SERVER 2005?

Below query will give you the Merge statements that needs to be executed.
Hope this helps

select 'alter partition function ur_partition_fn_name () merge range (' + t1.value + ')'
from (
select t1.value, row_number() over ( order by t1.value) rnum
from sys.partition_range_values t1, sys.partition_functions t2
where t1.function_id = t2.function_id
and t2.name = 'ur_partition_fn_name' ) temp
where rnum = 1

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Iam getting the below error when I execute this
The multi-part identifier "t1.value" could not be bound.

Oops.. Small syntax mistake.
Kindly try this one out

select 'alter partition function ur_partition_fn_name () merge range (' + value + ')'
from (
select t1.value, row_number() over ( order by t1.value) rnum
from sys.partition_range_values t1, sys.partition_functions t2
where t1.function_id = t2.function_id
and t2.name = 'ur_partition_fn_name' ) temp
where rnum = 1

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This time I get one more exception
Msg 402, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
The data types varchar and sql_variant are incompatible in the add operator.

Currently you have only 3 partitions and you can manually merge the second partition.

alter partition function ur_partition_fn_name () merge range ( ur_second_partition_val)

Kindly replace ur_partition_fn_name and ur_second_partition_val to get this work out now.

Anyhow this script will be helpful to you when you have several partitions with you.

Try this one out..

Dont have access to Server now and hence haven't checked out for syntax.
Kindly revert if any error comes again.

select 'alter partition function ur_partition_fn_name () merge range (''' + convert(varchar(10), value, 101) + ''')'
from (
select t1.value, row_number() over ( order by t1.value) rnum
from sys.partition_range_values t1, sys.partition_functions t2
where t1.function_id = t2.function_id
and t2.name = 'ur_partition_fn_name' ) temp
where rnum = 2

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Actually I have 4 left date range partition
CREATE PARTITION FUNCTION Trackpartitionfn(datetime)
AS RANGE LEFT FOR VALUES

('20090108 23:59:59.997',
'20090208 23:59:59.997',
'20090308 23:59:59.997',
'20090408 23:59:59.997')

And I want to create 2 months per partition now which would like
CREATE PARTITION FUNCTION Trackpartitionfn(datetime)
AS RANGE LEFT FOR VALUES
(
'20090308 23:59:59.997',
'20090508 23:59:59.997',
'20090708 23:59:59.997',
'20090708 23:59:59.997')

How would I use merge to achieve this.?

Do I need to destroy the whole partition and create it from scratch with new boundaries?

The script which I provided earlier would help you to achieve something like this

CREATE PARTITION FUNCTION Trackpartitionfn(datetime)
AS RANGE LEFT FOR VALUES

('20090108 23:59:59.997',
'20090308 23:59:59.997')

To add new more partitions you have to use SPLIT function as given below:

alter partition function Trackpartitionfn () split range ( '20090508 23:59:59.997');
alter partition scheme ur_partition_scheme NEXT USED [primary];
alter partition function Trackpartitionfn () split range ( '20090708 23:59:59.997');
alter partition scheme ur_partition_scheme NEXT USED [primary];
alter partition function Trackpartitionfn () split range ( '20090908 23:59:59.997');
alter partition scheme ur_partition_scheme NEXT USED [primary];

you have to replace ur_partition_scheme with your partition scheme name and primary with filegroup name if you have used other than primary.

Hope this helps