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 Applying SP3 requires system reboot?

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laddu
Constraint Violating Yak Guru

332 Posts

Posted - 2009-11-18 : 15:47:49
I want to install latest service pack in my production SQL SERVER.

Current version: SQL 2005 9.00.1399.06 Standard edition

I want to avoid system reboot, we don't want any downtime for Production server.

tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess

38200 Posts

Posted - 2009-11-18 : 15:59:15
Service pack 3 requires downtime regardless if it requires a reboot or not. The SQL instance is taken offline multiple times during the installation. If you watch the service, you'll notice the restarts that happen. Service pack 3 runs in single user mode for the instance, so even when the instance is up during the installation, no connections are allowed.

It sometimes requires a reboot, but sometimes it doesn't. You'll just have to run it and wait until the end to find out if a reboot is needed.

Tara Kizer
Microsoft MVP for Windows Server System - SQL Server
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tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess

38200 Posts

Posted - 2009-11-18 : 16:01:15
And while you're at it, you should also install either cumulative update pack 5 or the critical SQL hotfix that was released in Octoboer. Service pack 3 has bugs and vulnerabilities in it, so you should get up to the latest and greatest since you'll need to do this during a maintenance window anyway.

Service pack 3 is build 4035. We are running build 4262, which is sp3 + the critical SQL hotfix. The QFE version of the critical SQL hotfix includes all bug fixes that CU4 includes. We did not install CU5 since it had just been released, and we weren't comfortable with using it yet.

Tara Kizer
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laddu
Constraint Violating Yak Guru

332 Posts

Posted - 2009-12-22 : 10:21:07
Thanks Tkizer!

What is the difference between Cumulative update pack 5 and Critical hotfix? What you recommend.

I have installed SP3 in my dev server and tested user connected, no issues. Our's is SQL Server 2005 std edition
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tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess

38200 Posts

Posted - 2009-12-22 : 10:48:05
CU5 is newer.

Tara Kizer
Microsoft MVP for Windows Server System - SQL Server
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laddu
Constraint Violating Yak Guru

332 Posts

Posted - 2009-12-22 : 13:45:48
Thanks Tkizer!

I have downloaded and installed CU5 in DR Server and tested the user connections, no issues.

Users will connect to websites and retrive data from database. We are using SQL 2005 std edition. We have 3 databases(sizes less than 500MB). Since I tested in DR server, I am good to install in prodution..right?
Because as per Microsoft install hotfix only if you have specific issue otherwise wait for next service pack. After installing hotfix if we found any issues, can we uninstall hotfix, if so how can we do that?..thanks in advance
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tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess

38200 Posts

Posted - 2009-12-22 : 13:52:53
1. Yes.
2. No.

Tara Kizer
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laddu
Constraint Violating Yak Guru

332 Posts

Posted - 2009-12-22 : 15:31:55
quote:
Originally posted by tkizer

CU5 is newer.

Tara Kizer
Microsoft MVP for Windows Server System - SQL Server
http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/tarad/

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CU7 is newer

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976951/en-us
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tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess

38200 Posts

Posted - 2009-12-22 : 15:38:27
Well of course it's newer. You asked me for the differences between the October critical hotfix and CU5, so my answer is correct. I don't trust any CUs until other people have had them running in production for a while. That's why I wouldn't go higher than CU5. CU6 and CU7 are very new.

Tara Kizer
Microsoft MVP for Windows Server System - SQL Server
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laddu
Constraint Violating Yak Guru

332 Posts

Posted - 2009-12-22 : 15:46:47
Thanks for your info, Really I appriciate. I am kind of new to service packs and hotfixes.
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chris-fry
Starting Member

1 Post

Posted - 2010-02-01 : 03:52:16
Hi all,

Just to add to the reboot question(s);

Firstly, yes, down time is inevitable for SP3. If you can't tolerate much down time, you should look at implementing Active/Passive clustering. If you have this you can update the Passive node, force a fail over (resulting in a very small amount of down time) and update the new passive (previously Active) node (I left out backups, testing etc. which should be included by default in any major change). This reduces your down time to typically less than 1 min.

Secondly It's a very good idea to stop SQL Services (i.e. all services that start with "SQL Server...") prior to upgrading. This does at least 2 things:
a. Provides a controlled way to start your outage window
b. In my experience, avoids the need to reboot following upgrading to SP3

Also, I'm guessing here because I'm not a SQL Server Setup developer, but I bet the restart is required when setup can't guarantee all your services are running cleanly with the changed configuration. Stopping them prior to upgrade and starting them afterward ensures they are.

Chris Fry
DBA - Perth, Australia
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tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess

38200 Posts

Posted - 2010-02-01 : 16:52:23
Chris Fry,

A cluster does not help you with downtime when you need to update the build level of SQL Server such as with a service pack or cumulative update package installation. Clustering only helps when you are updating other things outside of SQL Server such as Windows OS patches and service packs.

You do not need to stop the SQL Server services. The sp3 installation will actually do it multiple times for you as required.

Tara Kizer
Microsoft MVP for Windows Server System - SQL Server
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DaleTurley
Yak Posting Veteran

76 Posts

Posted - 2010-02-02 : 09:28:07
I haven't read all of the other posts but according to Microsoft, if the SQL Services are stopepd when you apply the service pack then the server won't have to be re-booted.

Any other services are fine, just SQL Server will be down for a while.
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