SQL Server 2005 SP3

I cannot find any information regarding SQL Server 2005 service pack 3 on Microsoft website. Any one of you got any idea when it is due to be released.

ALI

Basit Ali Farooq
MCITP Database Administrator
Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (Web Applications)
Microsoft Certified Database Administrator
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator
CIW Security Analyst
Cisco Certified Network Associate

Ellen-477471 SSCrazy Points: 2238 More actions · Answer 5

Ellen-477471

SSCrazy

Points: 2238

May 28, 2008 at 8:34 am

#821212

In the meantime, can anyone give a recommendation about the cummulative updates. We are still at 3054 and need to apply some more fixes but it is difficult to figure which CU we should apply. A well tested, "stable", SP3 will be greatly appreciated.

VastSQL SSC-Dedicated Points: 35970 More actions · Answer 6

VastSQL

SSC-Dedicated

Points: 35970

June 19, 2008 at 1:43 am

#830931

vote vote vote.......................:P

TheSQLGuru SSC Guru Points: 134017 More actions · Answer 7

The SQL Server MVPs beat Microsoft up before and during the MVP summit in April. That and many other forces combined to make them realize that they had to do an SP3 for SQL 2005. It WILL be released, and here is the announcement: http://blogs.technet.com/dataplatforminsider/archive/2008/04/15/sql-server-2005-sp3-coming-soon.aspx

Best,
Kevin G. Boles
SQL Server Consultant
SQL MVP 2007-2012
TheSQLGuru on googles mail service

oraculum SSCrazy Points: 2981 More actions · Answer 8

heres some of the announcements....thanks everyone for Voting! i think they actually had to listen!

Microsoft to Offer SQL Server 2005 SP3

Wednesday, April 16, 2008 12:00 PM PDT

Microsoft will release a third service pack for SQL Server 2005, just before the next version of the server software comes out.

Service Pack 3 is expected to come out after the release to manufacturing of SQL Server 2008, which is scheduled to happen in the third quarter this year.

Microsoft didn't reveal much about what the service pack would include, except to say in a Tuesday blog post that it will contain all cumulative updates to the software plus some additional fixes to bugs that customers have reported on MS Connect, a Microsoft Web site for customer feedback.

The development of a third service pack does not change the Incremental Servicing Model that Microsoft introduced last year. The model, unveiled last July, introduced a regular update process to SQL Server 2005. Since then, every two months Microsoft issues a cumulative update for SQL Server 2005 that includes all critical fixes that had been released during that time as well as updates for less urgent issues.

Customers like the predictability of the model, so Microsoft will continue using it, said Francois Ajenstat, director of SQL Server marketing for Microsoft, in a separate blog post. However, users also say that there's a need for a third service pack, so Microsoft plans to release one, he said. The company is announcing its plans now so that customers can plan for deployment, he said.

Microsoft Confirms SQL Server 2005 SP3

By Kevin McLaughlin, ChannelWeb

6:48 PM EDT Tue. Apr. 15, 2008

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) on Tuesday confirmed that it plans to release a third service pack for SQL Server 2005 by the end of the year.

In a Tuesday blog post, Francois Ajenstat, Microsoft 's director of SQL Server marketing, announced that Microsoft will deliver SQL Server 2005 SP3 after the release to manufacturing of SQL Server 2008, which is currently slated for Q3.

"Our goal is to get SP3 released in the market in [calendar year] 2008," wrote Ajenstat.

Ajenstat said the decision was made "in the spirit of transparency" and to give customers as much advance notice as possible for testing and planning deployments. This statement is somewhat ironic in light of the cone of silence Microsoft has traditionally maintained around service pack release dates.

SQL Server 2005 was one of many obstacles that Microsoft VARs faced in getting their customers' systems in line with the myriad requirements of Windows Vista.

For example, in order to run SQL Server 2005 on Vista, users were required to install SQL Server 2005 SP2, but Microsoft didn't release SQL Server SP2 until February 2007, more than two months after it released Vista to business users.

In the wake of this issue, Microsoft introduced what it calls the Incremental Servicing Model, which calls for the vendor to release cumulative updates and bug fixes to SQL Server customers in regular 8 week intervals. The most recent of these cumulative update packages fixed more than 60 bugs in SQL Server 2005.

Alex Pearson, president and CEO of IS Systems, a San Antonio-based solution provider, expects SP3 to make it easier to bring up new servers and save time on applying all the individual updates.

Pearson says that while SQL 2008 will be "another great enhancement to an already strong product", many organizations are still running SQL Server 2000. "Many people that do upgrade will upgrade to 2005, to give 2008 a chance to further mature," he said.

Microsoft in January pushed the RTM of SQL Server 2008 from the first half of the year to Q3, but formally introduced it along with Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 at a mega-launch event in Los Angeles on Feb. 27.

Oraculum

CC-597066 SSCommitted Points: 1626 More actions · Answer 9

What confuses me is that in the blurb for CU8 Microsoft say:

A supported cumulative update package is now available from Microsoft. However, it is intended to correct only the problems that are described in this article. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing these specific problems. ... Therefore, if you are not severely affected by any of these problems, we recommend that you wait for the next SQL Server 2005 service pack that contains the hotfixes in this cumulative update package.

So they are saying unless you have the symptoms wait for a service pack where as in their latest announcement they describe the CU's as "a regular update process to SQL Server 2005.." and an "Incremental Servicing Model"

Do you all install the latest CU, stay one version behind or wait for the service pack?

oraculum SSCrazy Points: 2981 More actions · Answer 10

luckily we have (so far) managed to not apply CU's as we have only hit minor issues mainly with SSIS packages...so we are holding out for the SP3! it is generally our policy not to apply CU's to our production servers unless its a massive issue or a huge security hit... we apply them to various other test and dev environments though..

Not sure what everyone else is doing...but if you read the comments on the connect link you will see similar answers! it just depends on what problems you incur...

Oraculum

StarNamer SSCrazy Eights Points: 8633 More actions · Answer 11

StarNamer

SSCrazy Eights

Points: 8633

June 25, 2008 at 3:31 am

#833770

CC (6/24/2008)

Do you all install the latest CU, stay one version behind or wait for the service pack?

I usually put the latest CU on a development system, so if we get strange behaviour, we can check to see if it's a known & fixed problem. The production machines are currently not even on SP2!

Derek

tedo SSCrazy Points: 2229 More actions · Answer 12

tedo

SSCrazy

Points: 2229

June 29, 2008 at 10:40 pm

#835970

I second that 2008

jhklink Mr or Mrs. 500 Points: 582 More actions · Answer 13

I think I may have an idea on why SP3 has not been released yet. I was installing a SQL 2005 Enterprise Edition x64 on a Windows 2008 Enterprise Edition cluster. During the install (If you select SSIS) it will throw an error about Visual Studio 2005 compatibility with Windows 2008. It will allow the installation to continue. Once installed and service packed (including Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2) you will get errors creating Maintenance Plans and running Database Mail. I have opened a case with Microsoft for these issues.