Service Pack 1 for SQL Server 2008 was released this week, so I guess it's time for everyone to finally adopt it, right? That's a running joke, though given the issues with a few Service Packs, you might want to upgrade to RTM first and then apply service packs after they've had a chance to get tested in the real world.
Actually it was good to see this Service Pack come out in a timely manner. The Release Services team for SQL Server promised that we'd see the first service pack 6 months after RTM, and then one every year after that. They were slightly late, but this SP went into testing in a timely manner, so I'm guessing there were things that needed to get worked out. I'm much happier with a month or two delay than a buggy Service Pack, as I'm sure those of you working in the real world are as well.
This SP brings with it SlipStreaming, which has been requested for a long time. I'd urge many of you to check out this blog and then build a slip streamed installation for all your new instances. You might not need it now, but it will make installing that next instance much smoother and quicker. You'll already be up to date.
The other thing to be aware of is that there is a slight conflict between CU4 and SP1. Only some of the fixes that were in CU4 are in SP1. If you're confused, you're not alone as I was a little shaky on exactly what this meant the first 6 times I read it. However this blog post from the PSS Engineers does a good job of telling you what fixes are where. It also explains why you need to specify CU4 for SQL Server 2008 XXX, in this case, CU4 is CU4 for SQL Server 2008 RTM (and for those systems that are SQL Server 2008 CU1, CU2, or CU3).
I not sure it's a more complicated world than it's been in the past. It seems that Microsoft is giving us more information, and with regular releases, it seems as though we have more to watch out for than in the past. I don't think that's the case, and I'd still recommend that unless you are having specific issues and are looking for a CU to address them, I'd ignore the CUs and only apply the Service Packs.
Steve Jones
Steve's Pick of the Week
How much does Team Foundation Server REALLY cost vs SourceSafe? - Sure it's a blog post from Microsoft, but I think it raises some interesting points, and it gives you an idea of the costs of a 1-5 person team and a 20 person team. TFS is more expensive, and I'll let you decide if it's worth.
The Voice of the DBA Podcasts
Music presented by Incompetech and Kevin MacLeod
The podcast feeds are now available at sqlservercentral.podshow.com to get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.
or now on iTunes!
- Windows Media Podcast - 23.7MB WMV
- iPod Video Podcast - 24.8MB MP4
- MP3 Audio Podcast - 5.0MB
Today's podcast features music by Incompetech. Kevin Macleod has some great compositions in all genres of music. Check him out at www.incompetech.com.
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