January 13, 2009 at 9:56 am
How much testing does Microsoft do on CU or Hot-fixes? Is regression and/or QA testing done? Or just a simple UNIT test?
I ask because I just found out that HotFixes provided to my company from another Vendor only does UNIT testing on HotFixes. Why wouldn't a Vendor do full regression testing on a published HotFix? It may fix the initial problem, but, it can cause new problems else where!
...thanks
January 13, 2009 at 10:01 am
I'm not sure there's an exact qualitative or quantitative answer to that one.
They recommend not applying CUs and hotfixes that you don't specifically need, and waiting for service packs instead, specifically because service packs are more thoroughly tested than CUs and hotfixes.
MSDN has a lot more data on it, but that's really what it boils down to.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
January 13, 2009 at 10:07 am
Thanks for your quick response.
I just find it incredible that any published software (be it a new release, patch, CU or whatever) is NOT sent through the hoops and fully tested.
It may indeed fix the issue you specifically have, but, it can cause problems elsewhere. Then what do you do? Try to fix the problem that the HotFix caused or back-out the HotFix itself.
Catch-22?
This is what's happened to me with another Vendor product at my company.
January 13, 2009 at 11:37 am
I haven't generally had issues with MS hotfixes. The idea is "test them in your environment". SQL Server, specifically, is so environment-sensitive, that it's a tough beast to test fully. What works well for my servers, configured the way I have them, with my databases, with my tables and procs and coding practices, and even my CLR procs, may crash and burn on your system.
You'd have to ask a Microsoft employee or PR or some such to get a definite answer on your original question. For all I know, they test the heck out of it, and just put the "use at own risk" thing on there for legal liability. No way to know without asking them.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
January 13, 2009 at 11:40 am
GSquared (1/13/2009)
You'd have to ask a Microsoft employee or PR or some such to get a definite answer on your original question. For all I know, they test the heck out of it, and just put the "use at own risk" thing on there for legal liability. No way to know without asking them.
Correct.
Thanks GSquared.
Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply