Cumulative Updates

  • I am about 6 versions behind on my cumulative updates, and need to apply the latest one. I have looked for detailed documentation but haven't found any yet. I have a DEV environment and a test environment that I can apply it to first, however, these environments will not have the workload of the production environment, so do we only need to test for basic functionality and not for a resource test, like memory being fully utilized or processors being pegged?

    Also, wondering if a should backup the master database to rollback the CU if needed, or can I use the basic uninstall method of the CU in the GUI? Any info/insight into the CU process is helpful. (I am going from 2017 CU 16 to CU 23).

  • Test it all as best you can. No, I wouldn't plan on undoing the install. Plus, backing up master won't cut it. You're changing the underlying executables, so restoring an older version of the master database can't undo the update. While I wouldn't necessarily want to be the first to put a given CU into production, after a few days, it's pretty clear if that CU is problematic or not. Just test it as thoroughly as possible prior to production.

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  • The the KB page (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/kb5000685-cumulative-update-23-for-sql-server-2017-22b653c7-8487-4564-9db2-b5c1bd465145) for the latest, scroll down. There is an uninstall section.

  • Thanks for the feedback Grant and Steve. So the docs do not discuss a stand alone instance. It seems by reading the info on clusters etc. that I would simply use the windows OS GUI, install it like a patch on a test instance, and have the developers confirm that all of their code and bells and whistles they are using work. Then move to PROD instance. Since rolling back shouldn't really be an option (I agree), then might as well push it on DEV.

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