New Cumulative Updates for SQL Server 2008 RTM & SP1
January 19th, 20107
New Cumulative Updates for SQL Server 2008 RTM & SP1
January 19th, 20107
 
 

Late last night, the SQL Server Release Services team announced new cumulative updates for both SQL Server 2008 RTM and SQL Server 2008 SP1.

There are too many fixes to mention, but I once again notice the trend that the "newer" branch (SP1) has more fixes than the RTM branch.  I suppose they are serious about their commitment to end support for SQL Server 2008 RTM on April 13th of this year.  If you haven't already planned upgrading your instances to SP1, it is definitely time to start thinking about it.

Cumulative Update 6 for SQL Server 2008 SP1 (KB #977443) brings you to build 10.00.2757.

Cumulative Update 9 for SQL Server 2008 RTM (KB #977444) brings you to build  10.00.1828.

As a note, these CUs once again contain a wide variety of files.  The point of these files is to allow you to download and apply only the SNAC or Report Builder updates, which are smaller files.  If you are not sure that you only need an individual update, then your best bet is to always download the file "SQL_Server_2008_<SP1>_Cumulative_Update_<#>" for your platform – the installer will figure out which components are eligible for the update.  I wonder when the process that creates the files is going to be corrected so it spells "cumulative" correctly?

You can see the official announcements here and here.

By: Aaron Bertrand

I am a passionate technologist with industry experience dating back to Classic ASP and SQL Server 6.5. I am a long-time Microsoft MVP, write at Simple Talk, SQLPerformance, and MSSQLTips, and have had the honor of speaking at more conferences than I can remember. In non-tech life, I am a husband, a father of two, a huge hockey and football fan, and my pronouns are he/him.

7 Responses

  1. AaronBertrand says:

    As IL pointed out on my more recent entry about CUs, the packages have been corrected, updated and re-published:
    http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlreleaseservices/archive/2010/01/20/new-sql-server-2008-sp1-cu-6-packages-available.aspx

  2. AaronBertrand says:

    Thanks Glenn.  I posted a separate entry about the failures in the CU process in general:
    /blogs/aaron_bertrand/archive/2010/01/20/mis-steps-in-the-publication-of-cumulative-updates.aspx

  3. Glenn Berry says:

    I saw that same behavior on a test system yesterday afternoon, but I thought maybe I had downloaded the wrong package at first.
    I have pinged a few people in the Product Group about it, so we'll see how long it takes to fix it.

  4. AaronBertrand says:

    Thanks Itzik, you are totally right.  All signs indicate CU6 for SP1 but it is actually CU9 for RTM.  I've left a comment here:
    http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlreleaseservices/archive/2010/01/18/cumulative-update-6-for-sql-server-2008-service-pack-1.aspx#comments

  5. Itzik Ben-Gan says:

    I go to the SP1 page (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977443).
    I mark the hotfix: SQL Server 2008 All (Global) x64 sp1 SQL_Server_2008_SP1_Cumlative_Update_6.
    I get an e-mail with the download link and download a file called 404435_intl_x64_zip, so according to the name (contains 443) I can assume it is supposed to be for SP1.
    I execute the file, extracting it, but the extracted file is called SQLServer2008-KB977444-x64, so from the name (contains 444) I suspect they packaged the wrong one.

  6. AaronBertrand says:

    Hi Itzik, are you saying that the download page for SP1 shows the RTM files, or that when you request the SP1 files, you are offered the RTM files, or that after you download the SP1 files, it turns out that you actually received the RTM files?  I am trying now…

  7. Itzik Ben-Gan says:

    Hi Aaron,
    It seems that the download for the update for SP1 actually contains the update for RTM. Hope this will be fixed soon. Did anyone manage to obtain and install the right one?