Cumulative Update #8 available for SQL Server 2005 SP3
Last week, Microsoft released Cumulative Update #8 for SQL Server 2005 SP3. The build # is 9.00.4285. You can read the blog post from the Release Services team here:
And the Knowledge Base article, #978915, is available here:
There is a noticeable omission here, as pointed out by fellow MVP Davide Mauri: there is no equivalent CU yet announced for 2005 SP2. I think this is for one of the following reasons (or a combination):
- with only 5 fixes in this CU, it is possible that the problems do not affect the SP2 branch;
- the fixes for the SP2 branch may not be ready yet, and the customer(s) who found the issues are clamoring for SP3 fixes; or,
- SP2 is taking a back seat due to Microsoft's recent commitment to SP4 and last month's announced end-of-life for SP2 support.
I think the real reason there is no SP2 CU is that SP2 was "retired" on January 12, 2010, as Bob Ward explains here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/psssql/archive/2010/02/17/mainstream-vs-extended-support-and-sql-server-2005-sp4-can-someone-explain-all-of-this.aspx
I completely agree that people should have upgraded to SP3 by now.
Yes, I think you guys are right. When I first noticed the CU was published, I completely forgot that SP2 support had already ended – in my mind I somehow thought that end of support had been announced, but that the actual date was in the future. It's ok, nobody should still be on SP2 anyway.
Aaron,
Its the out of support that stops SP2 updates. Bob Ward confirmed that as PASS in November. That way I knew that the December CU was the last for SP2.
Chris
It seems pretty likely to me that Microsoft has't issued an equivalent CU package for 2005 SP2 because they ended support for it last month.