Todd's World: Welcome to SQL Server 2008 Patching

Friday, September 26, 2008

Welcome to SQL Server 2008 Patching

Welcome to SQL Server 2008 Patching

We have posted the first cumulative update for SQL Server 2008 aptly named Cumulative Update 1 (CU1). I thought before you considered installing a patch for SQL Server 2008, you would like to see a tour of what it looks like compared to SQL Server 2005 patch installations.

The first thing I did was download the package for the update from the following KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956717

This article includes a list of fixes contained in CU1.

If you remember, I wrote a blog post back in April on how you can download your own fixes from KB articles as seen from this screen shot of the article on the web:

Once I received my email containing the hotfix download instructions, I downloaded the fix to the local drive where I had SQL Server 2008 installed. I then uncompressed the zip file, and ran the package (which for x64 is called SQLServer2008-KB956717-x64.exe).

Let's take a look at this journey of patching through a series of screen shots.

When I run the executable I am first presented with some setup rule checks to catch problems before I try to install. Notice how the screens look very similar to the user experience of the standard SQL Server 2008 setup you run from the DVD.