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Aaron Bertrand

Aaron is a senior consultant for SQL Sentry, Inc., makers of performance monitoring and event management software for SQL Server, Analysis Services, and Windows. He has been blogging here at sqlblog.com since 2006, focusing on manageability, performance, and new features; has been a Microsoft MVP since 1997; tweets as @AaronBertrand; and speaks frequently at user group meetings and SQL Saturday events.

SQL Server 2005 SP3 Cumulative Update 4 is available

Microsoft quietly released another cumulative update for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 this week. So quietly, in fact, that it took me 5 days to notice. As Chad Miller noted in his comment, this is the first build of SQL Server 2005 that supports the "lock pages in memory" setting on Standard Edition. You can read about the release here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlreleaseservices/archive/2009/06/15/cumulative-update-4-for-sql-server-2005-service-pack-3.aspx

If you are still running on SP2, you should consider testing and deploying SP3. If that is not in the cards, then you will also want to look at CU #14 for SP2, also released on Monday:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlreleaseservices/archive/2009/06/15/cumulative-update-14-for-sql-server-2005-service-pack-2.aspx

Why do I think you should be on SP3 and not SP2? Well, from the fix lists for the two branches, it is clear that more fixes are going into the SP3 branch (20 fixes, vs. 6 fixes on the SP2 side). However, as with previous "parallel" CU development, the SP3 branch fixes are not a superset of the SP2 branch fixes. Observe that only 2 fixes are common to both, 4 are in CU14 for SP2 only, and 18 are in CU4 for SP3 only:

Fix	SP2 CU14 9.00.3328	SP3 CU4 9.00.4226
KB #948567	yes	yes
KB #956574	yes	yes
KB #967164	yes	no
KB #967470	yes	no
KB #969611	yes	no
KB #971114	yes	no
KB #961050	no	yes
KB #968834	no	yes
KB #968900	no	yes
KB #969528	no	yes
KB #969844	no	yes
KB #969997	no	yes
KB #970058	no	yes
KB #970070	no	yes
KB #970349	no	yes
KB #970551	no	yes
KB #970648	no	yes
KB #970672	no	yes
KB #970823	no	yes
KB #970966	no	yes
KB #971402	no	yes
KB #971409	no	yes
KB #971529	no	yes
KB #971607	no	yes

Published Saturday, June 20, 2009 12:28 PM by AaronBertrand

Filed under: cumulative updates, SQL Server 2005, service pack 3, service pack 2

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	Chad Miller said: SQL 2005 SP3 CU#4 also includes the lock pages in memory feature for Standard Edition. This previously had been a feature only available in Enterprise edition. June 20, 2009 1:53 PM
	AaronBertrand said: Of course, yes, thanks for the reminder Chad! I first talked about it being available in June for SQL Server 2005, back in this April post: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/aaron_bertrand/archive/2009/04/24/big-news-lock-pages-in-memory-for-standard-edition.aspx The specifics of the trace flag are mentioned in KB #970070: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970070 Note that it is supported in the SP3 branch only. Another reason to upgrade, if you haven't already. That said, I will add to Microsoft's disclaimers that you really should work with support to understand why you need this setting, as it could be a stability time bomb in certain scenarios. June 20, 2009 2:11 PM
	Chris Wood said: Aaron, You are a little out with the fixes in CU14 of SP2 not in SP3. KB967164 and KB967470 were fixed in the previous CU for SP3 and got added to SP2 because I asks for them. The powers of the CSS SQL Server engineers made this happen. Chris June 21, 2009 10:12 PM
	AaronBertrand said: Thanks Chris, yes it is tough to keep track of which fixes make it into which CUs. They are doing their best to balance getting fixes out to us and making the process consistent, but there is always some give and take... June 22, 2009 8:19 AM
	Aaron Bertrand said: Looks like dozens of fixes for SQL Server 2008 have made their way into another cumulative rollup; CU3 July 27, 2009 2:04 PM
	DBA said: Hi Aaron. Which version of SP3 CU4 is the standard update for x64? There are four options: _SQLWriter, _RS_Sharepo, _SNAC and _COD_4229 with _COD_4229 being by far the biggest. It seems amazing that Microsoft to do make this clearer. August 5, 2009 1:37 AM
	AaronBertrand said: DBA, the standard update is the file _COD_4229, though it has since been replaced by yet another confusing file name, SQL_Server_2005_SP3_CU_Updated_Ref_KB_972867. See my recent rant about this debacle here: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/aaron_bertrand/archive/2009/08/06/whither-art-thou-oh-microsoft-support.aspx The other files are: _SNAC : SQL Native Client, which you would use to distribute to clients that connect to SQL Server but do not have SQL Server installed. _SQLWriter : SQL Writer service, though I am not sure exactly why this hotfix file has been published separately. _RS_Sharepo : Reporting Services / SharePoint, though like SQL Writer, I have no idea why these were posted separately. The KB article and/or the download page could certainly use some better verbiage around what these files are and who needs to deploy which files where. August 6, 2009 10:00 PM
	Matt said: Seeing same issue as DBA. The CU4 KB http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970279 does not appear to have files for 64 bit. When you request the files you jst get 32 bit links. I contacting our MS TAM to see if they can steer me in right direction. I'll post an update when I have one. August 7, 2009 10:01 AM
	Matt said: Sorry, Aaron. I had hit this page yesterday afternoon. I didn't refresh my browser this morning. I posted before seeing your post from last night. Thanks for the great work. August 7, 2009 10:04 AM
	Aaron Bertrand : Whither art thou, oh Microsoft support? said: PingBack from http://sqlblog.com/blogs/aaron_bertrand/archive/2009/08/06/whither-art-thou-oh-microsoft-support.aspx August 7, 2009 2:25 PM
	ROSEMARIE said: I have an update pending and I get a message (update could not be installed for Security Update for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (KB970892) someone please help. Thanks January 5, 2010 1:32 PM

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SQL Server 2005 SP3 Cumulative Update 4 is available

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