SQL Server 2008 SP1 Cumulative Update 2 is available!

AaronBertrand — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:17:00 GMT

Most importantly, this update includes the new trace flag that will allow users running Standard Edition to enable Locked Pages in Memory. This is a huge win for a lot of customers out there. You can read about this specific enhancement in this blog post by Bob Ward:

http://blogs.msdn.com/psssql/archive/2009/05/19/an-update-for-standard-sku-support-for-locked-pages.aspx

There are some other important updates in this CU as well (at least IMHO), including updates that fix "could not produce a query plan" errors (see KB #961106), as well as two big "incorrect query results" bugs when running parallel queries (see KB #968449) and when using the ROW_NUMBER() function (see KB #970198). Note that some of the individual KBs may reference Cumulative Update 5 for SQL Server 2008 instead of / in addition to CU2 for SP1; obviously you should not download CU5 if you are running Service Pack 1. Also note that you can't get the Locked Pages in Memory fix if you stay on the RTM track instead of moving up to SP1.

You can request the hotfix (and read about the other fixes included) in the following KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970315

However, currently, the support site is timing out for me, which is a first. I think Denis Gobo might be taking all of Microsoft's bandwidth!

CU2 for SQL Server 2008 is missing!

AaronBertrand — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:10:00 GMT

UPDATE 2008-12-03

The download packages for the database engine have returned to the download page. Make sure you download the file labeled "SQL_Server_2008_Cumulative_Update_2" to apply to machines where the SQL Server engine is present, and the file "SQL_Server_2008_RTM_CU2_SNAC" to apply to any machines that don't have a SQL Server instance but do connect to any SQL Server 2008 instance. I have asked for better descriptions on the download page to differentiate between the files, because I am sure a lot of people using SQL Server 2008 don't know the difference. Also, be sure to download the file for the correct platform! x64 if you are running 64-bit SQL Server on 64-bit Windows; x86 if you are running 32-bit SQL Server (regardless of whether the underlying OS is x86 or x64); and IA64 if you are on Itanium.

I have not yet downloaded the file and verified that the bits weren't swapped out quietly, though I have been assured internally that this is not what has happened...

I am sure this is kind of "Chicken Little" and might only be valid for a short time, but I thought I should mention it anyway, since I am already seeing people download the native client patch and scratch their heads, wondering why it won't patch the engine. Sometime after Denis reported the availability of Cumulative Update Package 2 for SQL Server 2008 (Nov. 19th), and even after that because I downloaded it well after PASS, it has disappeared from the download page. At this moment, all that is available is the SNAC client for x86, x64 and IA64:

The files above will only patch the native client / drivers on the machine, so while it is worth the download (especially for client machines that do not host a SQL Server 2008 instance), it will not patch any engine components.

My fear, of course, is that we are re-entering familiar territory; after SP2 for SQL Server 2005 was released, one of the packages was rebuilt and redeployed, with the same build number, causing a lot of confusion. I complained about that in March of 2007 and I wasn't the only one.

Now I am on the lookout for it, and hope it is returned without incident:

Hopefully, it was not pulled intentionally, but rather inadvertently excluded from the download page temporarily. When I have more information about this, I'll post here; if you see the downloads restored in the meantime, please let me know!

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SQL Server 2008 SP1 Cumulative Update 2 is available!

CU2 for SQL Server 2008 is missing!