This week there was a security release for all supported versions of SQL Server. Each version has 32-bit and 64-bit patches, and each version has GDR (General Distribution Release) and QFE (Quick-Fix Engineering) patches. GDR should be applied if you are at the base (RTM or SP) build for your version, while QFE should be applied if you have ...

Last week, Microsoft released a series of patches for all supported versions of SQL Server (from SQL Server 2005 SP3 all the way to SQL Server 2008 R2). The reason for the patch against SQL Server installations is largely a client-side issue with the XML viewer application, and for SQL Server specifically, the exploit is limited to potential ...

It's patch Tuesday! [UPDATE June 19 : Please see my follow-up post about this security update.]  Today Microsoft released a security bulletin covering several issues that could potentially affect SQL Server; these exploits include remote code execution, denial of service, information disclosure and elevation of privilege. You should test ...

Yesterday, a conversation on twitter reminded me that I haven't been keeping up with posting cumulative updates.  I missed these updates for SQL Server 2008 on March 15:Cumulative Update #7 for SQL Server 2008 SP1 (10.00.2766)Cumulative Update #10 for SQL Server 2008 RTM (10.00.1835) And yesterday Glenn Berry (blog | twitter) was the first I ...

It used to be very difficult to obtain hotfixes for SQL Server (sometimes even to learn about their existence), and they were often unsupported.  They have made extremely great strides in this area, and in general, I find the new procedure much more convenient : just go to the KB article, select the fix(es) you want, and you get an almost ...