As most of you probably already know, Microsoft released SP1 for SQL Server 2005 this month. The service pack represents a few bug fixes as well as the production version of database mirroring. What you may not know however is that it's yielding very mixed results in production environments.
A lot of users downloaded the CTP when it became available and began testing it in their labs. The release was pretty stable, but the production release has failed to live up to the standards set by the beta. There have been widespread reports of SSIS errors and query anomolies, and other issues. I too tested the CTP and while I found no issues, I am reluctant to put it into production until I see how all this hammers out. My advice to you is to wait. Give Microsoft a chance to fix some of these issues before you put your production environment at risk. I'll be watching the progress of the situation and I'll be sure to let you know when I think it's safe to install.
Below here though, you'll find a copy of an email sent to one of the SQL Server usergroups. This has circulated quite a bit and it shows the types of problems you can expect if you install in production.
First impression ... this is the worst sql service pack for years.
After installing and testing the CTP-SP1 build 2040 on 4 development and test servers for 4 weeks with no errors, we decided to test the official
SP1 build 2047.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=cb6c71ea-d649-4
7ff-9176-e7cac58fd4bc&DisplayLang=en
The details:
Server A (32bit Win2003 and 32bit SQL2005): Installation runs smoothly, no errors on first sight. But then discovered, that sql is still reporting to be build 2040 (CTP-SP1) and we believe it, because it's the only test server which is fully functional (Integration Services) at the moment.
But
installer said SP1 Installation successful ... ???
Server B (32bit Win2000 and 32bit SQL2005): Aborted with Client Components installation. Found out that 630MB free on drive C isn't enough. After clearing 800MB on C, installation runs with no errors. After rebooting can't connect to Integration Services (HRESULT: 0x8002801D, TYPE_E_LIBNOTREGISTERED Microsoft.SqlServer.DTSRuntimeWrap) :-(
Server C (64bit Win2003 and 64bit SQL2005): First installation aborted with a failure on Integration Services, second try after a reboot says everything ok, no errors. But after a second reboot Integration Services service can't start. (The SQL Server Integration Services service failed to start due to the following error: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.) :-(
Server D (32bit Win2003 and 32bit SQL2005): Same as Server B, aborted with Client Components installation. But even after the successful second install has now a mixture installation with SP1 (build 2047) and CTP-SP1 (build 2040). After rebooting can't connect to Integration Services
(HRESULT: 0x8002801D, TYPE_E_LIBNOTREGISTERED
Microsoft.SqlServer.DTSRuntimeWrap) :-(
Well, after this experience we will stay on CTP-SP1 (build 2040) until there's a usable SP1.
Does anybody else tried the SP1 already? What are your experiences?
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Posted by Sean McCown on April 20, 2006 03:51 PM
