sqlskills-logo-2015-white.png

How to Find Out About the Latest SQL Server Service Packs and Cumulative Updates

Since someone asked me about this today, I thought I would write about it.  Aaron Bertrand (blog|twitter) and I sort of have a friendly competition to be the first to blog when a new SQL Server CU is released.  I don’t know of any e-mail notification service for Service Packs and Cumulative Updates from Microsoft. There used to be RSS feeds that you could subscribe to, but I don’t think they are working anymore. One valuable resource is the SQL Server Release Services Blog, but it is not always updated in a timely fashion.

SQL Server Release Services Blog

The Update Center shows the latest release for each major version going back to SQL Server 2000.

Update Center for Microsoft SQL Server

 

These KB articles listed below are updated whenever a new CU is released, and it usually happens pretty quickly. There won’t be any more Cumulative Updates for the KB articles that are marked (retired branch).

SQL Server 2012

The SQL Server 2012 builds that were released after SQL Server 2012 was released

The SQL Server 2012 builds that were released after SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 was released

 

SQL Server 2008 R2

The SQL Server 2008 R2 builds that were released after SQL Server 2008 R2 was released  (retired branch)

The SQL Server 2008 R2 builds that were released after SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 was released

The SQL Server 2008 R2 builds that were released after SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 2 was released

 

SQL Server 2008

The SQL Server 2008 builds that were released after SQL Server 2008 was released  (retired branch)

The SQL Server 2008 builds that were released after SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 was released  (retired branch)

The SQL Server 2008 builds that were released after SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 was released  (retired branch)

The SQL Server 2008 builds that were released after SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 was released

 

To be honest, what I typically do to discover new Cumulative Updates is that I set a calendar reminder for seven weeks after the last Cumulative Update, and then I start checking those updating KB articles for the next week or so after that to find out when a new CU has been released. Microsoft is pretty mysterious when it comes to announcing new Service Packs and Cumulative Updates. Sometimes there is a big announcement, and sometimes you have to do some detective work.

One thought on “How to Find Out About the Latest SQL Server Service Packs and Cumulative Updates

  1. Hi Glenn,

    My go-to is the unofficial list which is also updated PDQ when new CUs and CVEs come out: http://sqlserverbuilds.blogspot.co.uk/

    An RSS or similar feed would be useful, or a csv that could be used parse into a query…

    Thanks for these posts though, always useful reminders!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Other articles

Imagine feeling confident enough to handle whatever your database throws at you.

With training and consulting from SQLskills, you’ll be able to solve big problems, elevate your team’s capacity, and take control of your data career.