I recently recently got some very helpful clarification from a friend at Microsoft about Microsoft\u2019s plans for how they will be servicing SQL Server 2012 over the rest of 2013, and how these plans will work with their mainstream support policy. I don\u2019t think this is any great change, but it is a welcome explanation of their servicing and support policy.<\/p>\n

As you may know, I have previously talked about how the Cumulative Updates (CU) for the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) and the Service Pack 1 (SP1) branches of SQL Server 2012 are \u201cout of synch\u201d, with the latest release for the RTM branch happening about one month sooner than the roughly equivalent CU for the SP1 branch. You can see this by looking at Table 1 and comparing the release dates for the recent CUs for both branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

RTM Branch Builds<\/strong><\/td>\n	<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n	SP1 Branch Builds<\/strong><\/td>\n	<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Build<\/td>\n	Description<\/td>\n	Release Date<\/td>\n	Build<\/td>\n	Description<\/td>\n	Release Date<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11.0.2300<\/td>\n	Original RTM<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11.0.2316<\/td>\n	RTM CU1<\/td>\n	4\/12\/2012<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11.0.2325<\/td>\n	RTM CU2<\/td>\n	6\/18\/2012<\/td>\n	11.0.3000<\/td>\n	SP1 RTM<\/td>\n	11\/7\/2012<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11.0.2332<\/td>\n	RTM CU3<\/td>\n	8\/31\/2012<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n	<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11.0.2383<\/td>\n	RTM CU4<\/td>\n	10\/15\/2012<\/td>\n	11.0.3321<\/td>\n	SP1 CU1<\/td>\n	11\/20\/2012<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11.0.2395<\/td>\n	RTM CU5<\/td>\n	12\/17\/2012<\/td>\n	11.0.3329<\/td>\n	SP1 CU2<\/td>\n	1\/21\/2013<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11.0.2401<\/td>\n	RTM CU6<\/td>\n	2\/18\/2013<\/td>\n	11.0.3349<\/td>\n	SP1 CU3<\/td>\n	3\/18\/2013<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Table 1: SQL Server 2012 Cumulative Updates<\/strong><\/p>\n According to my source, Microsoft \u201cwill stop doing CUs for SQL 2012 RTM in line with the policy of 12 months + SQL 2012 SP1 release (Nov 2012). It is a rough date so the last RTM CU is likely in October sometime.\u201d\u00a0 That means that the last SQL Server 2012 RTM CU will probably be CU10, released around October 21, 2013. SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 2 is likely to be released in the October\/November 2013 timeframe (my guess). The Microsoft lifecycle policy for SQL Server 2012<\/a> shows that mainstream support for SQL Server 2012 RTM will end on January 14, 2014.<\/p>\n This means that if you are still on the RTM branch (perhaps because the latest hotfixes are showing up one month earlier than in the SP1 branch) when SP2 is released, you will still be supported until January 14, 2014. These latest fixes from the RTM branch are also supposed to show up in a supported branch (SP1 or SP2) by January 14, 2014. This clarification alleviates my concern that someone might be in a non-supported configuration for a period of time until the SP1 and SP2 branches reached relative parity with the RTM branch.<\/p>\n These two Microsoft KB articles are useful references that you might want to bookmark, since they list and link each CU (and they are updated as new CUs are released).<\/p>\n The SQL Server 2012 builds that were released after SQL Server 2012 was released<\/a><\/p>\n The SQL Server 2012 builds that were released after SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 was released<\/a><\/p>\n You might want to read Making the Case for Regular SQL Server Servicing<\/a> to understand why I think it is a good idea to keep your SQL Server instances properly maintained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I recently recently got some very helpful clarification from a friend at Microsoft about Microsoft\u2019s plans for how they will be servicing SQL Server 2012 over the rest of 2013, and how these plans will work with their mainstream support policy. I don\u2019t think this is any great change, but it is a welcome explanation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,26,31],"tags":[104],"class_list":["post-665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sql-server-cumulative-updates","category-sql-server-service-packs","category-sql-server-2012","tag-sql-server-servicing"],"yoast_head":"\n