Voice of the DBA

Tag: patching

  • Patching Problems

    I applied the Windows 8.1 update a few weeks ago and had some issues with my machine. Windows was fine, but I lost my SQL Server service. A few other users, including some of the SQLServerCentral community also had issues and sent me ideas, but their fixes didn’t work for me. That was OK because the problems gave me a chance to use PoSh to solve a real problem. I’ll be blogging about that in the next week.

    However the 8.1 update has caused lots of issues, and Microsoft is acknowledging these problems. That’s good, but the process gives me pause, and to a large extent, I think this makes more and more people suspect about all of Microsoft’s patching processes. I bet there are companies that feel even more justified in waiting for SP1 for SQL Server 2014 before upgrading, even though there is a chance that the patch itself will cause problems.

    This is one reason I’ve been hesitant to remain current with Cumulative Updates (CUs). Microsoft doesn’t stand behind them, with the text on each CU page that users should only apply the patch if they are experiencing specific problems. Otherwise users are told to wait for the next Service Pack, which seem to be coming less and less often.

    Any patch can cause issues, and I certainly don’t like the idea of automatic updates always being applied because if there are issues, they can become much more widespread than controlled updates. There is also the issue of vendor responsiveness. Microsoft has pushed out patches that caused issues, and while they’ve try to fix issues quickly, I don’t want to have all of my desktops, or all of my SQL Servers, down because of a bad patch.

    I don’t know how we patch in a more effective manner, but I do know that I want to have some control over updates as an end user, and I also want ways to remove patches. Moving to the app model of always applying patches over patches, and never rolling back seems to be a step in the wrong direction.

    PS – If you want better servicing for SQL Server, vote for final service packs for products still under support.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.8MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn. feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

  • Patching Problems

    I applied the Windows 8.1 update a few weeks ago and had some issues with my machine. Windows was fine, but I lost my SQL Server service. A few others, including some of the SQLServerCentral community also had issues, but their fixes didn’t work for me. It was OK, because the problems gave me a chance to use PoSh to solve a real problem. I’ll be blogging about that in the next week.

    However the 8.1 update has caused lots of issues, and Microsoft is acknowledging these problems. That’s good, but the process gives me pause, and to a large extent, I think this makes more and more people suspect about all of Microsoft’s patching processes. I bet there are companies that feel justified in waiting for SP1 for SQL Server 2014 before upgrading, even though there is a chance that the patch will cause problems itself.
    This is one reason I’ve been hesitant to remain current with Cumulative Updates (CUs). Microsoft doesn’t stand behind them, with the text on each CU page that users should only apply the patch if they are experiencing specific problems. Otherwise users are told to wait for the next Service Pack, which seem to be coming less and less.
    Any patch can cause issues, and I certainly don’t like the idea of automatic updates always being applied because if there are issues, they can become much more widespread than controlled updates. There is also the issue of vendor responsiveness. Microsoft has pushed out patches that caused issues, and while they’ve been responsive, I don’t want to have all of my desktops, or all of my SQL Servers, down because of a bad patch.
    I don’t know how we patch in a more effective manner, but I do know that I want to have some control over updates as an end user, and I also want ways to remove patches. Moving to the app model of always applying patches over patches, and never rolling back seems to be a step in the wrong direction.
    Steve Jones

  • Beware the Windows 8.1 Update Upgrade

    I had Windows 8.0 on my laptop, and went to Win 8.1 earlier this year. Everything went well. Even this spring, when I installed the 8.1 update, things went well on my laptop. This was my test environment, as most days I work on my desktop. I decided to then update my desktop, and things went well overall, until I went to use SQL Server.

    At first, I couldn’t connect to SQL Server from SSMS. No big deal, I thought the update had stopped a service. I checked Services, and was surprised to not see a SQL Server database service. I had a browser and VSS service, but nothing else.

    I rebooted my machine, which didn’t help. I manually ran sqlservr.exe, and it failed with permissions issued. I tried repairing the SQL install, but that didn’t work either. More than a few people reported similar things, but nothing I found on the Internet worked. I kept getting security SPID errors, so I just uninstalled, and then reinstalled SQL Server.

    I’m not sure under which accounts I had my service running, and it’s possible I used my own account, but usually I set up a SQLService account on my machines. In any case, it was a hassle and pain.

    I’m not telling you to avoid the 8.1 Update, but I am warning you and noting that you might want to be sure you have good backups of your systems.

  • Lobbying for Change

    I ran across a note recently on Twitter from Adam Machanic. He wrote:  Just spent most of the day working through a subtle PK issue – 1 bad row out of 18M. Would have killed for this. The item in question was a Connect item, one with almost 500 votes. It’s a good one, and I’d encourage you to vote for it. I know that it seems many of these items are never worked on, but some changes make it into the product, so I’d ask you to continue to vote for change.

    When Connect was first introduced, Andy Warren and I debated the value of the platform. On one hand it made good sense to directly feed information back to developers, but on the other hand, it was likely that those items that got more notoriety or votes might get fixed, even if they weren’t necessarily good ideas. The popularity of an item doesn’t necessarily mean it’s one that should be fixed in the product first. We also worried about one of the big problems of the platform and that is that a tremendous amount of noise of entered and it becomes hard to triage the submissions.

    As I watch Connect evolve, I can’t help but think that it’s been mostly a failure from my perspective, with a few notable successes, like Service Pack 3 for SQL Server 2005. There’s too much noise and too many items ignored. However I also do think that those items that get lots of vots do get more consideration from Microsoft. More votes doesn’t mean that the feature will get fixed, but I do believe the item gets talked about. (As an aside, please vote for more, final Service Packs)

    Personally, I think that raising awareness of possible suggestions or problems is a good idea. I’d love to see a top 10 list of Connect items from MS for consideration every month. Having them highliht some items they’re considering from the list might help focus attention from customers. I don’t think that’s likely, but I wonder if highly debated suggestions might be worth highlighting at SQLServerCentral. Would you like to see a Connect item of the week? Something you could vote on or even debate as a good idea? I would, and I’d consider adding them as a way to help improve the platform that I enjoy working on the most.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 3.0MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Mevio . feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.