CREATE BLOG dbo.SqlServer

For two weeks in a row, Windows Update has told me that I need to patch my SQL Server 2005 SP2 installation - with a lower build number than I currently have! I have build 3159 (click here for an explanation of the SP2 silliness) and yet Windows Update tells me that I should let it install build 3150. When it popped up two weeks ago, I told it to not install and to not notify me again of this patch but, hey! Whaddayaknow? It popped up again today asking me to install it. I think that, since it was Tuesday, it felt the need to do *something*...

Oh hell - just as I started trying to find the link to 3159, i noticed that a new hotfix is out dated two days ago: build 3161. It is really annoying at how they have been forced to throw out so many hotfixes post-SP2. Oh well - do you think they've learned their lesson so that we won't have this problem again? No? Me either... We went through this with Service Pack 2 for SQL Server 2000 as well you may remember if you've been around SQL Server for more than a few years.

Anyway, back on topic...

Here's a few helpful links to help you wade through the myriad of hotfixes and keep up-to-date:

• Aaron Bertrand has a comprehensive list going of all the hotfixes here
• SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2) Re-release and post fixes explained

Labels: sql, sql server, sql server 2005, sql server 2005 sp2

Whew - this has been a challenging last 30 days as I've tried and tried to just get SP2 to work in various environments without generic and generally not-helping-thank-you-though error messages. I love the new features in SP2 particularly the ability to create and use Custom Reports, but today I've had about four hours of SQL Hell lol. One problem was that I installed Reporting Services onto an already-SP2 machine. I then applied SP2a then patched to 3152 - all good, right?

After that, my RSConfigTool.exe (a.k.a., the Report Services Configuration Manager/Tool/Utility) doesn't work lol. When I launch it, it lets me connect to SSRS but immediately throws one of the "Unhandled Exception has occurred in your application. If you click continue..." popups that we get when we are in development and haven't implemented an exception handler.... ahem....

Here's the error thrown:

System.Management.ManagementException was unhandled
Message="Not found "
Source="System.Windows.Forms"
StackTrace:
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.MarshaledInvoke(Control caller, Delegate method, Object[] args, Boolean synchronous)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.Invoke(Delegate method, Object[] args)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.Invoke(Delegate method)
at ReportServicesConfigUI.ConfigurationManager.Panel_ConfigurationChanged(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at ReportServicesConfigUI.Panels.ConfigurationPanel.OnConfigurationChanged(EventArgs e)
at ReportServicesConfigUI.Panels.DatabaseSetupPanel.SetDatabaseConnectionTask(String connectionString, String server, String database, ConfigurationCredentialsType credsType, String account, String password, Boolean upgrade, String dbVersion)
at ReportServicesConfigUI.Panels.DatabaseSetupPanel.SetDatabaseConnectionTask(Object state)
at System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.WaitCallback_Context(Object state)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
at System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.PerformWaitCallback(Object state)

Likely it's too generic to offer anything but I put it up here just in case someone else has seen this :(

Another error that I've gotten in the RSConfigTool.exe is:

An unhandled exception ('System.Management.ManagementException') occurred in RSConfigTool.exe [7632]

When I click a panel, it then pops up a message that says:

There was an error while switching panels. The most likely cause is an error retrieving WMI properties. The exception details are: Not found

Speaking of WMI, I had a weird error installing SP2 on a Windows 2003 Standard Edition server today that had two instances, one with RTM and one with SP1 on it. The SP1 instance (the default) upgraded fine but the RTM would not update and the error message said something like, "An error occurred. Run over to Google and find KB921896 for details."

So I did.

And I'm not friggin happy!!!

KB921896 is the list of bugs fixed in Service Pack 2....

So, what would you do next? Well, I tried installing Service Pack 1 onto this instance which lasted for a total of 2 minutes before throwing three errors in succession. The final error? "An error has occurred. Please point yourself quickly to KB913090."

You guessed it: KB913090 is a list of all the bugs fixed in SQL Server 2005 SP1 lol.

Okay....

So which is it: do the folks at MSFT have a huge sense of humor or are they just rushing stuff out the door to meet some deadline that we don't know about? I don't know and I'm just kidding around anyway - we all know they don't have a sense of humor!

;)

Labels: Reporting Services, sql 2005, sql server 2005, sql server 2005 sp2

In case you don't know, for a few weeks, we have build 9.0.3042 of SQL Server 2005 SP2 but, on March 6, 2007, it was "refreshed" to 9.0.3043 so that it included a hotfix for some pretty intense maintenance plan scheduling failures.

Now, the same day they released 9.0.3043, MSFT also released build 9.0.3050 which is for those people who installed the original version of SP2 (9.0.3042). Yes, this is a bit strange: build 3050 effectively brings SQL Server 2005 SP2 build 9.0.3050 "down to" SQL Server 2005 SP2 build 3043's level. KB Article is dated March 23.... At least, given the docs, that's what I *think* is the case.

The very next day came build 9.0.3152 (March 7, 2007) which is billed as a "Cumulative Hotfix for SP2". This includes the file sqlserver2005-kb933097-x86-enu.exe and it resolves a bunch of bugs but apparently it wasn't ready to be released on March 6 so it was released on March 7.

Are you still reading?

Good. I need you here because actually, I'm kind of lost as to what to install! Does build 3152 include the fixes in 3050 or is it only for 3043? The KB article says that it is a cumulative hotfix but does not mention builds 4050, 3043 or 3042 at all. The KB article for 3152 mentions builds
2214 and 2219 only.....................

Do I need to uninstall 3050 just to install 3152?
Does 3152 require 3043 only?

Arrrgghhhhh!

Sooooooooo - I've just installed 3152... Let me go check it out and see what it says (and whether the SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard reports run successfully since they didn't on build 3050).

..........................

Well, the ProductLevel is still SP2 (SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('ProductLevel') ) but now the ProductVersion shows 9.0.3152 (SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion')) but the SQL Server Performance Dashboard reports still don't work... So much for that!

Labels: sql 2005, sql server 2005, sql server 2005 sp2