SQL Server 2005 SP4 Arrives

SQL Server 2005 SP4 became available Dec. 2010 and will probably be the last service pack for SQL Server 2005. SP4 delivers a consolidated, integration-tested package of bug fixes that will provide a stable baseline for organizations planning to remain on SQL Server 2005 and adds hooks for an important database deployment feature introduced with SQL Server 2008 R2. Organizations running SQL Server 2005 will want to apply SP4 before support for SP3 expires in Dec. 2011.

Last Service Pack Before Apr. 2011 Deadline

SQL Server 2005 SP4 combines 11 cumulative updates delivered after SP3 with some additional bug fixes not shipped previously. It also enables a new management feature: Data-tier Applications (DAC), a feature of SQL Server 2008 R2 that enables centralized deployment and updating of databases to servers running SQL Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 SP2, and (now) SQL Server 2005 SP4, as well as the Microsoft-hosted SQL Azure Database service.

SQL Server 2005 will leave Mainstream support in Apr. 2011. (See the chart “Past SQL Server Versions“.) After the end of Mainstream support and the release of SQL Server “Denali” in late 2011, it could become progressively more difficult to maintain SQL Server 2005. New Microsoft application versions will probably not be compatible with it and patches for newly discovered security vulnerabilities might not be released, as has happened with older versions of Windows and Exchange. Consequently, organizations running SQL Server 2005 should ideally have migration plans in place by the end of 2011.