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        SQL Server 2005 SP3 Expected in Summer '08
        Microsoft announced through two blogs that it plans to release the next service pack to SQL Server 2005, Service Pack 3 (SP3).
        
        
			- By Kurt Mackie
- April 17, 2008
        Microsoft on Tuesday announced through 
two blogs that it plans to release the next service pack to SQL Server 2005, Service Pack  3 (SP3). The release is timed for the third quarter of this year, or after  Microsoft releases SQL Server 2008 to manufacturing.
In addition, on Monday, Microsoft issued notes describing the  availability of Cumulative Update 7 (CU 7) for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2. 
CU 7 is intended for users "severely affected" by certain  problems. Those not affected should wait until the next service pack is  released, according to Microsoft's notes.
Microsoft's PSS SQL Server engineers strongly caution that applying  CU 7 can affect "Analysis Services backup and sync operations." The problem  is associated with a time-out issue, as the PSS  SQL blog explains.
"After the fix a backup is treated as a blocker for a  commit operation. Due to the way that lock compatibility operates in Analysis  Services, once the commit operation is blocked, all incoming requests against  objects in the database are also blocked."
The blog describes some workarounds, but it generally  recommends that administrators schedule "database backups at a time that  will not overlap with processing of objects in the database."
The Cumulative Updates are part of Microsoft's "incremental  servicing model" -- a three-pronged approach to releasing important  code corrections that Microsoft calls "hotfixes." Microsoft's Cumulative  Updates contain all previously released critical on-demand hotfixes and are  released every two months. They must be requested by customers, but any  customer, regardless of their support level can request them.
A second way to get hotfixes is through Microsoft's  "On-Demand" and "Critical-On-Demand" releases, which are solutions  to specific customer-referenced problems that have no workaround fix. 
The third way that Microsoft releases hotfixes is in a "general  distribution release." Microsoft issues these general distribution releases  when it needs to fix problems that affect customers more broadly, such as when  security issues are involved.
Microsoft already has uploaded a page describing its next  Cumulative Update for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2. Cumulative  Update 8, as it's called, is scheduled for release sometime in June.   
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
            
        
        
                
                    About the Author
                    
                
                    
                    Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.