SQL 2005 RTM to SP4 issues with WSS3?

Question

We have SQL Server 2005 RTM working well with WSS3.0 (Windows Sharepoint Services).  We've been mandated to fix MS08-052 vulnerability.  Mission critical server, no facilities for a test lab. :-(  I have read Known Issues on SP4, SP3, etc. until my eyes are crossed.  I have searched many different arrangements of WSS3 SQL2005 SP4 in Microsoft support, and also the web in general.  Do you guys know of any issues or any other good places to look for info?  Should I go ahead and buy some plane tickets to an undisclosed location? ;-D

Thanks!

Answer 1

I had SharePoint running under SQL Server 2005 SP4 without problems. In any case you should always make sure you can go back after the installation, in case something is wrong. Try to get your company to provide you with a test environment in the future, it does not have to be expensive get yourself a big harddrive and vreate virtual machines based on your production environment installation, in that way you can always test before upgrading production. You may want to consider moving to SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008R2 as SQL 2005 general support was ended last year, if you need support for SQL 2005 you may use the extended support.

You can find the support dates on this link: http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/?sort=PN&alpha=SQL

Check this link about WSS3.0 and SQL Server 2008 R2 support: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sharepointadmin/thread/6db2f09a-aa38-4fb9-b4d0-40bf375940ba

To do the install of the SP you could use the steps from this link:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/beatrice/archive/2009/02/10/best-practices-for-installing-sql-server-service-packs-hotfixes-cumulative-updates.aspx

Good luck with the upgrade!