No More Service Packs for SQL Server

Microsoft will no longer be providing service packs from SQL Server 2017 release.

Earlier when Microsoft released a new version of SQL Server, most database administrators and organizations did not directly upgrade to the new version of SQL Server. Change Managers, Database Managers, and application owners look for a stable SQL Server version and they usually wait for the Service Pack 1 to be released as a sign that the release is a stable new SQL Server version

SQL Server 2017 which was released in October 2017 has many new exciting features and upgrades.

• SQL Server on Linux (Cross-platform SQL edition)
• Resumable online index rebuild operation
• Smarter backups (log and differential backups)
• Adaptive query processing
• Automatic tuning
• SQL Server Machine Learning Services – R and Python
• Graph Database Capabilities

As per Microsoft, with release of SQL Server 2017 ,the major highlights of the new servicing model are:

• Service packs will no longer be released starting with SQL Server 2017.  Only Cumulative Updates and GDRs (General Distribution Release).
• CUs will be delivered more often at first and then less frequently. Every month for the first 12 months, and every quarter for the next 4 years of the full 5-year mainstream lifecycle.
• CUs are delivered on the same week of the month: the 3rd Tuesday of each month.

SQL Server will no longer have service packs for SQL Server 2017 as well as future versions of SQL Server. Microsoft will be still supplying service packs like before for previous versions of SQL Server.

Microsoft will be providing CU's every month for the first 12 months, Microsoft will also provide CU based slipstream media after a certain number of CU's for easy upgrades. For example, after CU12 of SQL Server 2017, the slipstream media will contain SQL Server 2017 with CU12, so we do not need to install SQL Server 2017 and then upgrade to CU12. With this media, we can go directly to SQL Server 2017 CU12.

Cumulative Updates are now considered to be fully tested and certified to the level of the Service Pack and Microsoft now recommends installing the Cumulative Updates and regularly applying the Cumulative Updates for your SQL Server instances.

As per the release document of Cumulative Updates:

• Each new CU contains all the fixes that were included in the previous CU for the installed version of SQL Server. Therefore, you need to install only the latest CU to be up to date.
• SQL Server CUs are certified to the same levels as Service Packs and should be installed at the same level of confidence.
• Microsoft recommends ongoing, proactive installation of CUs as they become available.
• Historical data shows that a significant number of support cases involve an issue that has already been addressed in a released CU.
• CCUs may contain benefits over and above hot fixes. This includes supportability, manageability, and reliability updates.

As per the FAQs during the launch of the new servicing model, CUs will be localized starting from SQL Server 2017, and they will handle this requirement and continue only releasing a single language-agnostic update file.

For the Windows server hosting SQL Server, Microsoft is planning to publish the most recent CU for SQL Server 2017 at the Download Center, Windows Catalog and WSUS [Windows Server Update Services]. The Windows Catalog will house the previous CU's.

With this new servicing model in place, the SQL Server 2017 patching will be simpler and we can always be on latest CU without waiting for Service Packs. Organizations will also be able to adopt the new version quickly and effectively without having any doubts about stability

The Cumulative Updates released by Microsoft for SQL Server 2017 under the new servicing model is a below

Label	Build	Release date
SQL Server 2017 RTM	14.0.1000.169	2017/10/02
Cumulative Update (CU) - 1	14.0.3006.16	2017/10/25
Cumulative Update (CU) - 2	14.0.3008.27	2017/11/29
Cumulative Update (CU) - 3	14.0.3015.40	2018/01/04
Cumulative Update (CU) - 4	14.0.3022.28	2018/02/21
Cumulative Update (CU) - 5	14.0.3023.8	2018/03/20
Cumulative Update (CU) - 6	14.0.3025.34	2018/04/19
Cumulative Update (CU) - 7	14.0.3026.27	2018/05/24
Cumulative Update (CU) - 8	14.0.3029.16	2018/06/21