So, it's been a while since the discussions about patching changes to SQL Server by Microsoft in these links (WSUS for SQL server patching & https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2016/08/windows-update-now-delivers-sql-server-cumulative-updates/#respond) ... I wondering if anyone has any more insight to using WSUS to patch our companies SQL Servers using this approach ... Anyone using WSUS successfully to patch SQL Server 2012 and beyond? It seems like this is the direction that Microsoft is heading ... If we were to do this (and we have tested a couple of servers), it would be to enable the SQL Server patches along with the Windows patches. Any thoughts?
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1You'll might get a better answer if you can boil it down to a specific question. We all have lots of thoughts, but since we don't know anything about your environment, any suggestions we have might not apply. What are you concerned about? What are the risks? How much time is it going to save you? If you've got one person managing 50 servers, the answer for that may be different and one person managing 5 servers. And yes, people are using WSUS to patch SQL Server and always have been.– Tony HinkleJan 9, 2020 at 1:30
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If Arron Bertand isn't a fan, then I wouldn't be either! Note: I know very little about SQL Server!– VéraceJan 9, 2020 at 10:24
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*** Update *** A bit about our environment -- we have over 200 servers that we patch (dev, test, prod, etc.) and are inquiring whether DBAs have been successful using WSUS to apply cumulative updates to SQL Server. Please share any issues you have experienced ... Risks that you have considered ... Versions of SQL Server that you are patching with WSUS, etc.– MelanieJan 9, 2020 at 15:37
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*** Update *** The majority of our landscape is standalone VM machines, but we do have a couple of AlwaysOn servers (and, the O/S is patched 1 hour apart via WSUS).– MelanieJan 9, 2020 at 15:39
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1 Answer
I know this is an older question but I was recently looking for some new information about using WSUS for patching SQL Servers and came across this one.
I used to use WSUS at an old job for patching SQL Server instances but we only used it for managing the various non-prod and prod server groups, manually selecting the desired SPs and/or CUs to be applied after a version review, and ultimately pushing the patch software to the servers.
For all of the reasons noted in other posts (Cluster/AOAG failovers, running maintenance jobs, replication, etc.) we managed the actual patch installation manually. This was not perfect but it did save our team a ton of time since we had over 200 servers with varying versions of SQL server to patch. Sadly, it does not look like Microsoft has made progress in using WSUS for patching SQL Server instances, but if you are looking to save time it might be worth a try. Just proceed with caution and pay attention to the WSUS options to ensure you are only selecting the "Download Only" option.
