14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft released the third service pack for SQL Server 2008 last week, and as usual in such cases, the upgrade is accompanied by additional resources that customers can take advantage of.
Case in point: the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 Feature Pack. The Feature Pack was provided alongside SQL Server 2008 SP3 RTM, and can be grabbed free of charge via the Microsoft Download Center.
Customers running various versions of Microsoft’s data platform must already be familiar with Feature Pack releases, if not even leveraging certain such components to enhance SQL Server.
The Redmond company considers Feature Pack, “a collection of stand-alone install packages that provide additional value for SQL Server 2008 SP3.”
A variety of technologies are offered under the Feature Pack, although the term “pack’ must be used loosely since there’s no actual single package, but rather a set of centralized downloads.
Still, customers can get easy access to such releases as ADOMD.NET, Microsoft Analysis Management Objects, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services 10.0 OLE DB Provider, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility Components, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Command Line Utilities, SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1, and a great deal of other downloads.
“Both the Service Pack and Feature Pack updates are available for download on the Microsoft Download Center. As part of our continued commitment to software excellence for our customers, this upgrade is free and doesn’t require an additional service contract,” revealed Abhishek Sinha, program manager SQL Server Sustained Engineering.
“SQL Server 2008 SP3 contains fixes to issues that have been reported through our customer feedback platforms and Hotfix solution provided in SQL Server 2008 SP2 Cumulative Update 1 thru to Cumulative Update 4. Service Pack 3 also includes supportability enhancements and issues that have been reported through Windows Error Reporting system.”
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 (SP3) Feature Pack is available for download here.
SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 (SP3) RTM is available for download here.