How often do you check for SQL Server updates? I usually check once a week just to see what’s out there, even if it’s not on a version I’m worried about in production. Maybe there was a hotfix released for an issue that I’d be interested in or maybe I just want the latest and greatest to use for experimenting at home. For example, I saw that a new SQL Server 2019 cumulative update came out this week and thought it was a good time to update one of my local machines that I use for testing.
Checking Build with DbaTools
There’s always the manual way of checking in periodically with sites like https://sqlserverbuilds.blogspot.com/ and https://sqlserverupdates.com/ to see what’s new. If you have a requirement to check and want a “set it and forget it method” you can utilize dbatools to help take care of it for you.
Let’s run the following in PowerShell and check the results:
Test-DbaBuild -SqlInstance localhost -Latest
The results returned show my current SQL Server build of 15.0.4073 and that the target, or latest build, is 15.0.4138. Since these do not match, the Compliant value is False.
SQL Server 2019 CU11 was just released on 6/10 so we’ll update to that version. After applying the latest CU, we’ll check our status again:
Our versions all match and Compliant shows as True.
Automate Options
You can take these results and customize it in a scheduled job. Maybe you want the results e-mailed every week. Maybe you want the results only when the Compliant value is False. The choice is yours.
SupportedUntil is a nice bonus to see. This value represents the Mainstream End Date for support of the version you’re running. In this case, 2025 is a relatively long way away but it’s better to be aware of that date and not let it sneak up on you.
Thanks for reading!
Chad Callihan 