Before You Install

When you upgrade instances of SQL Server 2005 in a merge replication topology or in a transactional replication topology with updating Subscribers, you must upgrade the instances in the following order:

1. Distributor
   
2. Publisher
   
3. Subscribers
   

If you are upgrading a Reporting Services installation that includes a remote report server database, you might encounter problems when you upgrade the database schema. By default, Setup uses the security token of the user who is running the Setup program to connect to the remote SQL Server instance and update the schema. If you have administrator permissions on both the local and remote computer, the database upgrade will succeed. If you run Setup at the command prompt and specify /rsupgradedatabaseaccount and /rsupgradepassword for an account that has permission to modify the schema on the remote computer, the database upgrade will also succeed.

If you do not have permission to update the schema on the remote computer, the connection will be refused with the following error:

"Setup was not able to upgrade the report server database schema. You must run the Reporting Services Configuration tool and on the Database Setup tab upgrade the report server database to the current database schema version."

The report server program files will be upgraded to SP3, but the report server database will be in the format of the earlier version. The report server will be unavailable while the report server database is in the older format.

To upgrade the database manually, run the Reporting Services Configuration tool after upgrade is complete. Connect to the upgraded report server, and then use the Upgrade option on the Database Setup page to update the database schema. The report server will be available after these steps are completed.

If you use Add or Remove Programs (or Programs and Features if you are using Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008) to repair or modify SQL Server components after SP3 installation, you may receive the following error message:

"The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable."

The following SQL Server components are affected:

• MSXML (Msxml6.msi)
  
• SQLXML (Sqlxml4.msi)
  
• SQL Server Native Client (Sqlncli.msi)
  
• Backward Compatibility (SqlServer2005_BC.msi)
  
• SQL Server VSS Writer (SqlWriter.msi)
  

When you apply SP3, Setup upgrades system databases. If you have implemented restrictions on the ALTER DATABASE syntax, this upgrade may fail. Restrictions to ALTER DATABASE may include the following:

• Explicitly denying the ALTER DATABASE statement.
  
• A data definition language (DDL) trigger on ALTER DATABASE that rolls back the transaction that contains the ALTER DATABASE statement.
  

If you have restrictions on ALTER DATABASE, and Setup cannot upgrade system databases to SP3, you must disable these restrictions and then run Setup again.

Note the following information before you install SP3 on a failover cluster instance:

• Do not stop the cluster service before you run the SP3 Setup program, or while the installation program is running.
  
• Do not end any running processes before you run the SP3 Setup program.
  
• Do not take the SQL Server service offline before you run the SP3 Setup program. The SP3 Setup program will stop and start the SQL Server service.
  
• Run the SP3 Setup program on the primary node of the failover cluster instance.
  
• The SP3 Setup program might require you to restart the failover cluster nodes. This restart replaces the files that were in use during Setup.
  
• Rolling upgrade is not supported for SP3.
  

Note the following changes to the SQL Writer service default startup type and default state:

• The SQL Server VSS Writer service startup type is changed from Manual to Automatic.
  
• The SQL Server VSS Writer service default state is changed from Stopped to Started.
  

You cannot install SQL Server 2005 SP3 on an instance of SQL Server 2005 that is configured to use an NTFS junction point to store SQL Server data files. If you configure data files of an instance of SQL Server 2005 to be stored in an NTFS junction point that is created by using the Linld.exe utility, installation of this SQL Server service pack will fail. Additionally, the NTFS junction point will be deleted after the installation. Therefore, you will be unable to start the SQL Server service after the installation. This issue occurs because Windows Installer removes the NTFS junction point during installation of the SQL Server service pack.