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MS SQL Cummulative Update maintenance

Alexandru L 21 Reputation points
2020-09-13T10:04:42.143+00:00

Hello,

I have a question:

Is there any way to cleanup previous MS SQL cummulative updates rollback files, as they will pile up and occupy a large amount of space.

One way to safely cleanup is to do a major maintenance and uninstall all CUs one by one and then apply the latest CU and pray all goes according to plan.

Thank you!

SQL Server | Other
SQL Server | Other

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Tom Phillips 17,786 Reputation points
2020-09-14T16:27:53.6+00:00

Those files are only used to "reinstall" or "uninstall" an installation. Although MS does not recommend it, you can simply delete the previous version, since all CUs include all previous CUs.

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  1. Cris Zhan-MSFT 6,676 Reputation points
    2020-09-14T03:40:31.993+00:00

    Hi @Alexandru L ,

    >MS SQL cummulative updates rollback files

    If you mean the files under the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\<m.n>\Setup Bootstrap\Update Cache,I think the way mentioned in your question is feasible.

    please read following posts for reference:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3196535/description-of-the-update-cache-folder-in-sql-server

    https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/195106/if-no-plans-to-uninstall-can-log-and-update-cache-folders-in-setup-bootstrap-fo

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  2. Alexandru L 21 Reputation points
    2020-09-14T12:08:59.617+00:00

    Looking at the links again, there is a fairly safe solution. I install all the CUs one after another, and when the drive fills up, I will delete all but the currently installed CU. This way I can rollback to a previous version just in case, since is not very likely to rollback 2 CUs or more.

    I will test this idea in a VM just to be sure, since I don't want to rollback like 20 CUs when the drive fills up, and increasing drive size is not always a solution.

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  3. Alexandru L 21 Reputation points
    2020-09-14T10:43:45.443+00:00

    So the "safest" solution is to rollback the current CU and install the new CU. This way the Update Cache does not grow to very large sizes, in time.

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