while upgrading SQl server 2014 SP 0 to SP 3. we have to stop the services then upgrade or we can upgrade in working enviorment.

Question

while upgrading SQl server 2014 SP 0 to SP 3. we have to stop the services then upgrade or we can upgrade in working enviorment.

Answer 1

Hi @Bilal Khan ,

> we have to stop the services then upgrade or we can upgrade in working enviorment.

No, you do not need to stop the SQL server service manually by yourself before upgrading SQL server. But after upgrading, SQL server will be restarted automatically, this will have a short downtime.

As Erland mentioned, suggest you apply the latest CU4 for SQL server 2014 SP3, and apply the latest security update KB4583462 for SQL 2014 SP3 CU4. You can download them from below links.

Cumulative Update 4 for SQL Server 2014 SP3
KB4583462 - Description of the security update for SQL Server 2014 SP3 CU4: January 12, 2021

If your environment is SQL AG or failover cluster instance, please perform a rolling upgrade to avoid downtime. Refer to below MS document to get more detail steps.

Upgrade a failover cluster instance
Upgrading Always On Availability Group Replica Instances

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Answer 2

You don't have to stop the services yourself - Setup will take care of that. Thus, no, you cannot run this in the middle of the day without anyone noticing, but there will be some minutes of downtime.

Also, once you have installed SP3, you should apply Cumulative Update 4, which is the last CU for SQL 2014 SP. And finally there is a GDR with a security fix you should apply. And all three will restart SQL Server. (Since the executable is replaced.)

If you have an Availability Group or mirroring, you can upgrade the secondary, fail over, and the upgrade the original primary, and avoid downtime that way.