What's the difference in a GDR, a Cumulative Update, and a Service Pack?

Joe Webb — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:11:24 GMT

The nomenclature used for referencing software releases and updates can be quite confusing. Let's consider an example to illustrate what the various terms mean.

As a new version of a product is being developed, it may be made available to select customers and community members for early testing. This is sometimes called alpha builds of the product.

As development progresses and the product becomes more and more polished, it's provided to a wider audience. This used to be called beta releases; for example beta 1, beta 2, etc. However a few years ago Microsoft changed the terminology for SQL Server pre-releases. They are now referred to as CTPs (Community Technology Previews). You can download the November CTP, for example.

As the product enters it's final stages before release, the feature set is complete and the product is undergoing final testing, it's called an RC (Release Candidate).

After a product has undergone significant testing and it's determined that no more changes will be made to the product before release, it's sometimes said that the product has gone golden. It's also called a GA (General Availability) release.

Once the bits been turned over to a company to mass produce the media (CDs, DVDs, etc), it's RTM'd (Released To Manufacturing).

Usually sometime around the RTM, the product version is "launched". The timing of the launch may or may not have any correlation with the time the product is actually available for purchase. The launch has more to do with marketing and product feature education than availability.

Finally the product is released! It's available for purchase from the normal distribution channels.

Over time, Hot Fixes are created by the dev team to address specific product issues affecting certain customers. Sometimes the issue is so wide spread, a GDR (General Distribution Release) is issued so that all customers will receive the updates.

Since hot fixes and GDRs are designed to quickly address specific problems encountered by specific customers, they can be issued rather often. The rapidity of the hot fixes and GDR's makes it impractical for many IT shops to keep up with the pace of the releases. So, a CU (Cumulative Update) is created that contains all of the applicable hot fixes. This makes it easier for customers who haven't been directly affected by the issues that sparked the hot fixes to remain current.

Once a large enough collection of changes have been gathered, an SP (Service Pack) will be issued. Historically, SPs have also been the release vehicle used to deliver new features that were not ready at the time of GA. For example, Database Mirroring was made available in SP1. SP2 brought us the custom reports as in the Performance Dashboard. Microsoft has since indicated that SPs will not be used as a release vehicle for new features.

And then the whole cycle starts overs. Feel like you're on a treadmill yet?

For more information, check out the following links:

Cheers!

Joe

PASSing the torch

Joe Webb — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:26:37 GMT

As many of you may know, for the past six years I've volunteered my time and energy to an organization called PASS - the Professional Association for SQL Server. It's a wonderful organization of highly dedicated, talented, and personable SQL Server professionals from around the world.

My time on the PASS board began in January of 2002 when I was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board created when a director resigned mid-term. I really enjoyed working with such a dedicated and enthusiastic group of people and I sought re-election at the end of my first year.

Now, three elections and six years later, I've just completed my final term on the PASS board. I've served in variety of capacities over the years including Director of Community Development, Director of Logistics and Conference Operations, and Vice President of Marketing. My tenure culminated in the role that I just left, the Executive Vice President of Finance.

My good friend Kevin Kline, the immediate past-president of PASS, describes some of the accomplishments of the organization that we've all labored toward over these past years in a recent post on his personal blog site. I admire Kevin's skills as a leader, his knowledge as a SQL Server professional, and his strong convictions as a person of faith. It's been a real pleasure serving along him and the rest of the PASS board volunteers - far too many to name individually.

Serving on the board has been a lot of fun and very rewarding in many, many ways. It truly is one of those ventures where the more you put in, the more you seem to get out. It was also a lot of hard work. I routinely put 12 to 18 hours per week into PASS-related activities.

But I count all of those hours as being very worthwhile. In a small way, I helped to create a worldwide organization of more than 25,000 SQL Server professionals and foster a networking and knowledge-sharing environment from which we all can benefit. And the organization is poised to do even greater things under the new executive leadership of Wayne Snyder, Rushabh Mehta, and Bill Graziano.

So what will I do with all this new found free time? Well, I've found that the tasks I have to do are subject to physics laws concerning gases - the tasks tend to expand to fill the volume of free time available. I plan to get more involved with my local church, my kids scouting activities, and my local SQL Server user group again. I've also taken up another worthwhile volunteer role, one on the Auburn University MBA Advisory Board. And, of course, I'll still be involved with PASS in some way; I love the community too much to simply walk away completely.

But the thing I'm most looking forward to is spending more time at home with my family and working on our little hobby farm in middle Tennessee. If you're interested you can read of our adventure on our little slice of creation over on my personal blog.

Cheers!

Joe

Misc

What's the difference in a GDR, a Cumulative Update, and a Service Pack?

PASSing the torch