Announcing SQL Server 2016 SP1 CU8, 2014 SP2 CU11

SQL Server 2016 SP1 CU8 has a whole bunch of Analysis Services fixes, plus:

• Long restore times for encrypted databases
• Memory leak in sys.dm_exec_cached_plans
• Deadlocks when inserting into a partitioned clustered columnstore index
• Dynamic data masking returns invalid data
• Tempdb contention due to caching problems
• UPDATE fails silently if you reference a non-existent partition function (hey, look, that’s your own dang fault)
• Bad query plans when searching outside stats – I mention this only because it’s worth noting that this CU, like all CUs, can cause query plan changes. In a perfect world, you balance your urgency (or lack thereof) against your interest in getting a particular set of query plans fixed, and your ability to test those queries and document the differences that a CU provides.

The new SQL Server 2014 SP2 CU11 only has a handful of fixes, but they include:

• Deadlocks not detected when you use a MERGE statement on a CCI (seriously, who uses MERGE? It’s a hot mess.)
• AG failover occurs after a latch timeout
• Long restore times for encrypted databases

If you’re planning your patch windows, keep in mind Microsoft’s Modern Servicing Model for 2017. In it, they wrote that CUs will be released “every month for the first 12 months.” Let’s see if they can keep up that frantic pace – the last CU for 2017 came out a month ago, so it should be out any day.

I wouldn’t expect to see any SQL Server 2012 updates anymore – 2012 hit SP4, and aside from urgent security updates, that’s about the end of that.