SBS 2003 Premium - KB948110 SQL2K MS08-040 Caveat

One of our SBS 2K3 Premium servers stalled while running the security update for SQL 2000 KB948110: MS08-040: Description of the security update for SQL Server 2000 GDR and MSDE 2000: July 8, 2008.

We made sure to run the server updates first, then the Exchange ones, then we went to the SQL 2005 update for Service Pack 2.

After that, we ran the above update leaving WSUS V3 SP1 for last.

Susan makes a good point about SQL patching in her blog post: The Mess of SQL Patches. Essentially we can leave them lie for the most part.

Since we were here at the client site to talk about their upcoming server refresh, we also brought their backup drives to rotate out too.

Both servers needed updates so we ran them incrementally on both. We have the SBS 2K3 Premium SP1 with Windows Server 2003 SP2 installed and a Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard acting as a data mirror and second DC.

The Server 2003 R2 box took its updates with no issues.

The SBS 2K3 box hung up during the SQL 2000 update at the point of extracting the files. At least, that is the file process that came up when we tried to cancel the task and subsequently End Task on MSIEXEC when things had not changed 10 minutes later.

We ran an update to ShadowProtect to version 3.2 which also requires a reboot.

So, we rebooted the box and ran the WSUS SP1 update successfully.

For those running SBS 2K3 Premium and Standard there are caveats for this particular SQL 2000 update:

• SharePoint users who upgraded from SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (WMSDE) to any other edition of SQL Server 2000 (for example, SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition) may be incorrectly offered a WMSDE update for this security release. This problem can occur if the SQL Server 2000 edition is not patched correctly with SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 after the upgrade from WMSDE. The WMSDE update may cause SharePoint to stop working. To resolve this problem if this occurs, follow these steps to restore SharePoint functionality...
• Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004 and ISA Server 2006 could be affected by this update in the following ways:
• The MSSQL$MSFW service is stopped and then restarted when the associated database instances are updated. This action occurs if Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) is installed on the computer that is running ISA Server. This action also stops the Microsoft Firewall service. Therefore, the SQL Server installer tries to return the Microsoft Firewall service to the same state that it was in before the update was started. Because the update installer cannot control services on a remote server, you must monitor and possibly restart the Microsoft Firewall service and the dependent services if ISA Server is configured for remote SQL Server logging.
• ISA Server 2006 installs MSDE 2000 together with SQL Server 2000 SP4.

Take note of these issues prior to installing. Make sure to have a good backup ... just in case.

Links:

• The Security Bulletin: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-040 – Important
  Vulnerabilities in Microsoft SQL Server Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (941203)
• Security Update for SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 and MSDE 2000 (KB948110) (file download page)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

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