Question re: service pack upgrade installation when encryption enabled for dbs

  • Hello. Apologies if this question has been asked before but i am a newbie to the site & forum. I started at a new IT company and during inventory of their db servers i noticed that one of them is behind in its service pack installed. Its version of SQL is: SQL Server 2008 R2 (RTM). And based on some recent stack dumps they've logged & the Non-yielding Resource Monitor errors captured, I know that some of that can be corrected by us just bringing the service pack up to date. At least to Service Pack 1 for 2008 R2 if nothing else. Am i correct on that? Anyway, the actual concern i have is after i test the implementation of Svc Pack1 on one of our test/QA servers, can i expect any complications in upgrading the service pack for this server when all of the dbs on the server are encrypted? Will that jeopardize that encryption configuration or will it be transparent? And in that same vein re: the encrypted databases would we have to re install/restore the certificates created during that encryption after the upgrade? Maybe none of this is a factor but considering i'd be making the svc pack upgrade on a production server i wanted to reach out & ask. Any info anyone might have would be great. Thanks!

  • You just need to ensure that you have backups of all certificates (public and private keys) and backups of all the databases too. It might also pay to review the release notes for the service pack to get an idea of whats included.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

  • Perry Whittle (10/22/2012)


    You just need to ensure that you have backups of all certificates (public and private keys) and backups of all the databases too. It might also pay to review the release notes for the service pack to get an idea of whats included.

    I just want to reiterate what Perry said. Make sure you have backups of those keys and databases. Worst case scenario without those backups is losing all data in the encrypted database.

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
    _______________________________________________
    I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
    SQL RNNR
    Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
    Learn Extended Events

  • if you're sensible you already have backups of the above 😉

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

  • Thank you both for the replies. Yes, i've made sure our db backups are being captured daily but will ensure i have a clean set before i start with the upgrade. I know we've saved off backups of the certs & keys in past workplaces & kept them offsite in case of a disaster, so it sounds like i need to make sure that is happening here as well. I'm pretty sure it is but will confirm with the lead DBA here. Thx again for the feedback. That's what i needed to know.

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply