SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 1

The Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 1(SP1) has been released for download to their customers.

The Service Pack 1 for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 upgrade package applicable to any of the following SQL Server 2005 editions:

• Enterprise
• Enterprise Evaluation
• Developer
• Standard
• Workgroup

Update Release date: 18th April, 2006

Service Pack release version: 1.00.0080

Update download Size: 252.7 MB – 909.4 MB(approximate)

SQL Server update SP1 File Names:

SQLServer2005SP1-KB913090-ia64-ENU.exe 353.0 MB
SQLServer2005SP1-KB913090-x64-ENU.exe 303.7 MB
SQLServer2005SP1-KB913090-x86-ENU.exe 252.7 MB

Direct Download Links: Link1, Link2, Link3

System Requirements to run SQL 2005 Service Pack 1:

• Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2

• 32-bit systems (x86) requires – A PC with Intel or compatible Pentium III 600 MHz or higher processor (1 GHz or faster recommended)
• 64-bit systems (x64, ia64) requires – 1GHz or faster processor
• Minimum of 512 MB of RAM (1 GB or more recommended)
• 675 MB of available hard disk space

This service pack upate has came with critical updates to the  following areas.

Analysis Services

• Fixes have been included that improve the performance and stability of queries.
• HTTP connectivity will now support HTTP compression.
• Optimized queries to perspectives are now as fast as queries to the perspective’s base cube.

SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS)

• Usability of the Import/Export Wizard has been improved in multiple-table scenarios.
• The IDtsPipelineEnvironmentService service lets custom data flow components have programmatic access to the parent Data Flow task.

Data programmability

• Client connection time has been significantly improved if failover occurs while the server is using Database Mirroring and the clients are using TCP/IP.

Manageability

• Previously, Profiling Analysis Services showed the time in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time now appears in the user’s local time.
• Previously, events that successfully replayed were not being counted correctly. Therefore, incorrect replay statistics were reported to the user. This problem has been fixed.

SQL Server Agent

• A registry switch has been added that you can use to control encryption between a master server and a target server (MSX-TSX).

Maintenance plans

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

• You can now install database diagram support objects on databases in SQL Server 2000 Compatibility mode.

SQL Server Management Objects (SMO)

• Reliability has been improved in the SMO scripting and transfer features.

Replication

• You can now use database mirroring failover together with replication.
• A new Database Mirroring monitor has been added to SQL Server Management Studio. To start this monitor, right-click a database node, point to Tasks, and then click Launch Database Mirroring Monitor.

Reporting Services

New features

• You can now add static images, such as company logos or other graphics, to reports in Report Builder.

Many bugs have been fixed in the integration of Analysis Services in Report Designer. For example, the report wizard now works correctly with Analysis Services data sources. Additionally, the automated parameter-generation behavior has been improved.