Should you hold out for SP4?
In a perfect world, you wouldn't need service packs or hotfixes. Software would run flawlessly from the minute you installed it. But we don't live in a perfect world, and vendors often find glitches after they release software.
Microsoft releases service packs when enough problems arise to warrant a bundled release of software corrections or enhancements. Service packs upgrade Windows NT Workstation and NT Server. Microsoft distributes updates with its Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) enterprise or via universal subscriptions, or you can order updates on CD-ROM. You can also download updates from Microsoft's NT Server Web site.
Service packs are language and platform specific. To find the correct version, look in the subdirectory below the native language for the server or workstation you want to update. The last letter of the filename is i for Intel or a for Alpha (e.g., nt4sp3_i.exe or nt4sp3_a.exe). Service packs are self-extracting files, so you double-click the filename to extract the files to your hard disk. To expand a service pack without applying it, you create a directory, open a command prompt, and enter the filename followed by /x (i.e., nt4sp3_i /x). To apply the service pack, run update.exe.
Service packs are cumulative. Thus, Service Pack 3 (SP3) for NT 4.0 contains the corrections from Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Service Pack 2 (SP2). You must reapply service packs if you load a new operating system (OS) component (e.g., driver, protocol, service) from the original media, because the service-pack fixes might supersede the original code.
Upgrading a component such as Internet Explorer (IE) 3.02 to IE 4.01 is complicated. As in other upgrades, you must reapply the service pack after you load the software from the original media. However, IE 4.01 has more recent versions of certain files than SP3 has. The service-pack update procedure displays a dialog box informing you that you have already installed a more recent version of the file. You must determine whether to overwrite or keep the newer file.
BackOffice products also have service packs. You do not have to reapply SP3 after you load a service pack for Exchange or SQL Server, because BackOffice products seldom modify NT components. If a BackOffice service pack replaces an NT component, you do not want to overwrite the new version with an older file.
Hotfix Headaches
Microsoft originally planned to issue service packs as quarterly updates to NT but has not been able to keep this schedule. Microsoft released SP3 in September 1997. Between service-pack releases, Microsoft issues individual corrections known as hotfixes. Like service packs, hotfixes are language and platform specific. Hotfixes also follow the same naming conventions as service packs: i for Intel and a for Alpha. You find hotfixes in a subdirectory of the server's or workstation's native language. You can download hotfixes from http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver. Click Downloads, and scroll down to Service Packs & Updates. You can FTP hotfixes from ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/fixes. Downloads are sometimes faster at the FTP mirror site ftp://198.105.232.37/fixes.
Two years ago, Microsoft released few hotfixes. Since SP3, Microsoft has released more than 40 hotfixes, as Table 1 shows. Microsoft's Web site documents each hotfix in a Support Online article, which the hotfix directory typically includes.
Sorting through hotfix documentation is a headache for administrators who have only one or two servers. If you support hundreds of workstations and servers, keeping track of which hotfixes you applied to which servers is a nightmare. In addition, you can encounter several problems with hotfixes.
- Microsoft does not always thoroughly test hotfixes before releasing them. If a problem arises after release, Microsoft pulls the hotfix, corrects the problem, and rereleases the hotfix. Microsoft typically places the superseded version in an archive directory.
- Installation of multiple hotfixes is order dependent.
- Some hotfixes are embedded in other hotfixes. To avoid problems, scan the text file (e.g., postsp3.txt) to verify that you have not already installed the hotfix.
- If multiple hotfixes replace a file, you must remove the hotfixes in reverse order (from most recent to oldest) to return your system to its original state.
- Sometimes the directory containing the hotfix you need is empty.
- You must reinstall hotfixes after you reapply a service pack.
- Microsoft does not publish a schedule of upcoming corrections.