SQL Server Citation - Hemantgiri S. Goswami

SQL Server High Availability Options Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:01:00 +0000

As it is named, all the SQL Servers and databases should be highly available (HA) to cater the business requirement, and, the business application should be up and running all the time. To achieve this Microsoft has introduced SQL Server Cluster which is one of the highly recommended and used solutions for SQL Server high availability which is server specific that means that all the databases on the SQL Server Cluster are available in case of failover. Database Mirroring (DM) and Log Shipping (LS) along with the Replication (Repl.) are the alternate solution for the high availability but all this options are database specific that means that you can set it up for specific database(s).

Here are the brief about each (I'll post detailed article on each in near future):

Replication: As it is named, replicates the data/database to one or more than one location. Replication was first introduced in SQL Server 6 with minor support and was enhanced in SQL Server 7.0; with launch of SQL Server 2000 it has added some more features to it. And, with SQL Server 2005 Microsoft has introduced Peer-to-Peer replication which is capable of doing load balancing.

The Application: Based on the business requirement i.e. for reporting purpose, data from more than one location needs to be merged and or if wish to have transaction level replication of data.

Component of the Replication:

Publisher: Is a server which published the data

Distributor: Is a server which is responsible to distribute data to the subscriber(s)

Subscribers: are servers which has the subscription, the distributor sends the data which is being published by the publisher here.

Subscription Type: Subscription has two method, pull and push. With Pull subscription, subscriber connects to the publisher periodically and pulls the data where as with Push subscription publisher connects with the subscribers and push the changes over subscriber.

There are 4 type of Replication available:

1. Snapshot: Snapshot replication is the very basic and simplest type of replication available. As name implies, it took snapshot of the published data, connect to the subscriber and then applied the snapshot on subscriber. This is most suitable when data is required for reporting purpose and are not updated on the subscriber end, and high latency is acceptable.

Application: Where higher latency is allowed and data is used for the reporting purpose only.

2. Transactional: In this mode of replication, it is replicating data transaction level by continuous monitoring. To achieve this Log Reader Agent is being created when Transactional Replication is configured, it monitors every database which is configured for Transactional Replication and then copies the transactions which are marked for replication from T-Log to distribution database. Distribution database then send (either pull/push subscription) it to the subscriber.

Application: Where higher latency is not allowed and data is used for the reporting

purpose, and sometimes subscriber is allowed to updates.

3. Merge: Merge replication uses Triggers to track the changes in subscriber to publisher. And, as it named it merges the records, irrespective of who updates/inserts records. This is the most complex topology of replication. As it is a merge replication wherein updates/modifications are allowed from more than one subscriber at a time, it has in-built facility to resolved conflict. There are some pre-requisites which you need to have before Merge Replication can be configured, here is my article on Merge Replication Tips here

Application:

a. Multiple Subscribers might update the same data at various times and propagate those changes to the Publisher and to other Subscribers.

b. It might have a chance of occurring conflict, and if they do, there should be the mechanism to resolve it.

c. One time modification is done at subscriber end and the same needs to update at publisher and other subscriber.

4. Peer-to-Peer: This is the best topology of Replication introduced up till. This has been introduced in with launch of SQL Server 2005. In, Peer-to-Peer replication the participants have the complete schema and all the data modifications (DML operations) are made at all nodes. Now, you would be thinking, hey what is the catch here, what is new then merge replication? Well, the simplest answer is Peer-to-peer Replication is designed for Load Balancing by spreading out write activity across all available nodes and then based on the sync latency it synchronizes database, thus read and write operations become faster. And, additionally if any of the server is not available it will continue to perform as it is with another node and write operation for this node is routed to another node.

Application: Best suited for online shopping application

Database Mirroring: Database mirror is the best and cost effective solution for automatic failover. Database mirroring is introduced with launch of SQL Server 2005. A database mirroring replicate the change to secondary server at transaction level and provides two modes: High Performance (Asynchronous) and High Safety (Synchronous). The difference between two is, with High Safety mode it will not send and write any data to the secondary node until it is committed on the primary node whereas with High Performance mode it will ship the transaction and write the transaction on to secondary server no matter it is committed or roll back on the primary server.

Log Shipping: This is the cost effective solution, as it is named, it ships T-Log backup to the secondary node(s) on regular interval and then restore job performs T-Log restoration at secondary server to keep it updated with the primary server. The disadvantage is, it don’t have automatic failover feature and hence manual intervention for role change would take 2~3 minutes time (I guess this is allowable downtime).

SQL Server Cluster: This is the best HA feature in SQL Server, which provides automatic failover for Entire Server, in comparison to other options which provides supports to particular database(s). But, this solution is costlier than other 3 options because it requires identical hardware.

How to get rid off from Transaction Log (t-log) filling up

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 04:41:00 +0000

How to get rid off from Transaction Log filling up!!!
This is the most frequently asked question in the forums or blogged. Hence, I thought let me write something on this so that this would be helpful to the DBA while they face this issue.

What is Transaction Log (T-Log)?
Why T-Log is full?
Why my T-Log got filled up so fast?
How do I get rid of T-Log filling up so quickly?

What’s the issue all about?
The problem here lies in the statement itself, that’s T-Log is getting filled up or is full!!!!

To get better understanding of the problem statement let me give you some insight into T-Log and significance of it.

As the name says, it logs all the transactions that are executed in SQL Server, be it fully logged or minimal logged (based on the recovery model you’ve chosen). This is what the simplest definition I can give you.

What does T-Log do and why it is so critical?
As I said, it logs all the transactions that are executed in SQL Server. Now you would be thinking that why it is needed!! Let me explain you: when ever and what ever the transaction happened, you always wanted to ensure that the data you entered are in consistent state and whenever you want to see them they are available to you, the utmost requirement.

What role T-Log plays here is, while recording all these transactions it ensures that they are committed so as it will be available and will remain consistent. In the time of failure or non-availability of the database server or severe damaged at the physical failure of server; backup of the T-Log along with the full database backup (off course it is required) would really helps you to recover your database to the point-in-time (I’ll explain you this in my next article). When ever you restart your SQL Server, observer your SQL Server logs carefully you can see some thing like below:

SQL Server is recovering individual transactions, and all incomplete transactions to the database.
This message means, that T-Log writing of all the commited transactions and roll forward all the uncommited transactions.

What else T-Log can do?
T-Log is help full to recover database point-in-time in case of failure, it is also useful to setup High Availability for Server(I’ll explain more in my upcoming articles). That means you can setup Log Shipping and database mirroring with the help of T-Logs.

Now as we know what T-Log is and what is significance of it, let’s come back to the main topic,

Why T-Log is getting full?
The cause which leads to T-Log to fill up, I am penning down some points I’ve recollected, they are:
1. Transactions are not committed
2. Transaction is not open but is active for long time
3. While creating / modifying Index
4. Bulk Operations
5. Auto Growth option of database files
6. Group by and Order by clause will fill up tempdb
7. Un-replicated transactions in T-Logs
8. T-Log backups are not taken for long

How to get rid off this messages (Solutions):

1. Ensure that application is written appropriately, and each transaction is wrapped between begin and commit transaction. This will not only helps to keep your data in consistent form but helps you to reduce the blockings.

2. This are the transactions that are not open but active for long time, means while user is sending some input to the database server his/her system got hung, rebooted or shutdown and network doesn’t send this information appropriately to the database thus, SQL Server understands this transaction is open but not active. This kind of sessions can be killed provided you’ve examine what this process is doing exactly by using DBCC Inputbuffer (SPID), be cautious while killing any process as it would take 4 times longer. * To know more on how Kill command works click here… especially when it rollback transaction

3. This is the most important point; creating or recreating an index would occupy much of the space as it is fully logged operation. When you run DBCC DBREINDEX it will drop existing index and recreate index (will recreate every index of your table if you won’t give name of index) . I would advise that you care fully examine output of DBCC SHOWCONTIG or sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats and based on that fact you can go ahead and defrag your index. Recreate your index only when required.

4. Although, bulk operations are minimally logged but it occupies the space certainly, in case your SQL Server is in full recovery mode (which is highly recommended for point-in-time recovery and for production environment) it will fully logged Bulk Operations.

5. Auto Growth option could be really a horrible if it is not configured properly and your database size is considerably large, lets say few hundred gigs or greater. If you’ve set Auto Growth option set on and they are in percentage and not in fixed size you would observe more spics in disk I/O and decrease in performance, read complete article here.

6. As we all know Group by or Order by will resort data and ordering result set, this will increase the space occupied, try to avoid this operation unless it is necessary. This way you would save up your space and increase in performance.

7. When you have transactional replication configured in your environment the transaction which are marked for replication but not replicated actually are lying in your T-Log and then distribution database which will certainly occupy reasonable amount of space. For any possible reason, see if something is wrong with your Transactional replication and rectify it.

8. This is the best way to keep your T-Log in shape, the more frequent i.e. 15 minutes. Backup Log will empty the T-Log file and thus reducing the size of log file.

Summery: Transaction Log, as name says records every transaction that is executed. When database is in full recovery model or frequent bulk operations happening it is most likely that your T-Log get filled quickly.

The above explanations and probable solution I’ve given came from my 10+ years of IT Industry experience while working on projects and my participations in various SQL Server forums. I do hope that this quick points will help you and save your time.

Surat User Group DNN Portal upgraded

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:06:00 +0000

Great News!!!!

Surat User Group's website which was running on older version of DotNetNuke is just upgraded to newer version!!!

Surat User Group is runing on DotNetNuke CMS v 5.0 since it has been launched officially, and I thought to upgrade it with the new release of DotNetNuke. Since this is the first time I am upgrading DNN Portal I was googling a good reference material for Upgrade Procedure, and I landed on a Mitchel Sellers Blog entry Upgrading from DotNetNuke 4.3.5 (and other 4.x versions) Although this is meant for old version it worked for the upgrade I did.

Register for SQL Server 2008 R2 CTP

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:32:00 +0000

Microsoft is planing to release R2 CTP for SQL Server 2008, get your self register so as you will get notified as it becomes available :)

TechEd on the road, Surat - Great show

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:48:00 +0000

Microsoft has organized TechED India 2009 at Hyderabad in the month of May during 13th to 15th. This was a biggest community event for IT professionals and Developers from all over country, and was big success and User Group leads of various cities have been asked to organized similar events in their cities, Surat was among those 10 cities.

Surat had its first TechEd event on 28th June 2009, and was organized by Surat User Group (IT Pro community) in association with DotNetChaps (Developer community). The event was organized at Umra Police Station auditorium and 150+ participants were registered for the event. You can see the event photographs

We had 80+ attendees inspite of heavy rain in the morning, we've got a mix of students, developers, IT Pro and lecturers from various institutes. We had 5 speakers who delivered power packed sessions on new technlogies, I spoke on ROW/Page compression in SQL Server 2008 and Virtualization 360 , Mrityunjaya Kumar spoke on Silverlight 3.0 and Windows 7 for Developers, Dhaval Faria spoke on What's new in .Net framework 4.0: VS 2010 and Aviraj Ajgekar spoke on Windows Server 2009 RC2.

It was really nice experience for me, all the technical sessions has got 4 out 5 rating and participants suggested to have more events in the future.

Let me say my thanks to our sponsors Microsoft, SQLPASS, UG Support Services, SolidQ Mentors, Sharma Infoway and XCellence-IT for their support, I would also like to thank Bhavin Gajjar | DotNetChaps lead for his support in organizing this event.

TechEd - TechEd on the Road, Surat - 28th June 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:18:00 +0000

Microsoft has organized Tech-ED India 2009 at Hyderabad in the month of May during 13th to 15th. This was a biggest community event for IT professionals and Developers from all over country, this event was big success.
To continue spreading knowledge and educate IT community, Microsoft in association with SQLPASS, Culminis and Ineta has asked User Group Leaders of various cities to organize mini version of Tech-ED “Tech.Ed on the Road” . TechEd on the Road will be held in 9 cities of India during the Month of June and Surat is one of those cities where TechEd on the Road to be organized on 28th June by Surat SQL Server User Group and DotNetChap. It is a great opportunity for Developers, IT professionals, Students to know about trend of IT and upcoming technologies from Microsoft.

We SQL Server User Group and DotNetChap feel immense pleasure to bring you the Mini TechEd - TechEd on the Raod, Surat event for IT Professionals, students and End User has lots to get back from this event in terms of Technical know how! There are mainly two tracks for this event Developer and IT Pro track.

This event is open to all and is free; the only thing required is to get your self registered for the Mini TechEd - TechEd on the Road as we have limited seats available.

To know about the Agenda and Speakers, click here

--- Hemantgiri S. Goswami | Surat SQL Server User Group Lead

Integration Services (SSIS) in SQL Server Cluster

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Tue, 05 May 2009 08:37:00 +0000

Often the question being asked is "How can I install SSIS in SQL Cluster" or "How to run DTS/SSIS package in cluster when SSIS is not running"

You can very much run DTS/SSIS package in SQL Server Cluster even when SSIS is not runing. So, what all you need to run DTS/SSIS package on SQL Server Cluster!! All you require is dtexec.exe or dtexecui.exe to execute the DTS/SSIS package. Apart from this, you may use SQL Agent to schedule a job to run DTS Package.

The fact is SQL Server Integration Service(SSIS) is not cluster aware service, hence it won't support fail-over. Although, if you still want to Install/Configure SQL Server Integration Service on SQL Server Cluster here are the reference
Install SQL Server Integration Services(SSIS) on SQL Server Cluster or Configure SSIS for SQL Server Cluster

How to Secure SQL Server - SQL Server Security Criteria

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:44:00 +0000

Security! This is the word comes in mind of every concerned person when it comes to store, access and share the data and database or database server. At times when applications are run in the geographically restricted area, there were less chance of its exploitation and with spread of internet and the availability of application over the internet, security of data, databases and database servers has become vital.

Why SQL Server Security has been so much important!!
Well, for every organization or institute or company or government has there data that is vital to them, and not need to be accessed by the authorized person or entity only. And that is vital to set some security standards for such a critical data so that you can prevent your data as much as you can with proper security mechanism and set of standards within organization and in your scope for MS SQL Server Security.

I have pen down some pointers/criteria that requires serious consideration when it comes to secure MS SQL Server Read complete article on How to Secure SQL Server

Patching MS SQL Server Cluster

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:22:00 +0000

Ofent I found a question in a forums that "How to patch SQL Cluster" or "Patching SQL Server Cluster"

To answer this, there is nothing so special requirement but offcourse there is one thing one should consider and that is "Always patch active/primary node first". One should run SP setup on the primary node and it will get applied on the both node, we do not need to start/stop any services this is managed by SQL Server itself.

Refer section 3.2.5 Installing SQL Server 2005 SP2 on a Failover Cluster Instance

Get Discount of 25% to first 25 people for Surat SQL Server User group - TechEd India 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:16:00 +0000

Dear Surat SQL Server User Group members,

Culminis, INETA APAC and PASS, have worked along with Microsoft to secure a unique discount for our user group members. TechEd is happening in after a period of 3 years. http://www.microsoft.com/india/teched2009/. With Steve Balmer, CEO of Microsoft is giving the Keynote, and illustrious speakers presenting.

Tech.Ed-India 2009 is all about getting yourself ready for the next wave of technology innovations and trends. In today's economic scenario, more than ever before, it has become pertinent that we stay ahead of the curve so as to establish ourselves as the future trend- setters. Tech.Ed-India 2009 - with its offering of sub-events - offers you this opportunity to interact with some of the leading lights in the business and technology space globally, talk to Microsoft product development teams directly, and get in-depth hands-on-trainings and certifications in some of the most coveted and anticipated technologies of our time.

Special Discount for Surat SQL Server User Group Members

If you are attending TechEd, as a member of "Surat SQL Server User Group" you can get a 25% discount. This discount is available to the first 25 people to respond via an email to inteched2009@surat-user-group.org the first 25 people to respond will receive instructions on how to avail the discount.
You are requested to Share your User name and email id which you use to sign in to Surat User Group Website while submitting your request.

Hey, if you are not the registered member of Surat User Group, do not worry. Get your self registered here and grab the opportunity!!!!

Download SQL Server 2008 SP1

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:04:00 +0000

Microsoft has released SP1 for SQL Server 2008 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968382

List of the bugs that are fixed in SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

2009 PASS SUMMIT UNITE

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Its a time to get register for the great event, yes I am talking about the the SQLPASS Summit 2009 event to be happen during Nov 2~5 at Seattle; there are lots of saying about this event and there are more then single good reason to join the event explore the reasons "Why to attend SQLPASS SUMMIT?"

Get the full details of 2009 PASS Summit UNITE and get registered

Get early bid rate, do register for your seat at 2009 SQL PASS Summit UNITE

TechNet Webcast: SQL Server 2008 Capabilities for Meeting PCI Compliance Needs

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:59:00 +0000

There will be a web cast on SQL Server 2008 Capabilities for Meeting PCI Compliance Needs at 1 PM Pacific Time, get register

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032404173&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Download SQL Server 2005 SP3

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:30:00 +0000

SQL Server 2005 SP3 has been released, download SQL Server 2005 SP3 here

SQL Server 2005 SP3 can be applied on below SQL Server editions:
* SQL Server 2005 Enterprise
* SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Evaluation
* SQL Server 2005 Developer
* SQL Server 2005 Standard
* SQL Server 2005 Workgroup

Change the Collation setting in MS SQL Server

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:40:00 +0000

How to Change the Collation Settings for specific database or how to change the Collation Settings for specific column?

This question can be found multiple times on the ms sql server forums, so I've decided to pen down it on the Surat SQL Server User Group site, you may find the complete entry and T-SQL to change the Collation settings in MS SQL Server here

How to know version of MS SQL Server

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:34:00 +0000

"How to check which version of SQL Server I am on" this is a commonly asked question in SQL Server community; I have created a script which can be run in MS SQL Server 2000 and MS SQL Server 2005 you may download script from here
read complete FAQ on it here

Community launched | Surat SQL Server User Group | DotNetChaps

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:14:00 +0000

Hi,

We have formed a Technical Community User Group. The aim of this User Group is to share/exchange what all we have in terms of the knowledge.

We have two separate forums for MS SQL and for Dot Net technology to avoid confusion. You may post all your queries pertaining to MS SQL at http://www.surat-user-group.org and if you are having a query in .Net (be it asp .net, c# or vb .net) please post it to http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DotNetChaps/

http://www.surat-user-group.org is having an association with SQLPASS (http://www.sqlpass.org) and is an official SQLPASS Chapter.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DotNetChaps/ is having an association with iNETA.

MS has released KB960082 and KB960089 for MS SQL Server 2000 and MS SQL 2005

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:35:00 +0000

MS has released one Vulnerability bulletin found for MS SQL Server

This is applicable to below products

SQL Server 2000 SP4 (All edition) --> (KB960082)
SQL Server 2000 Itanium-based Edition Service Pack 4 --> (KB960082)
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) Service Pack 4 --> (KB960082)

SQL Server 2005 SP2 --> (KB960089)
SQL Server 2005 x64 Edition Service Pack 2 --> (KB960089)
SQL Server 2005 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems -->(KB960089)

SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Service Pack 2 --> (KB960089)
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services Service Pack 2 --> (KB960089)

Patches are available at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS09-004.mspx

Microsoft Virtual Techdays

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:52:00 +0000

It would be a good time again.... Microsoft Virtual Techday (VTD) is back; below is an agenda
http://www.virtualtechdays.com/agendaday1.aspx

Get registered!!

PUG Community Day 10 Jan 09

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:23:00 +0000

From 6:00 to 7:30 PM @ Nalanda,SEED Infotech Ltd
: Topic :
NAP with Windows Server 2008
: Speaker :
Abhishek Pradhan - Information Security(SIR Specialist)
Currenly working with Symmentec India,he have around 5 yrs of expertise on various Server Technologies and on Microsoft domain
Free event for all..
Some Landmark for Venue :
Near Mehendale Garage,Near Karnataka High School,Near Yugay Mangal Karyalaya,Near Gandhi Lawns[One near City Pride Kothrud]
Venue by : SEED Infotech Ltd.

DBCC Checkdb gives error when you restoring database with CONTINUE_AFTER_ERROR

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:24:00 +0000

DBCC Checkdb gives error when you have finished restoring database with CONTINUE_AFTER_ERROR and you run DBCC CHECKDB. This will gives you an Error 8967 there may be inconsistancies in database or metadata which may lead to throw this error message....there is a workaround released by Microsoft Read workaround for Error 8967

Why rollback is taking much longer time

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:37:00 +0000

Have you ever thought what is a reason that makes Rollback time consuming process?
Whenever you kill some spid or rollback transaction it would take 3 or 4 times more time then it has taken to execute that particular batch/transaction!!!! The reason is that the Rollback is single threaded and hence it most likely to take much longer time read complete article here

How T-SQL Kill Command works for MS SQL Server

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:02:00 +0000

Often I've seen a question wherein user has posted a query that what is kill command is doing in background? What is sleeping session status in sp_who2 output ? What is awaiting session status in sp_who2 output?
Awaiting or sleeping session status is a connection waiting for query from client, i.e. you've logged in using the application and you are yet to open and run a report, so this idle time is showing as a awaiting or sleeping session
You can find some more insight on How T-SQL Kill Command works!! and What is Awaiting/Sleeping status!!

DBCC Shrinkfile and DBCC Shrinkdb is taking more time

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:47:00 +0000

DBCC Shrinkfile and DBCC Shrinkdb would likely to take more time for SQL Server 2005 then it would take for SQL Server 2000. The question is why it is so!!! I was reading through some articles and find a wonderfull explaination on this, there is additional logic added to compact text/image (LOB datatypes) in SQL Server 2005 and hence it is taking some more time....Read complete article here

Enjoy reading....

SQL Server 2005 SP3 is available for download

noreply@blogger.com (Hemantgiri S. Goswami) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Microsoft has released SP3 for SQL Server 2005 and it is available for download. There are many things that were fixed and added to SQL Server 2005 SP3 below are the links

Find out what is new SQL Server 2005 SP3 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd353312(SQL.90).aspx
List of bugs that were fixed in SP3 are listed here http://support.microsoft.com/?id=955706

Download SQL Server 2005 SP3 here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ae7387c3-348c-4faa-8ae5-949fdfbe59c4&displaylang=en