Best Practices to follow Before Installing SQL Server Service Pack

1)Perform a full backup of all user,system and Resource databases.
2)Note down of Important SQL Server configuration settings,Start Up parameters,Linked Servers and Script out SQL Server Agent Jobs,Script Out SQL Server Logins,Memory Utilization,CPU and Disk Utilization.
3)Create an appropriate service pack Deployment and Rollback Plan
4)Always Install Service Packs first In Development environment and then test all applications which are using by SQL Server
5)Once everything looks good in development environment then only install service pack in QA environment and also test your rollback plan
6)If everything good in development and QA Environment then plan to install service pack in a Production Environment by communicating an appropriate downtime window to the stake holders and database application users.
7)Once the service pack installed successfully in a production environment perform sanity checks to confirm all applications are working fine.
8)Reboot sql server once service pack/Cumulative Updates or Security Updates are applied successfully on the server.
9)If every thing looks good then release the production environment for user activities and monitor the environment closely for a week or two to make sure there are no unusual spikes in CPU and Memory Utilization.

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