Service Pack 2 for SQL Server 2008 annoyed me on one of my machines (development system, SQL Server doesn’t autostart). It came via Windows Update started with offering the service pack without .NET Framework 4 installed… then even after .NET Framework was installed, it kept failing. So f..k Windows Update and download SQL2k8SP2 and install it.
A couple of days later I needed SQL Server on that machine, I did the net start mssqlserver trick and tried to connect using Management Studio directly after that. So management studio threw me the
Login failed for user 'domain\user'. Reason: Server is in script upgrade mode. Only administrator can connect at this time. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18401)
The very “well” documented error about the fact that SQL Server is running some scripts and rather has no-one mesh around (unless you’re on a DAC). The strange thing is that SQL Server seemed to have stopped after; that, something that isn’t supposed to happen. I restarted the service and tried again… same result, so it’s Google-time; best hit: Weird SQL Server Error: Unable to Connect to Server. Reason: Server is in script upgrade mode. With that being the best answer, the behavior I witnessed isn’t supposed to happen and thus I turned to the SQL Error Logs to find some info;
2010-12-03 21:02:04.28 spid7s Performing replication job security meta-data upgrades...
2010-12-03 21:02:07.34 spid7s Error: 824, Severity: 24, State: 2.
2010-12-03 21:02:07.34 spid7s SQL Server detected a logical consistency-based I/O error: incorrect pageid (expected 1:2064; actual 0:0). It occurred during a read of page (1:2064) in database ID 21 at offset 0x00000001020000 in file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\some_database.mdf'. Additional messages in the SQL Server error log or system event log may provide more detail. This is a severe error condition that threatens database integrity and must be corrected immediately. Complete a full database consistency check (DBCC CHECKDB). This error can be caused by many factors; for more information, see SQL Server Books Online.
2010-12-03 21:02:07.34 spid7s Error: 912, Severity: 21, State: 2.
2010-12-03 21:02:07.34 spid7s Script level upgrade for database 'master' failed because upgrade step 'sqlagent100_msdb_upgrade.sql' encountered error 824, state 2, severity 25. This is a serious error condition which might interfere with regular operation and the database will be taken offline. If the error happened during upgrade of the 'master' database, it will prevent the entire SQL Server instance from starting. Examine the previous errorlog entries for errors, take the appropriate corrective actions and re-start the database so that the script upgrade steps run to completion.
2010-12-03 21:02:07.35 spid7s Error: 3417, Severity: 21, State: 3.
2010-12-03 21:02:07.35 spid7s Cannot recover the master database. SQL Server is unable to run. Restore master from a full backup, repair it, or rebuild it. For more information about how to rebuild the master database, see SQL Server Books Online.
2010-12-03 21:02:07.86 spid7s SQL Trace was stopped due to server shutdown. Trace ID = '1'. This is an informational message only; no user action is required.
2010-12-03 21:02:07.99 Server The SQL Server Network Interface library successfully deregistered the Service Principal Name (SPN) [ MSSQLSvc/host.domain.local ] for the SQL Server service.
I had been working on a corrupted database called some_database (name changed for obvious reasons) for a customer a few weeks ago, but hadn’t removed that database. After removing the offending database files, SQL Server wasn’t tripped by the exception while opening the database.
To me, this does smell a like a bug (though I would not recommend running corrupt databases on a production system), so I filed it on connect; Finishing service pack installation prohibited by corrupt database.