Update on 05/21/09 :
Important Notice:
A bug in Service Pack 2 could affect the server farm licensing information, for more information, please refer to the new post here:
KB Article Links
Description of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP2 and of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack SP2
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953338
Description of 2007 Microsoft Office servers Service Pack 2 (SP2) and of 2007 Microsoft Office servers Language Pack Service Pack 2 (SP2)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953334
Download Links
Service Pack 2 for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, x86 & x64
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=79BADA82-C13F-44C1-BDC1-D0447337051B&displaylang=en
Service Pack 2 for Office SharePoint Server 2007, x86 & x64
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B7816D90-5FC6-4347-89B0-A80DEB27A082&displaylang=en
Slipstream Builds For Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP2, x64
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9FB41E51-CB03-4B47-B89A-396786492CBA&displaylang=en
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP2, x86
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=EF93E453-75F1-45DF-8C6F-4565E8549C2A&displaylang=en
Installation Steps
To keep all the files in a SharePoint installation up-to-date, the following packages need to be applied on all servers in the farm. Service Pack 2 contains all fixes released through February of this year, so customers can install it directly on RTM build of the products.
- Service Pack 2 for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
- Service Pack 2 for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack (if applicable)
- Service Pack 2 for Office SharePoint Server 2007
- Service Pack 2 for Office SharePoint Server 2007 Language Pack (if applicable)
After applying the preceding updates, run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard or "psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b -wait” in command line. This needs to be done on every server in the farm with SharePoint installed. The version of content databases should be 12.0.0.6421 after successfully applying these updates.
For more in-depth guidance for the update process, we recommend that customers refer to the following articles. These articles provide a correct way to deploy updates, identify known issues (and resolutions), and provide information about creating slipstream builds.
Deploy software updates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288269.aspx
Deploy software updates for Office SharePoint Server 2007
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263467.aspx
Create an installation source that includes software updates (Windows SharePoint Services 3.0)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287882.aspx
Create an installation source that includes software updates (Office SharePoint Server 2007)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261890.aspx
Benefits
Customers can be benefited from the following enhancements with Service Pack 2.
- Performance and Availability Improvements
Service Pack 2 includes many fixes and enhancements designed to improve performance, availability, and stability in your server farms, including:
- New Timer job automatically rebuilds content database index to improve database performance.
- When a content database is marked as read-only, the user interface will be modified so users cannot perform tasks that require writing to the database.
- Performance enhancement across nearly all the components.
- Improved Interoperability
Service Pack 2 continues to improve SharePoint interoperability with other products and platforms.
- Broader support of browsers
Internet Explorer 8 is added into Level 1 browser support.
FireFox 3.0 is added into Level 2 browser support. (Firefox 2.0 is no longer supported by Mozilla) - Provide improved client integration user experience with Form Based Authentication. Now the client application can store user credentials instead of asking for them every time. For more technical details please refer to the updated articles on TechNet.
Configure forms-based authentication (Office SharePoint Server
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262201.aspx
Configure forms-based authentication (Windows SharePoint Services)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288043.aspx - Getting Ready for SharePoint Server 2010
A new preupgradecheck operation is added to stsadm tool. It can be used to scan your server farm to establish whether it is ready for upgrade to SharePoint Products and Technologies "14". It identifies issues that could present obstacles to the upgrade process. It checks for several SharePoint Products and Technologies "14" system requirements, including the presence of Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 and a 64-bit hardware, and provides feedback and best practice recommendations for your current environment, together with information on how to resolve any issues that the tool discovers.
The full explanation of SP2 benefits can be downloaded here:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=148551