SQL Server Monthly Patching Runbook

A Jupyter notebook for Visual Studio Code that walks through the full monthly SQL Server patch cycle, from compliance checks through post-patch verification. Built on dbatools and kbupdate, with each step as a discrete, executable cell.

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code with the PowerShell kernel, or JupyterLab
• PowerShell modules: dbatools, kbupdate
• Appropriate permissions on target SQL Server instances

What It Does

The notebook steps through the patch cycle in order:

• Target selection — Define the SQL instances to patch (dev, test, or prod)
• Compliance check — Identify which instances are behind on CUs using Test-DbaBuild
• Patch download — Pull the needed CU files via kbupdate
• Pre-patch state capture — Record current service states and identify clustered instances
• Patching — Apply CUs to standalone instances
• Post-patch verification — Confirm patch level compliance, database online state, and error logs

Notes

• Instance names and SQL Agent job lists are environment-specific and will need to be updated before use

Related Tools

• dbatools documentation
• kbupdate on GitHub