Slipstreaming is creating a single installation file which will install SQL Server along with service pack or cumulative updates.
If you want to upgrade SQL Server from 2005 to 2008 along with latest Service Pack, as a first step we need to upgrade with SQL Server 2008 and after that we need to install latest service pack on top of it. The upgradation and service pack / cumulative update can be done with one setup file, that is know as split streaming.
Steps to creates SlipStream Package
1. Install .NET Framework 3.5
2. Windows Installer 4.5
1) Create a folder C:\SQLSlipDVD and copy all the SQL 2008 RTM files into it.
1) Download the service pack which suits your environment from the Microsoft Site
2) Copy into C:\ServicePacks Folder
3) Extract the service pack with the below syntax
4) SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x86-ENU/x C:\servicePacks\SQL2008SP1
5) After extracting copy the setup.exe and setup.rll to C:\SQLSlipDVD and overwrite it
6) Delete the Microsoft.SQL.Chainer.PackageData.dll file from C:\servicePacks\SQL2008SP1 Extracted folder
7) Create a folder with name pcu inside C:\SQLSlipDVD
8) Create a sub folder with version inside pcu (C:\SQLSlipDVD\PCU\x86)
7) Copy all files from c:\servicePacks\SQL2008SP1 to C:\SQLSplidDVD\PCU\x86\ with overwrite
ex: copy c:\servicePacks\SQL2008SP1\*.* C:\SQLSplidDVD\PCU\x86\ y
8) Update the DefaultSetup.Ini as below
;SQL Server 2008 Configuration File
[OPTIONS]
PID="xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx"
PCUSOURCE=".\PCU"
9) Run the setup file as usual, It will install RTM and SP1 together
Alternatively in other products, we can follow the below approach to install service packs or cumulative updates along with the installation.
1) After copying binaries you will find an empty folder called updates
2) Copy all the CU’s or Service packs into that folder
3) Run the setup as below from the command prompt
4) Setup.exe /Action=Install /UpdateSource=".\Updates"
