Product(s):	APM Implementation and Performance Management
	Version(s):	7
	Environment:	N/A
	Area:	N/A
	Subarea:	N/A

Problem Description

Do APM versions 7.20 and above support SQL Server Express 2016 SP3. I know that in the release documents for APM 7.20, APM supports SQL Express 2016 SP1, but is that the same for SQL Express 2016 SP3?

Also, do those SP versions matter in terms of what APM works on and what doesn’t? For example – If the Remote clients host SQL 2016 with SP1, would it be any risk in installing SQL 2016 with SP3 as a Remote Master database?

Solution

Once a version of APM has been officially released the certifications remain unchanged for that particular release. We only update certification for versions of APM currently in development and we do not offer backward certification (ie, certification to previous releases of OS, database software, etc that have been certified for prior APM releases but predate the current relevant certifications)
To the knowledge of the APM Technical Support team, we have not encountered a problem with someone applying a Service Pack to a supported/verified SQL version for the APM release in use. This is not to say that the possibility does not exist but that Microsoft SQL has a good track record with prior service pack releases of SQL being to APM environments already in post-implementation use.

It is important to note that if you install SQL Server (Express or otherwise) 2016 SP3 as the database engine for the master database, it is almost certain that the backup from this server will not be able to be restored on previous versions. The Master database server engine must be lower or the same as all the deployed remote sql server database engines so if you install SQL Express 2016 SP3 on the server, all Remotes must also be SQL Express 2016 SP3 installed also.  

We strongly recommend the user's administrator and power user test the business flows critical to their APM users in a test environment first. APM Technical Support will can help troubleshoot issues that may arise, if made aware of start to finish state of the SQL service pack. If the problems are related to the update and have a critical impact on software usage, we would typically address the fix in the APM Version currently in Development and recommend to the User that they upgrade SQL for APM only when they are ready to go to the latest version of APM.

See also

SR 77001571650.