Listing installed hotfixes and Service Packs

In this recipe, we will check which Service Pack and hotfixes/patches are installed on our server.

How to do it...

Let's explore the ways to list hotfixes and Service Packs:

1. Open PowerShell ISE as administrator.

2. Import the SQLPS module and create a new SMO Server object:

   #import SQL Server module
   Import-Module SQLPS -DisableNameChecking
   
   #replace this with your instance name
   $instanceName = "localhost"
   $server = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Server -ArgumentList $instanceName

   To list the version of SQL Server and Service Pack level, add the following script and run:

   #the version format is:
   #major.minor.build.buildminor
   #this should tell you collectively at what
   #level your install is
   $server.Information.VersionString
   
   #version of SQL Server:
   #'RTM' = Original release version
   #'SPn' = Service pack version
   #'CTP', = Community Technology Preview version
   $server.Information.ProductLevel
   
   #to get hotfixes/updates/patches, we can...