ADR for patching servers

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Heaton, Joseph@Wildlife

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May 22, 2024, 9:51:43 AM5/22/24
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I’m starting to experiment a little with my server patching. I have a group of servers that are set to auto-reboot after patching, so figured that would be the group to test with.  I created an ADR, set the evaluation schedule to every 2nd Tuesday. I set up the deployment settings, made it required, set the schedule for available time at 6 days, and set the installation deadline at 7 days. I do also have a maintenance window for the collection, which has been in place forever.  The ADR created the SUG as expected, and this morning I found a deployment for it. But none of the machines completed the process. They’re all showing In Progress, downloaded updates. So, logically, my thought is that the downloaded the updates on the 6th day after evaluation, but for some reason, didn’t install them on the 7th day, during the maintenance window. I verified the maintenance window is still in the correct time period, as well. Not sure where to look to try and see why they didn’t install.  Any thoughts?  Anyone have a good, working ADR for server patching?

 

Thanks,

 

Joe Heaton

Managed Services and Operational Support Unit

Information Technology Operations Branch

Data and Technology Division

CA Department of Fish and Wildlife

1700 9th Street, 3rd Floor

Sacramento, CA 95811

Phone: 916-919-5816

 

Helton, Matt

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May 22, 2024, 10:50:05 AM5/22/24
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Joseph,

 

How long is the maintenance window on your server collection? I ran into a problem a while ago where we only had a 2-hr maintenance window (used to be open for a lot more hours) and constantly saw the same thing. I finally tracked it down to being a maintenance window that could not accommodate the estimated time each update has. The combined time of all updates exceeded the maintenance window. The main culprit, I found, was the monthly malicious software update as the estimated time for those updates is set to 120-minutes. At the time, I would just manually change the estimated time on these updates to 60-minutes, rather than 120. That worked until we changed hours and then I didn’t have to edit anything anymore cause our maintenance window is now around 5-8 hours.

 

Anyway, if your server collection’s maintenance window(s) are too short, you might see something like this. Good luck!

 

Later,

Matt Helton

(he/him/his)

Assistant System Administrator

Library Information Technology Services

Milner Library, Room 177

Illinois State University

Office: 309-438-2876

Help Desk: 309-438-8399

Help E-mail: librar...@ilstu.edu

 

From: ntsyste...@googlegroups.com <ntsyste...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Heaton, Joseph@Wildlife
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2024 08:52
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Subject: [ntsystemcenter] ADR for patching servers

 

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Heaton, Joseph@Wildlife

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May 22, 2024, 10:57:29 AM5/22/24
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I don’t think it’s the maintenance window. That’s 9 ½ hours, but it might be those estimated times… I’ll take a look at those.

 

From: 'Helton, Matt' via ntsystemcenter <ntsyste...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2024 7:50 AM
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Subject: [ntsystemcenter] RE: ADR for patching servers

 

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Heaton, Joseph@Wildlife

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May 23, 2024, 11:13:01 AM5/23/24
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So, I learned something about ADR deployment scheduling…

 

I didn’t read the details when I set it up.  The time in the Installation deadline area is added to the time in the available time area. So, my ADR deployment was doing exactly what I told it to. Make it available after 6 days, and then, 7 days after that is the deadline.  It wasn’t going to install the updates until the 27th, lol.

Helton, Matt

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May 23, 2024, 12:39:36 PM5/23/24
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Easy mistake to make. Glad you got it figured out!

 

Matt Helton

(he/him/his)

Assistant System Administrator

Library Information Technology Services

Milner Library, Room 177

Illinois State University

Office: 309-438-2876

Help Desk: 309-438-8399

Help E-mail: librar...@ilstu.edu

 

From: ntsyste...@googlegroups.com <ntsyste...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Heaton, Joseph@Wildlife
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2024 10:13
To: ntsyste...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [ntsystemcenter] RE: ADR for patching servers

 

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