• Make sure that any server on which you plan to install the service pack meets the system requirements. For more information about system requirements, see Exchange 2010 System Requirements.
  
  
• Understand the prerequisites for all server roles. For more information about prerequisites, see Exchange 2010 Prerequisites. For more information about server roles, see Overview of Exchange 2010 Server Roles.
  
  
• Understand the Unified Messaging server role improvements and new features that were added in Exchange 2010 SP1. These improvements and new features are also included in Exchange 2010 SP2. To use some of these new features, you must correctly deploy Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 or Microsoft Lync Server 2010 in your environment. For more information, see New Unified Messaging Functionality and Voice Mail Features in Exchange 2010 SP1 and Install or Upgrade to Exchange 2010 SP2 Unified Messaging.
  
  

To perform the following procedures, the account you use must be a member of the Delegated Setup management role group or the Organization Management management role group.

To apply an Exchange 2010 service pack to an Exchange 2010 server that has the Edge Transport server role installed, the account you use must be a member of the local Administrators group on that computer.

To upgrade a computer that has only the Exchange management tools installed, you must log on by using an account that's a member of the local Administrators group on that computer.

If you haven't yet prepared the schema for Exchange 2010 SP1 or Exchange 2010 SP2, the account you use to upgrade the server must be a member of the Schema Admins group and the Enterprise Admins group. This requirement also applies if you're installing Exchange 2010 SP3, and if you haven't yet prepared the schema for it. For more information, see Prepare Active Directory and Domains.

If your organization uses a load balanced array of Client Access servers, see the following guidance about how to upgrade your Client Access servers from one version of Exchange 2010 to another, for example, from Exchange 2010 RTM to Exchange 2010 SP1. If you have an array of Client Access servers that you need to upgrade from one version to another, use the following steps.

Note:
Exchange 2010 RTM, Exchange 2010 SP1, Exchange 2010 SP2 and Exchange 2010 SP3 can't coexist within the same load balanced array.

Important:

Do not upgrade any Mailbox server from one version to another until all Client Access servers within the Active Directory site have been upgraded to the target version. The following guidance assumes that the Mailbox and Client Access server roles are not co-located. If your environment deploys multi-role servers, see Exchange Server Team Bog article Patching the Multi-Role Server DAG for the steps to patch the servers.

1. Determine the number of Client Access server array members that can be offline at one time without negatively affecting the service. For example, if you have six Client Access servers in a load balanced array, and you have designed your load-balancing solution to handle three simultaneous failures, you can have three Client Access server array members offline.
   
   
2. To continue with the example, disable new connections to the three servers, and let the existing connections terminate. After all connections have been terminated, remove those servers from your load-balancing pool.
   
   
3. Upgrade those three servers to the target version. Verify that the upgrade was successful.
   
   
4. Restore the upgraded servers to the load-balanced array.
   
   
5. Prepare to remove the servers that have not been upgraded from the load balanced array by disabling new connections.
   
   
6. Verify that all connections to the servers identified in step 5 have been terminated, and then remove those servers from the load-balanced array.
   
   
7. Upgrade the second batch of servers to the target version of the software. Verify that the upgrade was successful.
   
   
8. Restore the most recently upgraded servers to the array.
   
   

When you apply an Exchange 2010 service pack to a database availability group (DAG) member, you need to consider and plan for some specific issues. Before applying an Exchange 2010 service pack to any DAG members, consider the following:

• Upgrade only passive servers   Before applying the service pack to a DAG member, move all active mailbox database copies off the server to be upgraded and configure the server to be blocked from activation. If the server to be upgraded currently holds the primary Active Manager role, move the role to another DAG member prior to performing the upgrade. You can determine which DAG member holds the primary Active Manager role by running Get-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup <DAGName> -Status | Format-List PrimaryActiveManager.
  
  
• Place server in maintenance mode   Before applying the service pack to any DAG member, you may want to adjust monitoring applications that are in use so that the server doesn't generate alerts or alarms during the upgrade. For example, if you're using Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 to monitor your DAG members, you should put the DAG member to be upgraded in maintenance mode prior to performing the upgrade. If you're not using System Center Operations Manager 2007, you can use StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 to put the DAG member in maintenance mode. After the upgrade is complete, you can use StopDagServerMaintenance.ps1 to take the server out of maintenance mode.
  
  
• Stop any processes that might interfere with the upgrade   Stop any scheduled tasks or other processes running on the DAG member or within that DAG that could adversely affect the DAG member being upgraded or the upgrade process.
  
  
• Verify the DAG is healthy   Before you apply the service pack to any DAG member, we recommend that you verify the health of the DAG and its mailbox database copies. A healthy DAG will pass MAPI connectivity tests to all active databases in the DAG, will have mailbox database copies that have a copy queue length and replay queue length that's very low (if not zero), and will have a copy status and content index state of Healthy.
  
  
• Be aware of other implications of the upgrade   A DAG member running Exchange 2010 RTM can move its active databases to a DAG member running Exchange 2010 SP1 or SP2. After a DAG member has been upgraded to a newer Exchange 2010 service pack, its active database copies cannot be moved to another DAG member that is running Exchange 2010 RTM. If you try to do this, an error will occur.
  
  When you update a DAG server from Exchange 2010 RTM to Exchange 2010 SP1, Event ID 1185 is recorded in the Application log if there is a database schema update that requires the Exchange mailbox database to change or be updated. If there is no database schema update, this event is not logged.
  
  When you update from Exchange 2010 SP1 to Exchange 2010 SP2, Event ID 1185 is not recorded in the Application log. This is because a database schema update is not required.
  
  

  Note:
  The database schema update is different from the AD schema update.

  Caution:
  We recommend that you do not move the active database from a DAG member that is running Exchange 2010 SP2 to a DAG member that is running Exchange 2010 SP1. We make this recommendation even though it is possible to move the database, and the move does not generate an error.

Run the following scripts and commands on the DAG member that is being upgraded in preparation for the service pack.

• Verify the health and status of the DAG by saving the following commands as a Windows PowerShell script (.ps1) file.
  
  

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  (Get-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup -Identity (Get-MailboxServer -Identity $env:computername).DatabaseAvailabilityGroup).Servers | Test-MapiConnectivity | Sort Database | Format-Table -AutoSize Get-MailboxDatabase | Sort Name | Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | Format-Table -AutoSize function CopyCount { $DatabaseList = Get-MailboxDatabase | Sort Name $DatabaseList | % { $Results = $_ | Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus $Good = $Results | where { ($_.Status -eq "Mounted") -or ($_.Status -eq "Healthy") } $_ | add-member NoteProperty "CopiesTotal" $Results.Count $_ | add-member NoteProperty "CopiesFailed" ($Results.Count-$Good.Count) } $DatabaseList | sort copiesfailed -Descending | ft name,copiesTotal,copiesFailed -AutoSize } CopyCount

• Perform a server switchover by running the following command.
  
  

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  Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase -Server <DAGMemberName>

• Prevent the DAG member from becoming a failover target by running the following command.
  
  

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  Set-MailboxServer -DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy:Blocked

• If necessary, move the primary Active Manager role to another DAG member by running the following command.
  
  

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  Cluster group "cluster group" /move

• Install the Exchange 2010 service pack. For details, see "Install the Exchange 2010 service pack" later in this topic.
  
  
• Enable the upgraded DAG member to become a failover target by running the following command.
  
  

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  Set-MailboxServer -DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy:Value

  Where Value is either IntrasiteOnly or Unrestricted.
  
  
• Repeat steps 1–6 on each DAG member until the service pack has been applied to every DAG member.
  
  

For more information, see the following topics:

• Perform a Server Switchover
  
  
• Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase
  
  
• Set-MailboxServer
  
  
• Understanding Mailbox Database Copies
  
  

When installing a new Exchange 2010 service pack on multiple Exchange 2010 servers within an organization, we recommend that you first upgrade your Client Access servers. In an organization that has multiple Active Directory sites that use multiple Client Access servers in a proxy situation, you must upgrade the Internet-facing Client Access servers before upgrading Client Access servers that aren't Internet-facing. Then, we recommend you install the Hub Transport, Unified Messaging, and Mailbox server roles.

The Edge Transport server role can be upgraded at any time. However, we recommend upgrading the Edge Transport server role either before or after all other server roles are upgraded.

1. Insert the Exchange 2010 SP1, SP2 or Exchange 2010 SP3 DVD into the DVD drive. When the AutoPlay dialog box appears, click Run Setup.exe under Install or run program. If the AutoPlay dialog box doesn't appear, navigate to the root of the DVD and double-click Setup.exe. Alternatively, browse to the location of your Exchange 2010 installation files and double-click Setup.exe.
   
   
2. On the Start page, click Install Microsoft Exchange Server Upgrade to begin the installation.
   
   

   Important:
   Make sure that you've completed all the required steps described on the Start page before you begin your installation. If you haven't already installed the components discussed on the Start page, Setup provides links to the appropriate sites where you can download the components. For more information about Windows PowerShell installation, see Install Windows Management Framework.

   Important:
   If you're installing Exchange 2010 on Windows Server 2008 R2, don't use the downloadable .NET Framework package. Instead, use Server Manager in Windows Server 2008 R2 or run ServerManagerCmd -i NET-Framework.

3. The Introduction page begins the process of installing Exchange into your organization. It will guide you through the installation. Click Next to continue.
   
   
4. On the License Agreement page, review the software license terms. If you agree to the terms, select I accept the terms in the license agreement, and then click Next.
   
   
5. On the Readiness Checks page, view the status to determine if the organization and server role prerequisite checks completed successfully. If they haven't completed successfully, you must resolve any reported errors before you can install Exchange 2010. You don't need to exit Setup when you resolve some of the prerequisite errors. After you resolve a reported error, click Retry to run the prerequisite check. Make sure to also review any reported warnings. If all readiness checks have finished successfully, click Upgrade to install the service pack.
   
   
6. On the Completion page, click Finish.
   
   

1. Insert the Exchange 2010 SP1, SP3 or Exchange 2010 SP3 DVD into the DVD drive.
   
   
2. At the command prompt, navigate to the DVD drive or to the network location of the Exchange 2010 installation files.
   
   
3. At the command prompt, run the following command:
   
   

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   Setup.com /M:Upgrade /InstallWindowsComponents

For more information, see the following topics:

1. New Deployment Functionality in Exchange 2010 SP1
   
   
2. What's New in Exchange 2010 SP2
   
   
3. What's New in Exchange 2010 SP3