Installing Update Rollups on Database Availability Group Members

Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

Topic Last Modified: 2012-02-14

It's relatively straightforward to install Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 update rollups on a server that's a member of a database availability group (DAG).

Microsoft Update offers released update rollups to Mailbox servers that are part of DAG. However, we recommend that you download the update rollups from the Microsoft Download Center and then install them manually. When you install an update rollup on a server that's a DAG member, several services will be stopped during the installation, including all Exchange services and the Windows Cluster service.

The general process for installing update rollups on a DAG member is as follows:

Run the StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 script to put the DAG member into maintenance mode and prepare it for the update rollup installation.
Install the update rollup.
Run the StopDagServerMaintenance.ps1 script to take the DAG member out of maintenance mode and put it back into production.
Optionally rebalance the DAG by using the RedistributeActiveDatabases.ps1 script.

This process can also be used to install operating system updates from Microsoft Update, as well.

You can download the latest update rollup for Exchange 2010 from the Microsoft Download Center.

Install a Update Rollup on a Database Availability Group Member

To update all DAG members, perform the following procedures on each DAG member, one at a time.

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Database availability groups" entry in the High Availability Permissions topic.

Run the StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 script on the server being updated

Run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell from the Scripts directory:

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.\StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 <ServerName>

For more information about the StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 script, see Managing Database Availability Groups.

Install the update rollup

Close all Exchange management tools.
Right-click the Exchange update rollup file (.msp file) you downloaded, and then select Apply.
On the Welcome page, click Next.
On the License Terms page, review the license terms, select I accept the License Terms, and then click Next.
On the Completion page, click Finish.

Run the StopDagServerMaintenance.ps1 script

Run the following command in the Shell from the Scripts directory:

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.\StopDagServerMaintenance.ps1 <ServerName>

For more information about the StopDagServerMaintenance.ps1 script, see Managing Database Availability Groups.

Re-balance the DAG, as needed

Run the following command in the Shell from the Scripts directory to optionally balance the DAG by Activation Preference and to produce a report when balancing is complete:

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.\ RedistributeActiveDatabases.ps1 -DagName <DAGName> -BalanceDbsByActivationPreference -ShowFinalDatabaseDistribution

For more information about the RedistributeActiveDatabases.ps1 script, see Managing Database Availability Groups.