Patch Policy issues with Service-Stack updates?

Usage and Config Patch
1

Hey Guys,

Here is my setup - Last year, I switched the servers my team manages over to BigFix for Windows updates. I decided to use Patch Policies instead of baselines because they are automated and will continue to work automatically if I am out of town, etc. I have the servers downloading the policies prior to update time, but I only had a 2 hour “patch duration” specifically because of some other issues with HA and monitoring. I switched to a 3 hour window next month to hopefully assist with the reporting that leaves the VM at “running”: or “pending restart”. I do have a pre-patch script that only reboots the servers prior to patching if it detects that is needed, and I have checked the box to “force restart: immediately after” for all servers. The patch policies are setup to continue on error and retry twice on failure. This seems to be working at 90%, but I still have a few outlier issues each month.

I had a bigger issue this month. Server 2016 only is having an issue running both Service Stack and Cumulative patch policies. We had several dozen 2016 servers only that installed only the Service Stack, and skipped the January cumulative update. I can fix this with a baseline, but trying to figure out what I can possibly do to keep this from happening again? I will pull some logs and attach, but let me know if anyone has any ideas.

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I have encountered the same issue before with PP. I overcame it by creating 2 Policies, one just for Servicing Stacks that ran right at the beginning of the change, then another that had all the patches about 15 minutes after the change started.
This did shorten slightly our 5 hour windows, but was the only way in Production to ensure the SS are done at the beginning via WebUI.

1 Like
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Thanks - I know over the years, service stacks are common, but not sure how often they come along anymore? This month I did not see that for 2019 and 2022, but knowing that typically this causes an issue, and not an automated way around it helps. Let me know if anyone has an additional feedback.

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@baynes74, We have a similar set of individual policies, stacked and sequenced to insure success.

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Thanks - All the feedback is appreciated, because it helps me determine the route.
I am guessing this only happens with SSUs? For some reason they complete and then kick a reboot or something that skips the monthly cumulative? I only saw the SSUs for 2016, but how often are SSUs still getting released?