Performing a Restart in the middle of a Baseline for a Windows Server

Content Authoring
1

Let’s say that you want to apply 3 patches, and 2 of them require a restart after they are installed.

Is there a way to initiate a Restart of the system after one of the patches completes, but prior to a second patch starting within a baseline in IEM?

Component List:




Thanks,
Bob_K

2

I think you answered your own question :smile: You can use a baseline to do this where you leverage the ‘Restart Needed’ task as one of the components:

1 Like
3

For some reason, I thought there was another fixlet/task. Probably confusing it with Solaris…

Thanks @Aram !!!

4

And, yes, another question… :smiley:

If a baseline was built like this:

<Patch 1>
<Restart Needed>
<Patch 2>
<Restart Needed>
<Patch 3>
<Restart Needed>
<Patch 4>
<Restart Needed>
...
...
...

Would the restart only be performed if it was necessary? Or would this cause a reboot after each patch, no matter if it needs it or not?

Thanks,
Bob_K

5

If the had relevance to check applicability for “pending restart” then it would only become relevant and execute if a restart was actually needed

6

I find that it is usually acceptable to reboot only once after applying many patches / updates all at once. There could definitely been some exceptions.

Also, it is not usually a good idea to reboot in the middle of a baseline. It is usually best to apply everything in a single baseline you can, then reboot as the post action of the baseline, or use another task to do the reboot. You can use relevance to prevent subsequent baselines from running if there is a pending reboot condition if that is needed for sequencing reasons.

7

@jgstew,

And how might one determine which patches are the exceptions?

Is this just based on the description/action saying a restart is required, or something a little more difficult to track down?

Thanks,
Bob_K

8

No, action required does not determine that. Action required just means that the patch will require a reboot to take effect, but it does not mean that a reboot is required inorder to apply the next patch first.

Typically you can apply all patches and only reboot once. This is the way I typically patch. I’m just saying that there exists the possibility that a patch will not work if one of its depedancies has not been fully applied with a reboot. Uusally in these cases you just have to apply it again.