Advice on Best Practice - Deploying Updates/Service Packs

[shmern]

Hi guys,

 

Been a lurker here for a while, always been a great help, but breaking cover to ask a specific question, that I can't find answered anywhere.

 

Scenario:

 

Healthcare environment - 5000+ PC's

 

PC's can be critical, so can't reboot without sufficient notice.

 

Users can tend to ignore things if not made completely clear the implications.

 

We need to get the deployment of service packs and monthly patches into a 'routine'

 

Most things are in place, however we are having a particular issue with our proposed plan for SP/Patch rollout.

 

 

 

The issue is as follows: (we obviously have test/ superusers/ main grouped PC's, but this issue is common)

 

We want a Patch/SP to be made available on a certain day, with a Deadline of say 2 weeks, Reboots NOT suppressed and no maintenance windows in force.

 

This would allow the users a 2 week windows where they will be prompted every 3 hours that an update is available, but also reminded that the deadline is approaching upon which the install WILL happen and WILL reboot (Reboot with 5min and 1 min warnings currently).

 

This should allow the users to either

 

1. Leave the PC until the deadline, upon which the SP/Patch will be installed and the PC will reboot. (Not ideal if a large number of PC's reboot in short period of time!)

2. This *should* allow the users to decide, at an approriate time, to choose to install the updates themselves, when upon after install the PC will reboot automatically, ideally with the same 5min/1min notification

 

What IS happening with option 2 is if user manually chooses to install, the patch/SP IS installed, but then sits PENDING reboot, with any further notifications JUST reminding them of the deadline, now ideally with a patch we would not want to want up to 2 weeks for a reboot, and DEFINATELY mid way through a Service Pack we should not wait a long time for a reboot, so we thought and indeed wanted the reboot to happen automatically at the end of the maually selected install.

 

Question is twofold.

 

1. Is the scenario we suggest an option (force a reboot after a manual started install)

2. Is there a better way we should be looking at implementing this ?

 

I probably have just rambled and not made sense !

 

Thanks

 

Shmern

[shmern]

Hi,

 

Bad form replying to your own forum post I know, but can I expand on the second question.

 

2. Is there a better way we should be looking at implementing this ?

 

What way do you handle this interaction with users for installing patches, do you mainly enforce a strict deadline? with a short window from availability? notify or no notify? do you allow users to choose to install before the deadline?, how do you handle the required reboots then?

 

Thanks

 

Shmern