Avoiding Reboots with Windows upgrades

[philburg2]

So I've got about 3000 windows servers that need to go from TSM 5.5.2 to 6.2.3. I created a slick little VB script to check the OS level, look for clustering, stop the services, silent install the new version over the top, supressing reboot, start the service, and verify.

However, the problem as I'm hearing, is that something like 20% of all systems will still need a reboot for TSM to function properly afterwards, with no clear reason why. Is there any truth to this, and has anyone come up with methods to mitigate this issue?

[zatogo]

I've found that more often than not, if all the TSM Services were stopped prior to the upgrade start, I can ignore the reboot request and TSM functions as expected.

Sometimes when that doesn't do it, I can simply log out and back in to the server and be fine.

I believe the issue is around changes in the registry...why it some times requires the reboot, I've never been able to figure out.

With Windows...there's no guarantee unfortunately when it comes to reboot requirements.

[philburg2]

Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

[mantsm]

Hi Philburg,

If u don't mind can u share the VB script to me ..Since i have to do the same in slightly less number of servers.

[philburg2]

turned it into a text file, just rename to .vbs. Since I basically scraped all the calls and functions off the internet I don't mind sharing at all.

[mantsm]

Thanks a lot philburg...

[philburg2]

That script has a few errors, just finished my first true test run. Still need to add a checker to read through the log as it will indicate if a reboot is needed, and maybe i'll have it kick back a special exit code when that happens. However the install check logic worked great, got a popup about a minute after the logging stopped, so happy about that.

[philburg2]

So it's been 6 long months of off and on development, but I think I did it. It's funny cause IBM basically has a hard time explaining why or why not this process works, but i've got it down to about 95%+ success rate. I also made one for a multitude of UNIX systems that seems to be bulletproof at this point as well.

So I provide these to the community freely, however I'd like to offer some off hours paid contracting (just PM me) if anyone wants help modifying them to work in their environment. Obviously the delivery mechanisms here are customized to my job site so some deconstruction/reconstruction is necessary in ksh or vbs respectively. Best of luck to you all.

SCCM_PDC_WIN_TSM624.vbs.txtupdateTSM_6.2.4.ksh.txt