Can I fully automate the same updates to three collections at three different times with one ADR?

Hey guys,

Once per month I need to push the same exact software updates to three different collections at three different times of the month. Management wants this to be fully automated. Is there a way to do this using a single ADR, a single package and a single software update group?

August 23rd, 2013 1:27pm

Sure. A couple of options.

- Manually create two additional deployments on the Software Update Group after the ADR runs

- Create a new collection that includes the other three and target this new collection with the ADR

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August 23rd, 2013 2:34pm

Sure. A couple of options.

- Manually create two additional deployments on the Software Update Group after the ADR runs

- Create a new collection that includes the other three and target this new collection with t

August 23rd, 2013 2:49pm
Correct. That's why the second option I listed above is probably better and definitely easier to implement.
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August 23rd, 2013 3:15pm
Correct. That's why the second option I listed above is probably better and definitely easier to
August 23rd, 2013 3:33pm
You didn't mention the different times requirement before. In that case though, just set maintenance windows on each of those three collections to control actual update installation time.
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August 23rd, 2013 3:35pm
Okay... I'm sorry I thought I made the time requirements clear with the week 1, week 2, week 3 part. Okay I'll look into that. I've never used the maintenance windows before. I honestly am not sure how to implement those. I think they are handed via a tab on the collection properties right? I'll take a look at it and see if I can figure it out.
August 23rd, 2013 4:13pm

I think the short answer is that no, you can't do this fully automated with just ADR's.  A single ADR can only create one software update group and one deployment.  Hopefully sometime in a post-R2 service pack an ADR will be able to create more than one deployment, but for now you are stuck doing it manually.

Jason's work-around for using maintenance windows is great... as long as windows updates are the only thing you needed Maintenance Windows for.  (Although this gets more palatable a bit when R2 comes in October.)

Be careful if doing the maintenance window with monthly reoccurence on the X YYYday of the month.  The 2nd Wednesday of the month is not always the day after the 2nd Tuesday of the month!  Take a look at January of 2014 for an example of the pitfalls of this scenario. 

I hope that helps,

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August 23rd, 2013 4:24pm

Thanks Nash,

We are targeting patch Tuesday day zero for test VMs, the third Thursday of the month for our Pilot Group and the fourth Thursday of the month for our Production Group. Its tight but those are the constraints I have to work in. I think that (in that scenario) we should always fall after patch Tuesday. Now I just have to find some way to get all this scheduled out and automated. Jason's Maintenance window suggestion looks like it might work for us. Here's hoping!

August 23rd, 2013 4:48pm

Be sure to explain to management that there are at least two months out of the year where Pilot and Production would end up going a week closer to your test.

Normal Case (what they are expecting):

September 2013
Test - Day 0 - Second Tuesday is Sept 10th
Pilot - Day 9 - Third Thursday is Sept 19th
Prod - Day 16 - Third Thursday is Sept 26th


Example Exception Case (what they likely aren't expecting):

January 2014
Test - Day 0 - Second Tuesday is Jan 14th
Pilot - Day 2 - Third Thursday is Jan 16th
Prod - Day 9 - Fourth Thursday is Jan 23rd

I hope that helps,

Nash

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August 24th, 2013 11:41am

Be sure to explain to management that there are at least two months out of the year where Pilot and Production would end up going a week closer to your test.

Normal Case (what they are expecting):

September 2013
Test - Day 1 - Second Tuesday is Sept 10th
Pilot - Day 10 - Third Thursday is Sept 19th
Prod - Day 17 - Third Thursday is Sept 26th


Example Exception Case (what they likely aren't expecting):

January 2014
Test - Day 1 - Second Tuesday is Jan 14th
Pilot - Day 3 - Third Thursday is Jan 16th
Prod - Day 10 - Fourth Thursday is Jan 23rd

I hope that helps,

August 24th, 2013 6:40pm
Thank you Nash, I did make them aware and they consider that acceptable.
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August 26th, 2013 6:18pm

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