Cumulative updates and service packs are full builds of
Exchange Server 2013. You install a cumulative update or service pack
as an upgrade, and there is no rollback process should installation
fail. Because of this, you should ensure you have a full recovery plan
in place prior to applying a cumulative update. Typically, this means
having server backups and other backup plans in place prior to
installing an update.
You’ll find cumulative updates and service packs for Exchange Server
2013 at the Microsoft Download Center. A single download is provided
for both Exchange Server 2013 Enterprise and Exchange Server 2013
Standard. For example, Exchange Server 2013 CU2 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39609. A current list of cumulative updates can be found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj907309(v=exchg.150).aspx.
When you access the download page, tap or click Download to start
the download process. Next, copy the download to your computer for
installation at a later time by tapping or clicking Save. Copy the
download to your server if necessary.
When you run the executable, Windows verifies the file, and
you’ll then be able to extract the download to a folder. Be sure to
specify an exact folder so that all the setup components are put in one
place. Within this folder, you’ll find a program called Setup.exe. This
is the Exchange Server 2013 Setup program.
Preparing to install a cumulative update or service pack
Before you run Exchange Setup make sure you read the release notes
for the cumulative update or service pack. Also make sure that any
server on which you plan to install the cumulative update or service
pack meets the system requirements and prerequisites for Exchange
Server 2013.
You can run Exchange Server 2013 only on full installations of
Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 RTM or R2. Exchange
Server 2013 doesn’t support in-place upgrades from any previous version
of Exchange. After you install a cumulative update or service pack, you
cannot uninstall the cumulative update or service pack to revert to an
earlier version of Exchange Server 2013. If you uninstall a cumulative
update or service pack, Exchange Server 2013 is removed from the server.
As cumulative updates and service packs may contain Active Directory
schema changes and other Active Directory updates, you may want to
update Active Directory prior to deploying a cumulative update or
service pack on any server in your organization, especially in a large
enterprise. Here, keep the following in mind:
-
If the update contains schema changes, run the following command prior to executing the Exchange Server 2013 Setup.exe:
setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
-
If
the update contains enterprise Active Directory changes (such as
role-based Access Control updates), run the following command prior to
executing the Exchange Server 2013 Setup.exe:
setup.exe /PrepareAD /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
-
If the update contains changes to the permissions within the Active
Directory domain partition, run the following command in each domain
containing Exchange servers or mailboxes:
setup.exe /PrepareDomain /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
-
If required, ensure that you run these commands using the Setup program provided in the cumulative update you are working with.
Although Exchange Server 2013 Setup can perform these processes for
you during the upgrade, the changes can take some time to replicate
throughout a large organization. By performing these tasks manually,
you can streamline the upgrade process. You also can ensure the tasks
are run with accounts that have appropriate permissions. Keep the
following in mind:
-
If schema needs to be updated and you haven’t previously prepared
schema, you must ensure the account you use is delegated membership in
the Schema Admins group.
-
If you’re installing the first Exchange 2013 server in the
organization, the account you use must have membership in the
Enterprise Admins group.
-
If you’ve already prepared the schema and aren’t installing the
first Exchange 2013 server in the organization, the account you use
must be a member of the Exchange 2013 Organization Management role
group.
Note
Administrators who are members of the Delegated Setup group can
deploy Exchange 2013 servers that have been previously provisioned by a
member of the Organization Management group.
You must apply a cumulative update or service pack by upgrading your
Exchange 2013 servers in the required order. First, you upgrade Mailbox
servers and then you upgrade Client Access servers. After you install a
cumulative update or service pack, you must restart the server so that
changes can be made to the registry and operating system.
If something goes wrong with the installation and re-running Setup
and following the prompts doesn’t help you resolve the problem, you
have several options. You can restore the server from backup or you can
run Exchange Server 2013 Setup in recovery mode by running setup /m:RecoverServer at a command prompt. If you are recovering to a different server, the server must use the same FQDN as the failed server.
When you recover a server, you don’t specify the roles to
restore. Setup detects the Exchange Server object in Active Directory
and installs the corresponding files and configuration automatically.
After you recover the server, you can restore databases and reconfigure
any additional settings.
