Blueprint: Tips to potentially mitigate the chance of errors when applying a Blueprint Service Pack.

Question:

What are some tips to help provide a smoother installation process of Blueprint Enterprise 5.1/5.2/5.3 Service Pack installs?

Environment:

Blueprint Enterprise 5.1/5.2/5.3

Information:

• Make sure the downloaded Service Pack file is not being "Blocked" by Windows before extracting the file. To check whether a file is blocked and/or unblock it, right-click the file in Windows Explorer and select 'Properties'.

• Apply the patch from an elevated command prompt always.

• Make sure their are no other users logged into the server.

• Close all running applications, especially anything Blueprint related.

• Manually stop all Pharos Services and the Windows Print Spooler BEFORE executing the patch. The installation document does not make this recommendation but we have found this to be very useful.

• On very busy Collector servers - after stopping all services as mentioned above. I would start the Pharos Systems Event Log Service and then stop it again after it starts. The reason I recommend this is because that service sometimes takes a very long time to start up on busy servers. This may cause the patch to result in a failure because the service takes to long to start up. By stopping, starting and then stopping this service before applying the service pack, the long delay that occurs on its first start up will be eliminated.

• Make sure there is sufficient space on the C: drive of the server. The patching process will start by backing up a chunk of files to the logged in user's user folder, which is typically on the C: drive. The backup files can be safely purged after successful application of the patch.

• We may recommend to disable any anti-virus and/or endpoint protection system on the server, we have seen this to cause a problem once in a while when our Service Pack is getting applied. Once the Service pack is successfully applied re-enable the protection software on the server. While it is not a necessary recommendation if you find that the anti-virus has quarantined a file or prevented the patcher.exe from being successful then disabling it would be the next course of action.

• While the patch is being applied, leave the server alone. Do not open or close applications, windows, etc. Let the patch run to completion before taking any action.

• Should you encounter a failure when applying the service pack, start the patching process over again. There will be no harm created by applying the patch a second time.