Installing updates for SharePoint 2010 and Project Server 2010

updating a SharePoint and Project Server 2010 farm is pretty straightforward. Nevertheless, this is a question that comes every time I’m meeting a new customer. This blog post describes the different types of updates available for these products and which steps you have to follow if you want to execute them.

Types of updates and considerations before you start updating

SharePoint 2010 (Foundation and Server) and Project Server 2010 have three different types of updates:

• hotfix: is an update package provided by Microsoft to solve an issue of one of the products.
• cumulative update: is usually the collection of hotfixes since the last cumulative update or product release. As the name implies, these updates are cumulative and must not be installed one after the other. It is enough if you install the last cumulative update for the product you have to update. SharePoint and Project Server cumulative updates are published periodically every two months.
• service pack: contains the collection of cumulative updates since the last service pack or release of the product. A service pack might also provide enhanced functionalities to the product you are updating.

followthis link if you are interested in the list of updates for SharePoint 2010 (Foundation and Server) and Project Server 2010

Before starting the update process make some considerations and prepare the update process thoughtfully:

• update your system if really necessary when choosing hotfixes or cumulative updates. This is something different when a service pack is released. Try to avoid too long waiting times for updating service packs.
• calculate a downtime for your system when executing updates
• check the KB articles associated to your update before starting the procedure
• try the updates on a test farm before installing them on a productive environment
• backup your system and be prepared for a disaster recovery
• wait some time and check the blog posts of SharePoint experts to see if there are known issues after the update (e.g., see the October 2010 cumulative update on this blog)
• slipstream your SharePoint installation discs to keep them up-to-date. A blog post will follow and explain how to slipstream a SharePoint disk
• test your system after applying the updates

The update process

After you have chosen the update right for you and you prepared the update process, follow these steps to execute the updates:

• Installing a SharePoint 2010 product family update is very straightforward. The steps that you have to follow usually are:choose the update package is best suited for your platform. Please note that there are different update packages that are either addressing a single product or several products. You can check my last blog post to get the updated list of cumulative updates and service packs for SharePoint 2010 and Project Server 2010. In thatblog post you find the updates organized as follows:  
  • SharePoint Foundation 2010: if you have only SharePoint Foundation 2010 installed
  • SharePoint Server 2010: if you have SharePoint Server 2010 installed. Please note that you don’t have to install the cumulative update of SharePoint Foundation 2010
  • SharePoint Server 2010 and Project Server 2010: if you have SharePoint Server 2010 with Project Server 2010 use this package.
• download the update package

cumulative updates must be requested explicitly. After this request you will receive an e-mail with the download link for the cumulative update and a password needed to extract the binaries from the cumulative update.

The update is executed in two steps. First, you have to install the binary files and then execute the automatic server configuration.

• install the cumulative update or service pack on each web-front end and application server of your farm and do not execute the SharePoint Configuration Wizard
• after you finished installing all the updates you have to start the SharePoint Configuration Wizard. Start it on the server having the central administration instance first. If you have only one server in the farm, then you are done. If you have multiple servers on the farm than execute the SharePoint Configuration Wizard on each web-front end and application sever.

Hope this helps,

Patrick