Bad example – it is automatically installing and you want control over your patching. Accidentally press Restart Now on a Production server and your users won't be happy!

Note : Server patching is also achievable via SCCM and you get more control over restarting windows like this. WSUS can also be used in conjunction with group policies to handle restart times better.

The best ensure you are still downloading updates but not installing them automatically is to use Group Policy.

1. Create an Organization Unit (OU) in Active Directory, and put all your Production Servers in the OU
   

   

   Add all your Production Servers to the Production Server OU

2. Create a new Group Policy object and link it to the Production Server OU
   

   

   Create a new Group Policy for your Production Servers

3. Edit the new Group Policy object and drill down to Computer Configuration | Policies | Windows Components | Windows Update
4. Edit the Configure Automatic Update Properties item and enable it
5. Set the Configure Automatic Updating option to 3 – Auto download and notify for install
   

   

   Edit Configure Automatic Updates Properties and enable 'Auto download and notify for install

After the new Group Policy propagates, you will notice the update setting is now locked on the servers in the Production Server OU.

The Group Policy locks the Windows Update setting

Now the next time you plan to reboot your server you can install updates quickly and reboot – keeping your servers updated without unplanned reboots.

The following screenshot is the settings applied to the default domain policy for the same group policy settings but this will apply to all machines joined to the SSW domain.

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Figure: FileHippo tells which software need to update

1. On all nodes of the NBL cluster, the Network Load Balancing Feature needs to be installed.
   Figure: Install the NLB Feature
2. Open the Network Load Balancing Manager from Administrative Tools
   Figure: Under the Cluster menu item, click New
3. Enter the first node in the cluster in ‘Host’ and press ‘Connect’
   Figure: Select the interface for the node
4. Enter a Priority as 1 (this is just a host identifier)
   Figure: In 'Priority' enter '1'
5. Figure: Enter a virtual IP address for the cluster. eg. 192.168.1.12
6. Choose the IP address of your cluster from the dropdown list Set a Full Internet Name eg. spcluster.sydney.ssw.com.au.
   Ensure the Multicast Cluster operation mode is selected.
   Figure: Set the 3 cluster parameters
7. You want sticky sessions so you don’t mistakenly bounce between servers (and lose your state)
   Figure: Leave the Port Rule as default. This will provide sticky sessions
   Figure: Success. The cluster configuration will show a green icon
8. Right click the name of the cluster eg. spcluster.sydney.ssw.com.au Click Add Host To Cluster
   Figure: Add the 2nd web server
9. Enter the host name of the next node eg. SYDVMAPS2010P02
   Click connect
   Figure: Enter the 2nd web servers name
10. Take the default settings, assuring the ‘Priority (unique host identifier)’ is different than the first node:
    Figure: Set the priority as #2
11. Take defaults on Port Rules page and click Finish
12. Success. The status of the cluster will now be Converged
    Figure: Success with 2 green icons
13. Open a command prompt and type in wlbs query to verify the cluster:
    Figure: Type in wlbs query to verify the cluster
14. Ping both nodes and the virtual IP address externally to verify they are all working

Then, use a Network Load Balancer (we recommend Microsoft’s build in NLB) which allows you to spread web site load to multiple servers, but even more helpful when you need to do Windows Updates or make changes to web servers in your environment.

Follow the below steps on your test server first, get the application tested passed, then move on to production.

1. Open the Network Load Balancing Manager
2. Right click on the machine you want to update | Select Control Host | Click Drain Stop Figure: The 2 green icons indicate both servers are live with users - Do a drain stop on the server you want to make changes too
3. To view the current connections on the server, open a command prompt and enter netstat -an. You will be able to see the connections list dropping as users are sent to the other server Figure: Run "netstat -an" to view the current connections on the server
4. Allow the NLB to finish sending the connections to the remaining servers. The server you have drain stopped, will turn red when all the users have been moved to the other server​
   Figure: When the server turns red, the connections have been dropped and you're ready to update
5. Optional – if you are using Hyper-V, take a snapshot of the server you are about to make changes on
6. Restart
Figure: Now that the server isn't being hit with users, perform your updates. Click "Restart Now"
7. Optional – Do a smoke test (open the site and check its working)
8. Optional – Run any automated tests (for example Telerik Tests)
9. When the server ready, add it back into the load balancer. Right click on the machine | Select Control Host | Click Start
10. The server icon will return to green, and users will start being sent to the server again
Figure: The server will now accept connections again
11. Follow the same process for the other server (or multiple)

Congratulations you've just updated your servers with 100% uptime.

This can be achieved via Group Policy. This can be set up easily in​ a Microsoft Windows 2008 Server R2:

Note: It is better to deploy printers via GPO preferences to end users and also for large-scale environments. There are third-party products eg. Tricerat or Printer Logic which makes centralizing printer queues and servers more efficiently.

• From Server Manager add the Print Services role
Figure: Install the Print Services role
• When the role has installed, open Print Management from Administrative Tools
• Install all your printers by right clicking on Printers and clicking Add Printer
Figure: Add all of your printers to the server
• Right click on Drivers and choose Add Drivers. From here you will be able to install the x86 and x64 drivers for your printers so all workstations in your organization get the printer drives automatically
Figure: Add the additional drivers for both x86 and x64
• Click on Printers in the menu to get a list of your installed printers
• Right click on the first printer you want to install via group policy and click on Deploy with Group Policy
Figure: Deploying your printer with Group Policy
• Next, you need to choose a Group Policy Object (GPO) to add the printers too. You may wish to create a new GPO specifically for the printers, which you can do through the Group Policy Management tool in Administrative Tools
Figure: Select the Group Policy Object (GPO) to add the printers to
• Repeat the last 2 steps for each printer you want to add automatically using Group Policy
• Reboot your workstations and the new printers will be added upon login

Figure: \\printer takes to this window, were you can "Add" the printer via Connect

Note: It is better to automate mappings via GPO preferences. As a backup, you can allow users to manually map as above.

Then after you decide there is justification:

•           Do a typical action – take a new image or baseline.

•           give the ​​additional resources e.g. Ram and processors….

•           Do the typical action again – take another image of the “Resource Monitor”

•           If there is some improvement, reply “done” (otherwise reply “not done”)

Note: An ideal email subject prefix for more resources would be e.g. “Performance issue – “Machine name”

Figure: Use “Resource Monitor” prior to allocating more RAM on a VM

         
            Figure: If you see something like this, pass their request :-)