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How to install update packages on a SharePoint farm where search component and high availability search topologies are enabled

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The March Public Update (PU) for SharePoint Server 2013 and SharePoint Foundation
2013 is available. Here's information to help you install it on SharePoint farms where
search components and high availability search topologies are enabled. For servers that include search
components, you have to follow specific steps to ensure that you install the PU
correctly. For a high availability search topology, you use Windows PowerShell
cmdlets to patch a Search service application.

Note: The Server packages for the Feb CU are contained in the March PU and is available for download here:

SharePoint Server 2013: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2767999

SharePoint Foundation 2013: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2768000

 

Install the SharePoint March PU on servers running search components

When you install the update package on servers running search components, you have to
follow these high-level steps:

1) If you are running a mission-critical multiple-server search topology, we recommend that you
complete the update in a specific sequence  that is indicated in the best practices part later in this article.

This will help to minimize query downtime during the update process.

 2) For each server running search components, follow these steps:

a. On the server running SharePoint Server 2013, stop the following Windows Services in this order:

SPTimerV4

OSearch15

SPSearchHostController

 Note: The reason why you need to stop the SPTimerV4 service first is because the SPTimerV4 service monitors the SPSearchHostController service. The SPTimerV4 service will start the SPSearchHostController service it if it finds that the SPSearchHostController is stopped. Therefore, if the SPTimerV4 service is running after you stop the SPSearchHostController service, the SPTimerV4 service might start the SPSearchHostController without you noticing it.

b. Install the update package on the server by following the instructions that come with the update package.
c. Restart the Windows Services in the following order:

SPSearchHostController

OSearch15

SPTimerV4

 

Best practices to perform server patching for a high availability search topology by using Windows PowerShell

To minimize the query downtime during the patching process, you divide the servers that host search
components into three groups and patch these server groups in a specific order as
described in the procedure later in this section.

 

Important: The steps in this section apply only to SharePoint Server 2013.

This procedure assumes that you have a system with only one Search service application. If you have multiple Search service applications, you have to consider all the Search service applications when you
determine the sequence of servers to patch.

To perform server patching on a high availability search topology by using Windows PowerShell.

1. Verify that you have the following memberships and roles:

•securityadmin fixed server role on the SQL Server instance.
•db_owner fixed database role on all databases that are to be updated.
•Administrators group on the server on which you are running the Windows PowerShell cmdlets.

An administrator can use the Add-SPShellAdmin cmdlet to grant permissions to use SharePoint 2013 cmdlets.

Note: If you do not have permissions, contact your Setup administrator or SQL Server administrator to request permissions. For additional information about Windows PowerShell permissions, see Add-SPShellAdmin

•Start the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
•For Windows Server 2008 R2:
a. On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, and then click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
•For Windows Server 2012:◦ On the Start screen, click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.

If SharePoint 2013 Management Shell is not on the Start screen:
•Right-click Computer, click All apps, and then click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.

For more information about how to interact with Windows Server 2012, see Common Management Tasks and Navigation in Windows Server 2012.

•Assign a variable for the Search service application.

At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command:

$ssa=Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication

4. Determine the server groups for patching. You split the servers associated with the search topology
into three groups, where there is a checkpoint between each group of servers.

a) To determine the primary search administration component and the server
where the component runs, type the following command at the Windows PowerShell command prompt:

Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus -SearchApplication $ssa | where { (($_.State
-ne "Unknown") -and ($_.Name -match "Admin")) } | ForEach { if (Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus -SearchApplication $ssa -Component $_.Name
-Primary) { Get-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchApplication $ssa -active | Get-SPEnterpriseSearchComponent -identity $($_.Name) } }

b) Determine the servers in group 1.

The set of servers must fulfill the following requirements:

•The set must contain one or more, but not all, of the following types of search components:

◦Content processing component
◦Query processing component
◦Analytics processing component
◦Crawl component
◦Index component
◦The set must contain one or more, but not all, of the index components for each index partition.
◦The set must contain the non-primary search administration component

c) Determine the servers in group 2.

This group must contain all remaining servers except the server that hosts the primary search administration component.

d) Group 3 consists of the server that hosts the primary search administration component.

5. Perform the required patching of servers in group 1. See the procedure “Install the SharePoint March PU on servers running search components” earlier in this article.

6. After you complete the patching, wait until all search components are running.

From a Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command until the output no longer lists any search components . The command will only list search components that are not in the “Active” state:

Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus -SearchApplication $ssa | where {$_.State -ne "Active"} | fl

7. Perform the required patching of servers in group 2. See the procedure “Install the SharePoint March PU on servers running search components” earlier in this article.

8. After you complete the patching, wait until all search components are running.

From a Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command until the output no longer lists any search components. The command will only list search components that are not in the “Active” state:

Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus -SearchApplication $ssa | where {$_.State -ne "Active"} | fl

9. Perform the required patching of servers in group 3. See the procedure “Install the SharePoint March PU on servers running search components” earlier in this article.

Note: During this step, you will experience a few minutes of query downtime while a search administration component failover takes place.

10. After you complete the patching, wait until all search components are running.

From a Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command until the output no longer lists any search components. The command will only list search components that are not in the “Active” state:

Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus -SearchApplication $ssa | where {$_.State -ne "Active"} | fl

 

Any questions, let us know.

 Knut Brandrud, Program Manager, Search Team

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Sanjay, Thanks for your comment. We have a model that should answer this question. www.microsoft.com/.../details.aspx Let me know if this does not answer your question. Thanks Kirk Stark Senior Writer, SharePoint team

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Justin, Thanks for the feedback. This guidance is for Search topologies and applies to all updates (including the April CU). Regards, Kirk Stark Senior Writer, SharePoint team

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Sorry, not trying to nitpick just to understand -- is there a reason for using the term "Public Update" ("PU") rather than the usual "Cumulative Update" ("CU")?

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Conway, Thanks for your feedback.   For Office packages, you can run ‘packagename.exe /extract:c:tempfolder’ to specify a path where contents are extracted. This should allow you to determine the size of the package before it is installed. Regards, Kirk Stark Senior Writer, SharePoint team

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Jason. Thanks for your comment. Yes, there is a reason why PU was used instead of CU.  The Server packages for the Feb CU were not available so a decision was made to include them in the public update (PU).   A PU is a security update that is released every month, any customer can install them; a CU is an update that release every other month and targets specific customer fixes in the form of hotfixes.Think of a CU as limited distribution in scope and a PU as a broad distribution in scope. Hope this answers your question. Regards, Kirk Stark Senior Writer, SharePoint team

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Kirk - Thanks for detailed blog. Really useful. I'm just thinking - how do I club with overall farm patching? Because you didn't cover - how and when do I patch Search DB and Config DBs? Because, once I install patches, I need to run sp config wizard to upgrade DBs . Can you provide some comments on that?

  • Anonymous
    March 25, 2013
    Hi Kirk, I noticed during the 'extracting files...' phase, the installer is extracting files onto C drive as I could see the free space on C drive reducing significantly. And because my DEV server has only 1.08 Gb free space on C drive, the installation failed during this phase. How much free space is required on C drive for a successful install? Thanks

  • Anonymous
    March 28, 2013
    This may be obvious (but just in case), when stopping the services such as OSearch15, make sure to do it from either the OS services.msc or using "net stop OSearch15" ...and definitely DO NOT do it from Central Admin or using PowerShell (e.g. Stop-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance) because that will un-provision those from the server causing you much bigger grief!

  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2013
    Does this apply exclusively to the March PU....or is this the protocol for all updates going forward (including April CU)?

  • Anonymous
    June 07, 2013
    @Brian Pendergrass - there's nothing wrong with using powershell to stop the services. Just make sure you use the right command to stop windows services: "Stop-Service." This is equivalent to "net stop."

  • Anonymous
    December 18, 2013
    Following my tradition in presenting a summarized "Build Numbers Cube Sheet" as I did so before

  • Anonymous
    December 19, 2013
    The product group released the December 2013 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family

  • Anonymous
    December 23, 2013
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 27, 2013
    Pingback from SharePoint 2013 ?????? 2013 ??? 12 ??? CU ??????????????????????????????????????????????????? | ????????????????????????????????? ??????

  • Anonymous
    December 27, 2013
    Pingback from SharePoint 2013 ?????? 2013 ??? 10 ??? CU ???????????????????????????????????????????????? | ????????????????????????????????? ??????

  • Anonymous
    February 26, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 26, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 26, 2014
    As usual, here is the October 2013 CU release. please find all info below. Some links or partly updates

  • Anonymous
    February 26, 2014
    Following my tradition in presenting a summarized "Build Numbers Cube Sheet" as I did so before

  • Anonymous
    March 20, 2014
    When looking in the last couple of days at the KB article for SP1 for SharePoint Foundation 2013 you

  • Anonymous
    May 08, 2014
    The product group released the April 2014 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family.

  • Anonymous
    May 08, 2014
    The product group released the April 2014 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family.

  • Anonymous
    May 13, 2014
    Pingback from Rock your Search Performance on SharePoint Development environments in 10 steps. | Gokan Ozcifci

  • Anonymous
    June 12, 2014
    The product group released the June 2014 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family.

  • Anonymous
    June 13, 2014
    Be aware that all Updates for SharePoint 2013 require March 2013 PU for SharePoint 2013 to be installed

  • Anonymous
    June 13, 2014
    Pingback from SharePoint 2013 June 2014 CU

  • Anonymous
    June 17, 2014
    With some delay, here is the June 2014 CU Release for SharePoint 2013 Server, please find all info below

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2014
    The product group released the July 2014 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family.

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 14, 2014
    NOTE! All Updates for SharePoint 2013 requires either the March 2013 PU or SharePoint Server 2013 SP1

  • Anonymous
    August 05, 2014
    I intended to post this in July 2014 but it just got pushed and pushed. I realize we are getting closer

  • Anonymous
    August 13, 2014
    The product group released the August 2014 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family.

  • Anonymous
    August 14, 2014
    This week (8/12/14) there were a bunch of updates (Security updates, Public updates and Cumulative Updates

  • Anonymous
    August 19, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    September 09, 2014
    The product group released the September 2014 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family

  • Anonymous
    September 09, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    October 14, 2014
    The product group released the October 2014 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family

  • Anonymous
    October 28, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    November 11, 2014
    The product group released the November 2014 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family

  • Anonymous
    November 12, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 09, 2014
    The product group released the December 2014 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family

  • Anonymous
    December 10, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 12, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 16, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 18, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 29, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 30, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 10, 2015
    The product group released the February 2015 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family

  • Anonymous
    February 11, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 13, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 09, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 10, 2015
    The product group released the March 2015 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family.

  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 14, 2015
    The product group released the April 2015 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family.

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 05, 2015
    Thank you everyone that came by to talk about our favorite subject... Search. We are incredibly grateful

  • Anonymous
    May 12, 2015
    The product group released the May 2015 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family.

  • Anonymous
    May 13, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 15, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    June 09, 2015
    The product group released the June 2015 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family.

  • Anonymous
    June 10, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2015
    I'm presenting a summarized "Build Numbers Cube Sheet" as I did so before, so please find

  • Anonymous
    July 14, 2015
    The product group released the July 2015 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family.

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2015
    I'm presenting a summarized "Build Numbers Cube Sheet" as I did so before, so please find

  • Anonymous
    August 11, 2015
    The product group released the August 2015 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family.

  • Anonymous
    August 12, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    September 08, 2015
    The product group released the September 2015 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product family

  • Anonymous
    September 17, 2015
    The product group released the delayed September 2015 Cumulative Update for the SharePoint 2013 product

  • Anonymous
    October 09, 2015
    I'm presenting a summarized "Build Numbers Cube Sheet" as I did so before, so please find

  • Anonymous
    October 14, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    October 14, 2015
    I'm presenting a summarized "Build Numbers Cube Sheet" as I did so before, so please find

  • Anonymous
    June 09, 2018
    Does this apply to SharePoint 2016 also? If so, please update the introduction.