Over the next 2-3 evenings on Wednesday, 5/29/2024 will be be manually forcing Microsoft cumulative updates on serveral of our web servers that were not automatically updated. We expect very little downtime which will only occur during the 2-3 reboots the servers may require to complete the updates. We will update this post once the process is complete or if there are any actionable items that may prolong or delay this maintenance.
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Update 6/4/2024
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The cumulative updates on most of the servers were successful but several of them needed a reboot to apply the updates. Some completed successfully but a handful failed to apply the update. We will need to reboot those servers again. Services may be unavailable during those reboots which can take between 30 minutes to a few hours while the updates are being applied.
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Update 6/5/2024
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The first stage of the cumulative updates has been applied and completed. The same servers will still require an additional reboot to start and complete the second stage. Services may be unavailable during these reboots, which will be implemented during off-peak hours, which can take between 30 minutes to a few hours while the updates are being applied.
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Update 6/6/2024
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The additional reboot could not be completed due to a backup system conflict. We will update this post when rescheduled.
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Update 7/6/2024 1AM EST
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We will be rebooting web servers shortly. We expect there to be a 1-3 hour window of unavailability for websites during this process and will update this post as needed.
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Update 7/6/2024 2:30AM EST
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Reboot is complete and all web servers and services are up and running.
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Update 7/17/2024
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Maintenance window has been rescheduled for this Friday, July 19th, 2024 at 12AM (midnight). We will update this post as necessary,
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Update 7/20/2024 12AM
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Maintenance has begun. Web hosting services will not be affected during the first stage. Once the updates have been downloaded, a few reboots will be required so that the updates can be applied. During these reboots, we do expect services to be unavailable and some of the updates can take some time to be applied (2+ hours) possibly running into Saturday morning\noon. We will update this post as necessary.
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Update 7/20/2024 8AM
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Update process stalled at 44% for a prolonged period of time and was cancelled to minimize service downtime and impact. We will be rescheduling this update soon.
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Update 7/21/2024 12AM
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Maintenance has begun, again. Web hosting services will not be affected during the first stage. Once the updates have been downloaded, a few reboots will be required so that the updates can be applied. During these reboots, we do expect services to be unavailable and some of the updates can take some time to be applied (2+ hours) possibly running into Sunday morning\afternoon. We have no estimates as to "when" those reboots will occur or how long they will last. We will update this post as necessary.
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Update 7/21/2024 9:45PM
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The first reboot has just started.
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Update 7/22/2024 5:00AM
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The first reboot stalled at 44% again. We've rolled back this update and will reschedule.
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Update 7/25/2024 5:00AM
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Maintenance will begin on 7/26/2024 Friday evening 11:45PM EST. We expect the first stage to take about 22 hours during which there will be no website service downtime or interruption. Once the first stage is complete, servers will automatically reboot to apply the updates. Website services will be unavailble during these reboots and can take upwards of 8+ hours. We expect website services to be unavailable starting at approximately 10PM on Satruday and last most, if not all, of Sunday afternoon and evening. We have set a cutoff time of 5AM EST Monday morning. If the updates have not been applied by then we will roll back the maintenance.
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Update 7/27/2024 12:00AM
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First stage of maintenance has begun. We still "expect" this will take approximately 22 hours with no service interruption after which the second stage will reboot and take a prolonged period of time WITH service interruption perhaps running from Satruday 10pm EST to Monday 5AM EST.
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Update 7/27/2024 10:20PM
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First stage has completed and the web servers are now rebooting. Web services will be unavailable during this stage. This second stage of applying the updates will last a minimum of 8 hours and is likely to continue on through Sunday morning, afternoon, and possibly evening.
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Update 7/29/2024 4:50AM
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The most recent update attempts slowly reached 65% but the decision was made to stop them to allow clients website access during normal business hours. We will evaluate several other update paths the Microsoft technical team has provided in terms of how to proceed and we will update this post with details when rescheduled. Services on those web servers will be available shortly.