Upgrading a Single ConfigMgr 2012 RTM Primary Site to ConfigMgr SP1 Made Simple

Preface

On December 20, 2012 Microsoft released SP1 for Configuration Manager 2012.  It goes to follow that folks that have already built a ConfigMgr 2012 RTM site will want to upgrade to SP1 to take advantage of some new SP1 features.  In this post, I’m not going to describe those features, but hopefully make your upgrade to SP1 a pleasant, well-planned successful one.

Assumptions

• Your current site is ConfigMgr 2012 RTM (not a trial or beta distribution).
• Your current site is a single primary site; perhaps with secondary sites and remote site systems, but no CAS.
• You are not using database replicas for any management point roles.
• You are not using network load balancing on any software update points.

Install Required Software & Hotfixes

1. Backup your site server…or at least ensure that your last site backup maintenance task completed with success and is stored safely elsewhere.  To ensure the last backup was successful, check the location where your site backup is stored and review the SMSBKUP.LOG.
2. If your site has a Software Update Point role, install hotfix KB2720211.  This hotfix resolves issues with metadata not being able to expire and with issues publishing content from System Center Updates Publisher.  This hotfix must be installed on whatever site system has the Software Update Point role AND the site server.
3. If your site has a Software Update Point role, install hotfix KB2734608.  This hotfix will allow clients to update their Windows Update Agent and makes Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 updates visible.  This hotfix must be installed on whatever site system has the Software Update Point role AND the site server.
4. Download and install the Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) on the site server.  You can download it here.  The installation is fairly self-explanitory.  Make sure you select the options shown in the image below.
5. If your site server is running on Server 2008 R2, it is highly recommended you apply hotfix KB2552033.  This resolves a rather serious potential condition where your site server may crash and present a nasty “stop” error when using the “client push” installation method.  Even if you are not using client push…you never know who may enable it at a later date and forget about this important hotfix.  The hotfix can be acquired here.

Run Prerequisite Checks On Primary Site

1. Copy the ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 installation folder onto your site server and from an elevated command prompt, run the following command from the \<Intall Folder>\SMSSETUP\BIN\X64 directory:  “prereqchk.exe /PRI /SDK <fqdn of site server> /SQL  <fqdn of sql server>”.  You may see warnings or errors stating you cannot upgrade due to this sytem already having a ConfigMgr database instance.  This is expected.  Although it appears the PREREQCHK.EXE utility wasn’t really designed to assist exclusively for the upgrade process itself, it can be helpful in verifying all other requirements (and anything missing previously) have been handled.
2. Run the PREREQCHK.EXE utility again to check for distribution points requirements (even if they are on the site server).  To accomplish this, run:  “prereqchk.exe /DP <fqdn of dp to check>” against all distribution points attached to this site.
3. Run the PREREQCHK.EXE utility one last time to check for management points requirements (even if they are on the site server).  To accomplish this, run:  “prereqchk.exe /MP <fqdn of mp to check>” against all management points attached to this site.

Test Database For Upgradeability

1. Now that we’ve taken care of prerequisites, we need to test the database for upgradeability.  Although this step is optional, it’s strongly recommended to ensure the ACTUAL upgrade will be a success.  To perform the test properly, you’ll need to copy the site database and transaction log (which you backed up during step 1) onto another SQL server box running the EXACT same version.  If you don’t remember what version of SQL Server your running at your primary site, check the SQLSERVR.EXE file version.  Common versions are 10.50.2811.0 (SQL 2008 R2 SP1 CU6) or 10.50.4000.0 (SQL 2008 R2 SP2).  You will also need the ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 installation media copied onto the SQL box you will be performing the database upgrade test on.
2. Using SQL Management Studio, attach the database.  See my example below.
3. You’ll likely need the SQL Server 2012 Native Client installed in order to complete the database upgrade test.  You can download it here.  The link for the actual installer is under the “Microsoft SQL Server Connectivity Feature Pack Components” section.  You will know you need it if you see the error below after trying to perform the upgrade test in the next step.
4. Run the database upgrade test by running the following from an elevated command line:  “<configmgr 2012 sp1 install files>\smssetup\bin\x64\setup.exe /TESTDBUPGRADE <SQL Instance>\<Database Name>”  See the example below from my “TOP” ConfigMgr 2012 RTM site.You should see what appears to be the prerequisite checker interface, only with a “TestDBUpgrade” button.Monitor the ConfigMgrSetup.log file on the root of your SQL server test box.  The fourth line from the end of the file should state a successful database upgrade.  If it completes successfully, your database upgrade on your production site server should succeed as well.  (that is to assume nothing bad has happened to the database since we did the last backup)    Be patient as it runs, my 5.2GB database took 8 minutes to run on a reasonably-quick VM.

Perform the Primary Site Upgrade

1. On the site server and from your ConfigMgr 2012 installation folder, launch the SPLASH.HTA and select the “Install” option.
2. On the following screen, your only option should be to upgrade the site as shown below.
3. After agreeing to the terms and conditions, you’ll be asked to select a folder to download prerequisite client update files.  This should be a completely new and clean folder…just like the initial installation of ConfigMgr 2012.
4. One last prerequisite check will be performed, but since you did your homework, you’ll be able to blast right through and start the upgrade.  Be patient while the upgrade runs, my site took 41 minutes.  This will also automatically upgrade the console on the site server.
5. Once the upgrade completes, launch your admin console and verify the site build number has been upgraded from 7711 to 7804.  You can see this from the “Administration” workspace under Site Configuration–>Sites.  In my console, I’ve also added the “Version” column.

Run Prerequisite Checks On Secondary Site

1. From the primary site server, run the prerequisite checker tool to check for any missing prerequisites missing on your secondary site.  To accomplish this, run:  “prereqchk.exe /SECUPGRADE <fqdn of secondary site server to check>”.
2. You’ll likely receive a status error of prerequisite type “SQL Server Tcp Port” stating your secondary site’s SQL configuration is using dynamic ports (which isn’t supported).  Yes…I know…this was Configuration Manager 2012 RTM’s fault when installing SQL on your secondary site.
3. To correct this error, log into your secondary site server and launch the SQL Server Configuration Manager utility.  Browse to “SQL Server Network Configuration” and double-click the “TCP/IP” entry associated with the affected SQL instance hosting Configuration Manager data at the secondary site.
4. Select the “IP Addresses” folder tab and browse to the last entry group titled “IPALL”.  The “TCP Dynamic Ports” value likely has something in it (mine was 49437).  In any case, you’ll want to disable dynamic ports by simply blanking this value and ensuring a port is specified in the “TCP Port” field (default is 1433).  After changing the value, make sure you restart the SQL service.
5. You’ll likely receive another status error of prerequisite type “SQL Server version”.  This is because the default installation of SQL Express on the secondary site is SQL 2008 R2 SP1.
6. To correct this error, you’ll need to EITHER upgrade SQL to 2008 R2 SP1 with CU6 OR upgrade SQL to 2008 R2 SP2.  In my case, I upgraded to CU6 since I’d like to keep my primary and secondary sites using the same version of SQL.  You can download CU6 for SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 here.

Upgrade Secondary Sites

1. From the “Administration” workspace under Site Configuration–>Sites, select the secondary site in the sites list and click the “Upgrade” button on the ribbon.
2. Once you’ve agreed to the confirmation message and refresh the console, you’ll notice the secondary site will have a state of “Upgrade”.  If you just have to know where it’s at, check the SENDER.LOG file on the primary site and you can see the upgrade bits being transferred to the secondary site server.  (479MB)
3. Once the upgrade bits have arrived at the secondary site, you’ll notice the SMS_BOOTSTRAP preparing the upgrade on the root of the C:\ drive on the secondary site server.  Finally, you can monitor the C:\CONFIGMGRSETUP.LOG on the secondary site server as the upgrade proceeds.
4. After the upgrade succeeds, you should see an updated state of “Active” for the secondary site and this means you’re done with the infrastructure upgrade!  (mine took 13 minutes)

Upgrade Configuration Manager Clients to SP1

1. From the “Administration” workspace, browse to Site Configuration–>Sites and click the “Hierarchy Settings” button on the ribbon.
2. Select the “Automatic Client Upgrade” folder tab to review client upgrade options.
3. Enable the “Upgrade client automatically when new client updates are available” check box and accept the warning message.
4. Based on number of clients, locations, and bandwidth, consider how many clients/day would be a feasible rate to upgrade clients and set the number of days to perform the upgrade.
5. Leverage the report titled “Count of Configuration Manager Clients by Version” to monitor the success rate of the upgrades over the allocated time period.

About these ads