Tag: MSSQL 2012

From time to time, the good people at Microsoft publish a list of problems with failover clustering that has been resolved. This list, as all such bad/good news comes in the form of a KB, namely KB2784261. I check this list from time to time. Some of them relate to a specific issue, while others are more of the go-install-them-at-once type. As a general rule, I recommend installing ALL hotfixes regardless of the attached warning telling you to only install them if you experience a particular problem. In my experience, hotfixes are at least as stable as regular patches, if not better. That being said, sooner or later you will run across patches or hotfixes that will make a mess and give you a bad or very bad day. But then again, that is why cluster admins always fight for funding of a proper QA/T environment. Preferably one that is equal to the production system in every way possible.

Anyways, this results in having to check all my servers to see if they have the hotfixes installed. Luckily some are included in Microsoft Update, but some you have to install manually. To simplify this process, I made the following powershell script. It takes a list of hotfixes, and returns a list of the ones who are missing from the system. This script could easily be adapted to run against several servers at once, but I have to battle way to many internal firewalls to attempt such dark magic. Be aware that some hotfixes have multiple KB numbers and may not show up even if they are installed. This usually happens when updates are bundled together as a cummulative package or superseded by a new version. The best way to test if patch/hotfix X needs to be installed is to try to install it. The installer will tell you whether or not the patch is applicable.

Edit: Since the original, I have added KB lists for 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 based clusters. All you have to do is replace the ” $recommendedPatches = ” list with the one you need. Links to the correct KB list is included for each OS. I have also discovered that some of the hotfixes are available through Microsoft Update-Catalog, thus bypassing the captcha email hurdle.

2012 version

$menucolor = [System.ConsoleColor]::gray
write-host "╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗"-ForegroundColor $menucolor
write-host "║                              Identify missing patches                                     ║"-ForegroundColor $menucolor
write-host "║                              Jan Kåre Lokna - lokna.no                                    ║"-ForegroundColor $menucolor
write-host "║                                       v 1.2                                               ║"-ForegroundColor $menucolor
write-host "║                                  Requires elevation: No                                   ║"-ForegroundColor $menucolor
write-host "╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝"-ForegroundColor $menucolor
#List your patches here. Updated list of patches at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2784261
$recommendedPatches = "KB2916993", "KB2929869","KB2913695", "KB2878635", "KB2894464", "KB2838043", "KB2803748", "KB2770917"
 
$missingPatches = @()
foreach($_ in $recommendedPatches){
    if (!(get-hotfix -id $_ -ea:0)) { 
        $missingPatches += $_ 
    }    
}
$intMissing = $missingPatches.Count
$intRecommended = $recommendedpatches.count
Write-Host "$env:COMPUTERNAME is missing $intMissing of $intRecommended patches:" 
$missingPatches

2008R2 Version

A list of recommended patches for Win 2008 R2 can be found here:  KB2545685

$recommendedPatches = "KB2531907", "KB2550886","KB2552040", "KB2494162", "KB2524478", "KB2520235"

2012 R2 Version

A list of recommended patches for Win 2012 R2 can be found here:  KB2920151

#All clusters
$recommendedPatches = "KB3130944", "KB3137691", "KB3139896", "KB3130939", "KB3123538", "KB3091057", "KB3013769", "KB3000850", "KB2919355"
#Hyper-V Clusters
$recommendedPatches = "KB3130944", "KB3137691", "KB3139896", "KB3130939", "KB3123538", "KB3091057", "KB3013769", "KB3000850", "KB2919355", "KB3090343", "KB3060678", "KB3063283", "KB3072380"

Hyper-V

If you are using the Hyper-V role, you can find additional fixes for 2012 R2 in KB2920151 below the general cluster hotfixes. If you use NVGRE, look at this list as well: KB2974503

Sample output (computer name redacted)

Edit:

I have finally updated my script to remove those pesky red error messages seen in the sample above.