Installing Search Server 2010 SP1 on Search Server Express 2010 RTM

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I was on client site today patching a small SharePoint Search Server Express 2010 environment in preparation for installing a third party app on SharePoint. This being Foundation + Search Server Express RTM, I opted to install all the outstanding patches for SharePoint & Search Server. These are my notes. Feel free to comment if you think it could have been done differently.

Preparation

Downloads

SharePoint Foundation SP1: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26640

SharePoint August 2011 CU: http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Microsoft%20SharePoint%20Foundation%202010/sp2/sharepointfoundation2010kb2553050fullfil/14.0000.6109.5005/free/438521_intl_x64_zip.exe

SharePoint Search Server SP1: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26633

Backups

Of course backing up is critical all through the process so take (or have) a full backup of Windows on your web front ends and backup your SQL server databases before and after.

This being Search Server Express 2010 you might find that you are using SQL Server Express which means your databases should be pretty small so the process shouldn’t take long, not so in my case though… it look at a little while.

Installation Order and process

From this page it links you through to this page which implies you should have all the latest bits installed beforehand… although it’s not super clear as to whether you could install all three in a row without running psconfig until the end.

I’m following a cautious approach: Backup > SharePoint SP1 + Latest CU stuff and run psconfig > validate > Search Server SP1 stuff and run psconfig > validate > backup. Using this approach adds time to overall process but certainly doesn’t hurt. I’ll try to personally validate this “three in one approach” at a later time and/or when my interpretation or understanding changes for certain from someone older and wiser I’ll update this post. Until then, a little too much caution never hurt anyone. Bottom line, it worked just fine. SharePoint is well known for it’s sensitivity to installation order despite the latest advice from Microsoft since the August 2011 CU.

Patching SharePoint 2010 Foundation RTM up to August 2011 CU

  • Install SharePoint Foundation SP1
  • Reboot when prompted.
  • Install SharePoint August 2011 CU
  • Reboot when prompted.
  • Run PSConfig (psconfig -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -wait –force) or the GUI version, SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard. I prefer the GUI because I like to watch grass grow but that’s just me. It also helps that I’m just going a single WFE. Otherwise I’d start with my App Server/Central Admin box and work out from there, one at a time and use psconfig.

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    This process took about 30 minutes with reboots and the time psconfig took to run. Obviously that has got more to do with the size of the databases and the performance of the SQL server but most SSE2010 installs are probably going to be something similar since while this environment is SQL 2K8 R2 it has very little content and still fairly small search databases.

    SP1 & August CU 2011 Installation Validation

    Central Admin > Upgrade & Migration > Check upgrade status

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    Central Admin > Upgrade & Migration > Check product and patch installation status

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    Patching Server Server Express RTM to Search Server Express SP1

    1. Install Search Server 2010 SP1 (no reboot required)
    2. Run PSConfig (psconfig -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -wait –force) or the GUI version, SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard.

    Search Server 2010 SP1 Installation Validation

    Central Admin > Upgrade & Migration > Check upgrade status

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    Central Admin > Upgrade & Migration > Check product and patch installation status

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    Central Administration > Search Service Application > Content Sources

    Start an incremental crawl of one of your content sources and make sure it works. You could do more, e.g. a full crawl + search for something if you felt so inclined just to give it a slightly more thorough going over.

    References:

    Install a software update (SharePoint Server 2010) http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff806338.aspx

    SharePoint Foundation SP1: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26640

    SharePoint August 2011 CU: http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Microsoft%20SharePoint%20Foundation%202010/sp2/sharepointfoundation2010kb2553050fullfil/14.0000.6109.5005/free/438521_intl_x64_zip.exe

    SharePoint Search Server SP1: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26633

    Known issues when you install Office 2010 SP1 and SharePoint 2010 SP1: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2532126

    List of all SharePoint 2010 and Office Server 2010 SP1 packages: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2510766