Patch Process for Portal Server configuration

[ErikSchenck]

Hi everyone. We are running a 10.8.1 Portal with a federated instance of ArcServer associated with it. I want to install a number of patches needed for both and was wondering if there was a best practice order for applying those patches? Do I do portal first and then server, or server than portal, or does it matter?

Thanks in advance.

Erik

[DEWright_CA]

I have always thought that patching your passive/stand-by instance, then rebooting and let it stabilize, then patching the active node so it will become the stand-by was the best answer; but it would be great to see definitive guidance from the ESRI staff for it.

[DS_GIS]

Here is a guide from a recent Esri blog -Patch and release – you don’t have to fish for those ArcGIS Enterprise updates (esri.com)

[DS_GIS · Accepted solution]

Hello!

Yes, there are best practices for patching and I was provided these by Esri Technical Support. In short, the order doesn't matter. But I always start with Portal as it will take the longest (guidance from Esri and now my experience). 

For myself, I check 'ArcGIS Enterprise Patch Notification' roughly every 2 months for new patches. This can be found by searching on the server start menu. 

1) Access 'Services' menu in Windows and stop the different services for the software components of your ArcGIS Enterprise. I.e. Portal for ArcGIS, ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS Data Store,  & ArcGIS Server - If you are in a multi-tier deployment you will need to stop each service on each VM. Stopping the services prior to running the patches is not necessary, but will ensure they install faster. 

2) Open 'Check for ArcGIS Enterprise Patches' --> Start with Portal (it will take the longest) --> run the recommended patches by selecting 'Install All Patches' this will open a menu of all the patches with checkboxes and you can select which patches to install. 

3) Run the same steps above for ArcGIS Data Store and ArcGIS Server

4) After all patches have completed --> Restart the software components from 'Services' --No need to restart the servers themselves! Just the services.

5) Run systems checks on ArcGIS Enterprise. I usually test that I can launch apps with both (hosted) layers and layers referencing registered datastores. Additionally, I will check that I can publish to ArcGIS Enterprise. --Note: Portal can take up to 10 mins to spin back up. Be patient.

Here is a recent Esri article that I found very helpful as well: Patch and release – you don’t have to fish for those ArcGIS Enterprise updates (esri.com)

Happy Patching!!