FazzaGBR Posted July 26, 2014 Report post Posted July 26, 2014 What I would like to do is as follows: Configure Software Updates on the computers in our school computer suites - approx 400+ computers split in to around 23 different rooms. Software Updates must not be installed during the day as lessons are only 45 minutes long so if Windows Updates suddenly install and they reboot a computer it could take up to half of the lesson for them to install so they end up not being able to use a computer so I need to make sure they only ever install out of hours so to speak. So far I have added the Software Update Point role and all the Windows Updates are appearing in the All Software Updates section in the Software Library. Any tips on what I need to do next to achieve my goals would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
anyweb Posted July 26, 2014 Report post Posted July 26, 2014 if you want Software Updates to install after hours then use Maintenance Windows, right click on your respective Software Updates collection and choose maintenance windows, you could configure a schedule something like this... make sure your computers are in this collection (and if they are in any other that also has software updates deployed to it check the schedule/maintenance windows on that collection) and they should deploy the updates during the maintenance window, you may also want to configure notification settings, and basically deploy your SUG (software update group) to this collection, then TEST it ! cheers niall Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FazzaGBR Posted July 30, 2014 Report post Posted July 30, 2014 Thanks for that - I shall be taking a look at this over the next few days when I get a chance so will bear that in mind. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FazzaGBR Posted September 25, 2014 Report post Posted September 25, 2014 We've now enabled WOL in the BIOS on all our computer suite computers but it does seem to be hit and miss whether they actually all wake up or not! I guess we need to look at the network infrastructure but I just dont have the time at the moment. After 'logging on times' the biggest gripe we've had from the Teachers about the computers in our suites is that if Windows Updates kick in during a lesson it can mean that one or more computers can be out of action for the whole 45 minute lesson which is obviously unacceptable as it means children are missing out on their education. To combat this I have set all the computers to get their Windows Updates from our SCCM server. As there are currently no updates being pushed out via the SCCM server, the computers are not updating during lessons and disrupting the classes. I was going to set up Windows Updates to install once a month and just hope that disruption is kept to a minimum, it was then pointed out that approximately every six weeks it is half term which is our official maintenance time where we pretty much can do what we like in the computer suites. So, my question is this, is it possible to set up SCCM so I can enable updates to be installed during a particular week of the year (i.e. the half-term breaks) so none of the computers get updated during term-time? I'm assuming this is going to be a manual process, which is OK - I just need to keep classroom disruption down to a minimum. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybone Posted September 25, 2014 Report post Posted September 25, 2014 We've now enabled WOL in the BIOS on all our computer suite computers but it does seem to be hit and miss whether they actually all wake up or not! I guess we need to look at the network infrastructure but I just dont have the time at the moment. I can't recall makes/models off the top of my head, but I've run into many NICs that won't wake up unless WOL is enabled both in BIOS and from within the OS. I'm assuming that there's some kind of firmware flag within the NIC that is OS-manageable, but I've never really researched the why, just the what. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FazzaGBR Posted September 30, 2014 Report post Posted September 30, 2014 I can't recall makes/models off the top of my head, but I've run into many NICs that won't wake up unless WOL is enabled both in BIOS and from within the OS. I'm assuming that there's some kind of firmware flag within the NIC that is OS-manageable, but I've never really researched the why, just the what. It's a bit weird, sometimes waking them up works, other times it doesn't. To be honest I'm more concerned about how I go about pushing updates to our computer suites during half-terms only as at the moment, zero updates are being pushed out. I just need some bullet-point suggestions on ways I can do this and I can then go away and implement them and see what happens. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilbywilson Posted September 30, 2014 Report post Posted September 30, 2014 I would use 2 things: maintenance windows and deadlines. Set your maintenance windows for weekends (or night times); that way patches will never get installed during the day time. If you don't want anything to install until half-term, then don't make the patches available until then. You can schedule the patches to become available at X day/time, with a deadline of Y day/time. In your case, schedule the updates to become available at the start of the half-terms, with a deadline a day or so later. When the maintenance window starts, they will begin to install and reboot. (If you don't have a maintenance window, they will begin to install/reboot as soon as the deadline is reached.) If your WOL isn't working, you just need to make sure the machines are turned on, and the rest should take care of itself. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooty22 Posted October 1, 2014 Report post Posted October 1, 2014 along with the other suggestions cant you also just allow updates to install silently in the background and suppress the reboot to prevent disruption to users. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FazzaGBR Posted October 2, 2014 Report post Posted October 2, 2014 along with the other suggestions cant you also just allow updates to install silently in the background and suppress the reboot to prevent disruption to users. That will only prevent the current logged on user from being disrupted. When they then shut down the computer at the end of the lesson, the next person turning on the computer will have to wait for the updates to install so they get disrupted and will have valuable lesson time cut. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FazzaGBR Posted October 2, 2014 Report post Posted October 2, 2014 I would use 2 things: maintenance windows and deadlines. Set your maintenance windows for weekends (or night times); that way patches will never get installed during the day time. If you don't want anything to install until half-term, then don't make the patches available until then. You can schedule the patches to become available at X day/time, with a deadline of Y day/time. In your case, schedule the updates to become available at the start of the half-terms, with a deadline a day or so later. When the maintenance window starts, they will begin to install and reboot. (If you don't have a maintenance window, they will begin to install/reboot as soon as the deadline is reached.) If your WOL isn't working, you just need to make sure the machines are turned on, and the rest should take care of itself. Sounds like a plan! Thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
