WSUS and Wake-on LAN, is it possible ?

[[e-mail]]

We have wsus installed and working well in our environment but the
"green-people" will not allow us to have our pc's turned on. So now we are
looking for a Wake-on LAN solution. Do we have to change patch-software to
make this work ?

Sincerely

\\Jonas B

[Lawrence Garvin [MVP]]

Post by ***@bson.se
We have wsus installed and working well in our environment but the
"green-people" will not allow us to have our pc's turned on.

<sigh>... so sad... when operational =requirements= are impacting "green"
initiatives.

Even more insulting that the "green" people don't bother to research the
=facts= about their recommendations before making them.

</vent>

Post by ***@bson.se
So now we are looking for a Wake-on LAN solution. Do we have to change
patch-software to make this work ?

A Wake-on LAN solution won't be fully successful. One of the dependencies of
WSUS is that the download of the content has been successfully completed
before the scheduled installation time. If a system is powered off before
this download completes, triggering a Wake-On-LAN won't help with the
installation. In addition, since everything is driven by the agent on the
client system, that agent can't initiate anything if the machine is powered
off.

Finally, I'm not aware that Wake-On-LAN will solve a POWER_ON requirement;
it only provides for bringing a machine out of SLEEP state)

Here's a workable solution:

By default, when a client has downloaded and update and /scheduled/ the
update for installation (say at the default installation time of 3am), if
that installation time is missed (because, for example, the machine is
powered off during the scheduled installation time), the update will be
installed starting at 1 minute after the next POWER-ON.

So, my suggestion is this:
Use the default configuration for WSUS.
1. Set the scheduled installation time at 3am (which will never happen).
2. Leave the option to install at power-on enabled.

Updates will install at POWER_ON, and either everybody will be happy, or
they won't. For those that complain about the inconvenience waiting for the
machine at POWER_ON, send 'em over to your "green-people" for a lively chat
about the pros and cons of such practices. ;-)

[DaveMills]

On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:21:18 -0700, "Lawrence Garvin [MVP]"

Post by Lawrence Garvin [MVP]

Post by ***@bson.se
We have wsus installed and working well in our environment but the
"green-people" will not allow us to have our pc's turned on.

<sigh>... so sad... when operational =requirements= are impacting "green"
initiatives.
Even more insulting that the "green" people don't bother to research the
=facts= about their recommendations before making them.
</vent>

Post by ***@bson.se
So now we are looking for a Wake-on LAN solution. Do we have to change
patch-software to make this work ?

A Wake-on LAN solution won't be fully successful. One of the dependencies of
WSUS is that the download of the content has been successfully completed
before the scheduled installation time. If a system is powered off before
this download completes, triggering a Wake-On-LAN won't help with the
installation. In addition, since everything is driven by the agent on the
client system, that agent can't initiate anything if the machine is powered
off.
Finally, I'm not aware that Wake-On-LAN will solve a POWER_ON requirement;
it only provides for bringing a machine out of SLEEP state)

What do you mean by Sleep Mode. I would think that is Standby mode.
Wake on lan will start the computer provided the mains plug is not removed,
switched off etc. The PC is not just in sleep mode it is shutdown.

Post by Lawrence Garvin [MVP]
By default, when a client has downloaded and update and /scheduled/ the
update for installation (say at the default installation time of 3am), if
that installation time is missed (because, for example, the machine is
powered off during the scheduled installation time), the update will be
installed starting at 1 minute after the next POWER-ON.
Use the default configuration for WSUS.
1. Set the scheduled installation time at 3am (which will never happen).
2. Leave the option to install at power-on enabled.
Updates will install at POWER_ON, and either everybody will be happy, or
they won't. For those that complain about the inconvenience waiting for the
machine at POWER_ON, send 'em over to your "green-people" for a lively chat
about the pros and cons of such practices. ;-)

[Peter D]

Here's another workable solution that is not inconvenient to the users and
allows you to turn the machines off at night.

Schedule the updates for the end of the day, about 1 hour before people
start leaving. Set the reminder time to 30 minutes. Then what happens is
the updates are pushed out and installed, the user typically receives one
reboot request letting them know the updates occured, and when they power the
machine off when they leave they just select the option to install the
updates and shut down.

Simple solution, users disruption is minimal and there is no need to leave
machines on all night.

Finding a workable solution AND saving energy are NOT mutually exclusive.

Peter

Post by Lawrence Garvin [MVP]
By default, when a client has downloaded and update and /scheduled/ the
update for installation (say at the default installation time of 3am), if
that installation time is missed (because, for example, the machine is
powered off during the scheduled installation time), the update will be
installed starting at 1 minute after the next POWER-ON.

[[e-mail]]

Ok, that idé we have discussed but it builds on manually trusting the
ordinary users to make that selection "install and shut down" but if they
don't, what happen then ? Is it possible to force the "install and shut
down" when it become available or after a couple of days ?

\\Jonas B

Post by Peter D
Here's another workable solution that is not inconvenient to the users and
allows you to turn the machines off at night.
Schedule the updates for the end of the day, about 1 hour before people
start leaving. Set the reminder time to 30 minutes. Then what happens is
the updates are pushed out and installed, the user typically receives one
reboot request letting them know the updates occured, and when they power the
machine off when they leave they just select the option to install the
updates and shut down.
Simple solution, users disruption is minimal and there is no need to leave
machines on all night.
Finding a workable solution AND saving energy are NOT mutually exclusive.
Peter

Post by Lawrence Garvin [MVP]
By default, when a client has downloaded and update and /scheduled/ the
update for installation (say at the default installation time of 3am), if
that installation time is missed (because, for example, the machine is
powered off during the scheduled installation time), the update will be
installed starting at 1 minute after the next POWER-ON.

[Peter D]

When you approve the updates you can select a date that they must be
installed by.

But I doubt that will be necessary because if the user does not choose to
install the updates when they shut down that night, they will be interupted
with the reboot popup window throughout the entire next day (and every day
until they do it). So most users will choose to install the updates when
they shut down to avoid the annoyance of the reboot window.

You can also force a reboot after a set period of time if the user doesn't
delay it, but that will annoy people more because it might reboot when they
are at lunch or otherwise away from their desk and they will lose work.

The method I described is the way I do it, and after most users realized it
is the least invasive option, they are fine with it. It's more work for them
to NOT install the updates at shutdown than to just do it and go home.

Post by ***@bson.se
Ok, that idé we have discussed but it builds on manually trusting the
ordinary users to make that selection "install and shut down" but if they
don't, what happen then ? Is it possible to force the "install and shut
down" when it become available or after a couple of days ?
\\Jonas B

[Lawrence Garvin [MVP]]

I am trying to figure out when computers actually download the updates.

The download is normally initiated immediately after the WUAgent detects
that an update is approved on the WSUS Server. Functionally, this can occur
at any time of day, since the default detection interval is 17-22 hours,
meaning each detection is significantly less than 24 hours since the last
one, resulting in, ultimately, clients synchronizing throughout the day, and
each client at a different time each day.

My downloads were failing at 1:58 AM, when I set the wake-up time for 1:55
AM,

The issue here being the assumption that you have control over the time of
the download. You don't. The download is triggered by the existence of an
update approval discovered during a detection,which occurs around the clock.

so I set the wake-up time for 1:45. Now the downloads fail at 1:48.

The bottom line here is that the download is failing. The question is
whether the download was attempting to resume after having been 'put to
sleep' by the OS, or whether this was an original download initiation caused
by a detection which occurred in response to the Wake-On-Lan.

If I knew when the download wanted to start, I could adjust my Wake-Up
time to accommodate the download time.

Except you cannot do this in any scenario.

I have not found any documentatio about when the downloads start for the
default install time.

It's not documented, per se. In fact, one of the great deficiencies in the
entire WSUS infrastructure scenario is the severe dearth of documentation on
the Windows Update Agent. However, a quick inspection of any
WindowsUpdate.log will reveal the truth of the matter. Downloads are
initiated immediately after the initial detection of an approved update.

At best you can use Wake-On-Lan to wake up systems for the scheduled
*installation* time, when the machines have updates to install, provided
that the download of the update(s) has successfully concluded before the
machine is put to sleep. Downloads, however, need to occur during normal
powered-up times.

[d***@dougzuck.com]

Post by ***@bson.se
We have wsus installed and working well in our environment but the
&quot;green-people&quot; will not allow us to have our pc&#39;s turned on. So now we are
looking for a Wake-on LAN solution. Do we have to change patch-software to
make this work ?
Sincerely
\\Jonas B

There's a free tool to remotely reboot, shutdown, and wake on LAN unlimited computers, simultaneously. It's called RemoteRebootX (http://remoterebootx.com)

There's another tool which is not free but has a free evaluation. It's called BatchPatch (http://batchpatch.com), and it will allow you to remotely install windows updates or third party updates/software in addition to remotely reboot, shutdown, wake on LAN and a lot more.