How to Apply Windows OS Patches or Hotfixes on a Neverfail Continuity Engine Pair With Minimal Interruption

How to Apply Windows OS Patches or Hotfixes on a Neverfail Continuity Engine Cluster With Minimal Interruption

Summary

This article outlines the recommended procedure for applying operating system (OS) patches or hotfixes on a Neverfail Continuity Engine server cluster, allowing you to maintain high availability and minimize downtime or disruption.

Overview

Neverfail Continuity Engine’s Active-Passive architecture enables administrators to apply OS updates on one server at a time while maintaining service availability. This allows validation of updates on the passive node before switching roles and patching the other server.

Pre-Requisites

Before beginning, ensure the following:

  • Automatic Updates from Microsoft are set to download only, not install automatically.

  • The Passive server has a Management IP configured which can access Internet and the DNS port (53) is open through the Neverfail Packet Filter.

Step-by-Step Procedure

πŸ”„ Phase 1: Update the Passive Server

  1. Log into the Passive server (typically the Secondary, but verify in your environment).

  2. Open Windows Update and allow it to check for available updates.

  3. Download and install the required patches or hotfixes.

  4. If prompted, reboot the server to complete installation.

  5. After reboot, verify that all updates were successfully installed.

  6. Re-check for updates. If additional ones are found, repeat steps 3–5.

  7. Launch the Neverfail Advanced Management Client and ensure synchronization between both servers is healthy.

πŸ” Phase 2: Perform Switchover

  1. Use the "Make Active" button in the Neverfail Advanced Client to switch roles.

    • ⚠️ Users may experience a brief interruption during the switchover.

πŸ”„ Phase 3: Update the Second Server (Now Passive)

  1. On the now Passive server, repeat steps 2–6 to apply the updates.

  2. If desired, perform a second switchover to return the servers to their original Active/Passive roles.

Completion

Once both servers have been successfully updated and are synchronized, your Neverfail environment is fully patched with minimal disruption to end users.