Today I downloaded the latest CU (CU2) forExchange Server 2013. There are a number of fixes in this release and to install it is pretty straight forward but there are a few things to take note of:
a) You need to run a Schema Update
b) You need to run an AD Update
c) Best practice to put the servers into Maintenance Mode.
Maintenance Mode:
Run the following 4 commands to put the server into maintenance mode.
1. Set-MailboxServer <servername> -DatabaseCopyActivationDisabledAndMoveNow $True
2. Set-ServerComponentState –Identity <servername> –Component HubTransport –State Draining –Requester Maintenance
3. Suspend-ClusterNode –Name <servername>
4. Set-MailboxServer –Identity <servername> –DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy Blocked
Right, so if you don’t do step A & B the setup just stops and gives you the error that you need to prepare the Schema. So simply open up a command prompt as Administrator, Navigate to the setup files you extracted earlier on and run the following:
a) Setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
This update takes a few minutes, once that is done lets move on to the next update
b) setup.exe /PrepareAD /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
This update also takes a few minutes. Once done we can now run the full setup. At the command prompt you still have open type in Setup and press enter.
Wait a few seconds and the GUI will open. Follow the prompts and sit back and wait a while for the setup to complete. There are 17 steps to run through in this setup.
Once finished you need to reboot your server. Lastly after the reboot you will need to run 4 commands to take the server out of Maintenance mode again.
1. Set-MailboxServer –Identity ServerName –DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy Unrestricted
2. Resume-ClusterNode –Name ServerName
3. Set-ServerComponentState –Identity ServerName –Component HubTransport –State Active –Requester Maintenance
4. Set-MailboxServer –Identity ServerName –DatabaseCopyActivationDisabledAndMoveNow $False
Now you can do the next server. One thing I picked up after this was that one of my databases content index state was giving the error “FailedandSuspended”. To fix this error simply run the following command in Exchange PowerShell.
Update-MailboxDatabaseCopy <databaseName><ReplicaServerName> -SourceServer <ActiveServerName> -DeleteExistingFiles:$True
More reading on the release of Exchange 2013 CU2:
http://windowsitpro.com/blog/exchange-2013-rtm-cu2-makes-its-appearance
Hope it helps
Thank you very much for this. Do I need to run the prepare schema and prepare ad for each 2013 server, or do I run it once for all. I have a Client Access Server and two Exchange servers. Also, do I need to run anything on our domain controllers? Thanks again, I have little support and about 500 very critical users (public safety).
Hi Randy
No you only need to run the schema, AD prep once.
hope it helps 🙂
Are you sure you only run it once? Or at all. Just running CU2 on my 1st server doesn’t seem to require and special commands on the 1st server (not coming from CU1). My second Exchange 2013 server now says ‘schema has changed – cant install update’ or similar.
yes you only need to run it once as it modifies AD and the schema.
“..if you don’t do step A & B the setup just stops and gives you the error that you need to prepare the Schema.” – Well, it doesn’t – maybe in CU1. You don’t need to run those AD update commands – SETUP does this for you.
On my standalone Multi-Role Exchange 2013 CU1 Server my attemt to update to CU2 ended unsuccessfully. Logging showed:
[ERROR] The database with ID ‘db_ID’ couldn’t be found.
[ERROR] The database with ID ‘db_ID’ couldn’t be found.
[WARNING] An unexpected error has occurred and a Watson dump is being generated: The database with ID ‘db_ID’ couldn’t be found.
After turning the ‘DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy’ back-on with:
Set-MailboxServer –Identity ServerName –DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy Unrestricted
Second attempt of the CU2 setup let me end with a success.
My 2 cents.
source: http://exchangemaster.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/databasecopyautoactivationpolicy-setting-breaks-client-access-in-exchange-2013-cu2/