What’s a Rollup?

Since the news a few days ago that Microsoft has released the Exchange 2010 Update Rollup 4 for download, I figured a couple of lines on what Rollups are would be a good thing. Many are confused as to why these Rollups exist, and when to use them.

An Update Rollup (UR) is a single-installer for many different hotfixes and patches to a single product that Microsoft produces. There have been such UR’s for everything from Windows to Office over the years, and they can make life easier if used correctly. For the most part, you don’t need them for day-to-day operations anymore, but you may use them when building up new systems.

For currently-installed Exchange 2007 and up servers, running Windows Update on a regular basis will get you the critical patches, fixes and updates you need. Just make sure you’ve authorized Windows Update to download software for other software running on Windows (it’s one of your settings in Windows Update) and you’ll find yourself downloading Exchange components as well. You still need to install Service Packs as they’re available, but the individual patches can be updated when you do your regular Windows Updates. There are a couple of cases, however, where this updating process doesn’t meet your needs.

If you’re building a new Exchange 2007 or 2010 system, for example. After installation and (where applicable) Service Pack updating, there may be a large number of individual fixes and patches to be applied. As these will be installed sequentially, and will require service or server restarts in many cases, the process can be time and labor consuming. The UR can apply all patches and fixes up to the date of UR release in one shot, making things faster, easier, and with fewer opportunities for errors.

Many companies prohibit auto-updates, and you may find yourself manually applying fixes and patches for Exchange. If you keep up with this process, then you have no problems, but if you do not; you can quickly find yourself knee-deep in required updates. The UR will make life easier by bringing you up to date quickly, so you can get back to regular patching.

Note that you should still check for updates *after* you go through the UR process. This is because there may be newer patches and fixes released after the UR is built, so while it is cumulative up to the release date, it is not current to today’s date.

Keeping up to date is the best way to avoid security pitfalls and software bugs.  When you’re starting from scratch or trying to catch up, Update Rollups can provide a way to quickly get close to “up-to-date” and help you do so without as many reboots, restarts and errors.