Update Rollup 1 for Windows Server 2012 Essentials is available, testing on my busy server underway
Today, Microsoft had some new Windows Updates, including the automatically downloaded bundle, announced at Microsoft Support:
Update Rollup 1 for Windows Server 2012 Essentials is available Article ID: 2781267
I've been heavily testing Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate Essentials and earlier betas since last October, and I'm happy to announce that I've recently cut-over to Windows Server 2012 Essentials. I will be posting a series of articles and videos about
- installation
- antivirus (Forefront can be made to work!)
- DNS (yes, you still need my popular workaround)
- fast and easy client connector installs (avoiding domain joins, if you wish)
- seamless, easy VPN
and more. So far, things going well, with 6 daily PC backups, and growing, with a 2.5TB monster to be added to the mix soon.
Now that I've applied this new patch tonight, I'll keep an eye on things, and report back here on how it goes. It can apparently be uninstalled if necessary. But I grabbed a snapshot of this VM prior to the patch, just in case. That'll allow me to easily rewind the clock on just my C: drive if needed, in seconds.
It does warn attached clients to reboot, by the way. Automatic client installs in seconds, easy.
Backups are paused for systems that have this warning message, and in your Dashboard's 'DEVICES' view, the PC shows 'Status' as offline, until you reboot.
Let us know how your patching goes, with a comment below, or head on over to this post at the Home Server Show Forums.
Feb. 27 2013 Update:
I was afraid of this. Turns out the DNS workaround at TinkerTry.com/ws2012e-dns-fix is needed after this update. Even if you skipped the domain join during the install of the client connector, the update rollup re-enables the "Windows Server LAN Configuration" service on all clients, which quickly resets your DNS back to the IP address of your WS2012E system, pictured below.
This is not at all like your more typical home user's local router feeding the DNS (DHCP). This DNS tweak will break surfing for remote clients that aren't always be VPN'd to your WS2012E system.
The workaround described in much more detail at TinkerTry.com/ws2012e-dns-fix and still workable, but it'd be nice to have a more elegant way of handling this, should Microsoft continue to take a while in delivering a real fix, as I mention in that same article.
