Updating neglected server ?

[cjrudy]

I recently took over a neglected IT department and the servers need anywhere from 5 to 106 updates. The worst off is a Windows 2003 box also running SQL 2000 and holds all the company databases.This server needs 106 updates and has not been rebooted since May.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to safely update this and the other severs without running into major problems.

Thanks.

Chris

 

[itsp1965]

Wow I feel your pain and there is no real easy way around this. In the case where servers are only missing some updates it may not be an issue, but in the case of your SQL server, you may want to consider creating a VM copy under one of the free versions of VMWare/Hyper-V (A version of a hypervisor that supports snapshots would be ideal). You can then test your upgrade of the server in a phased approach.