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I have got 2 Domain Controllers running Windows Server 2003 in a parent-child forest configuration. The DCs have not had Windows Update in sometime, and I want to write a procedure for doing so. Right now, the DCs are virtual machines and the intent is to keep them in a snapshotted state until the updates are complete and the DCs are confirmed functional. Can anyone tell me a procedure for performing the updates? Thanks
You can have a test environment to properly test any new updates before deploying to the production environment. After that you can run updates on each domain controller or a set group depending on how large the enterprise is but dont shutdown other domain controllers while updates are going on except doing a Schema updates or so.
You should not use snapshot's from domain controllers, because it is an unsupported way to backup AD. We normally use WSUS in the environment that we have and it works properly without any issues.
When you deploy an Active Directory domain controller on a physical computer, certain requirements must be satisfied throughout the domain controller's life cycle. The deployment of a domain controller in a virtual hosting environment adds certain requirements and considerations. More information here - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888794