Now that Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1 has been released, I am going to go over the upgrade process.  Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1 has added some new features, fixes, and removed some features.  For a complete overview of the changes in Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1 see one of my previous blog posts – Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1 Overview.  In this blog post I am going to focus on upgrading Provisioning Services 5.1 to Service Pack 1.

In my upgrade I went from Provisioning Services 5.1 to Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1.  The upgrade process is pretty straight forward in Provisioning Services 5.1  You have a several options when the upgrading the Provisioning Services client on the vDisks.

Provisioning Services Client vDisk upgrade options:

  • Provisioning Services Upgrade Wizard – Automatic Online Upgrade (Process in Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1 Installation and Configuration Guide starting on page 66)
  • Reverse Image – Manual Offline Upgrade (Process in Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1 Installation and Configuration Guide starting on page 87)
  • Hyper-V Direct VHD Boot – Manual Offline Upgrade
  • XenServer Direct VHD Boot – Manual Offline Upgrade

Out the options above, I like the Reverse Image and Hyper-V Direct VHD Boot options.  I have tried the Provisioning Services Upgrade Wizard and had mixed results.  I have not tested the XenServer Direct VHD Boot option.

Provisioning Server Upgrade Process:

  1. Shutdown all Target Devices accessing the Provisioning Servers.
  2. Uninstall the previous version of Provisioning Services and reboot the server.
  3. Install Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1.
  4. Run the Provisioning Services Configuration Wizard and select Farm Already Configured.
  5. Repeat the process on remaining Provisioning Servers in the farm.

Provisioning Services Client vDisk Upgrade Process:

  1. Backup your vDisks by making copy of each vDisk file.  Make sure to copy both the .VHD and .PVP files for each vDisk.
  2. Choose your Provisioning Services Client vDisk upgrade option from above.  I used the Reverse Image and Hyper-V Direct VHD Boot options without issue.
  3. Repeat for each vDisk.

This same process can be applied when upgrading from Provisioning Services 5.0.  The only difference is your options for upgrading the Provisioning Services Client are limited to Provisioning Services Upgrade Wizard or Reverse Image.  Upgrading Provisioning Server 4.5 requires additional steps for upgrading the database and converting the vDisks to VHD format.  See the Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1 Installation and Configuration Guide (starting on page 59) for the Provisioning Server 4.5 upgrade process.

If you have found this article interesting or if you have any other insights, please feel free to contact me via email.