Exchange 2010 – Extremely Slow Update Rollup Installs

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It’s taking Exchange 2010 anywhere from 24-48 hours (!!!) to run the seemingly monthly Update Rollups. This seems like an inordinately long time to me, but I’m interested in any others’ thoughts and ideas.

We’re running Exchange 2010 as a VM on ESXi 6.7U1. The machine is configured with 4 CPUs and 16GB of memory. Space on any of the hard drives is not an issue.

Thoughts? Thanks!

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Which version of Windows Server? Is it up-to-date with patches? Which Exchange service pack is installed?

--Joe

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I’ll add to Joe’s questions:

How many mailboxes? What disk subsystem (7.2k spinning rust in RAID5 vs NVMe)?

We have a relatively small 2010 SP3 VM with approx. 100 mailboxes; with 8 vCPUs and 32 GB RAM performance is acceptable (but not snappy), and the Rollups take a half-hour or so to complete.

If you’re on Server 2016, it’s the OS that’s causing the painfully-slow update process.

 

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Sorry for the incomplete description. Answers to the questions by Joe and jabeattyauditor:

1. The server is running 2008R2 SP1. It is fully up-to-date through the March updates (holding off on April’s until all of the antivirus issues are resolved).

2. Exchange Server 2010 SP3, patched through Update Rollup 26 (that’s the one that took nearly 48 hours).

3. Disks are 15K 12GB/s SAS in a Raid 5 array.

4. We only have about 25 mailboxes with 4vCPUs and 16GB Ram. Could consider increasing both RAM and vCPUs.

Thanks for any help you can offer now.

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Have you observed the install to see which step is taking so long?

I’ve seen threads saying “disable any a/v software” during the install.

Also, I’ve seen a recommendation to disable “check for publishers cetificate revocation” in IE during the install

--Joe

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Joe,

While the early stage (“building .Net files” or something like that) takes quite a while, the longest time is after all Exchange services are shut down and the update is applying. Update Rollup 26 took over 30 hours just in that latter phase (and of course the Exchange services are all disabled during that time).

I have always disabled Avast for Business on the Exchange Server when applying the Update Rollups, but hadn’t heard about the IE setting. As soon as the April updates get an ok from the Master Patch List I’ll be trying Update 27 and so can try that IE setting change.

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