Scan for Product Updates hangs on isolated system by SQLCraftsman

We are happy to report that we have been able to identify the issue which prevented canceling of product update scan from working properly. We have fixed the issue, and you should be able to observe it in the next public release of SQL Server 2012.

Thank you for your feedback, and please do keep it coming.

Regards,

SQL Server Team

The default behavior should NOT scan for updates. Enterprise Deployment and change management requires deterministic version control. This installer does not support that. This is a severe architectural error that should not have been introduced into the product.

User Scenario 1: expanding or replacing a cluster node for Failover Clustering or Availability Groups. You must match production version. Can’t do this with forced updates.
User Scenario 2: Third-party application only supports SQL 2012 up to a particular SP. This would defeat specific version target, especially since we cannot uninstall service packs.
Scenario 3: Enterprise standard for SQL is Version xxxx, which is behind version on updates. That version standard is required for legal compliance (ISO, HIPPA, SOX, FASB SEC, etc.). SQL 2012 would be unusable in such a standards-based environment.

The system in question was a VM networked to other VMs on an isolated network. There is a second SQL 2012 VM and a SharePoint app server on the same subnet. An AD controller (also a VM) was registered as a router and connected to another isolated network segment hosting a third SQL 2012 VM to create a multi-subnet environment for testing multi-site Availability Group failover. The VM has full connectivity registered (NIC with a gateway) but there was no route to the Internet.

Command-line only is not an acceptable workaround. The default should be to install a known version, not a random, untested update. This is not a development tool, it is a production operating platform and must have tightly controlled updates.

Thanks for the response. It does look like it took some time for your cancel operation to complete so we are going to investigate that further.

In order to repro on our side, we used a clean standalone machine with no internet connections and performed installation. The product update scan fails immediately showing error messages and an error link to a webpage containing the trouble shooting directions. You mentioned that you isolated your machine from the internet - could you elaborate on how it is isolated (i.e. no NIC, internet unplugged or other)?

Also it's possible to suppress scanning for updates by specifying /updateenabled=false on the command line when performing setup. Also, you can specify where to scan updates by using the /updatesource parameter.

Thanks,
[SQL Server Team]

Stop scan simply jumped to the next dialog page, which still waited on scan completion/timeout. It had no net effect on wait time. Cosmetic effects are the epitome of uselessness.    

Skip Scan should be the standard in order to comply with enterprise deploymnet standards of deploying only updates that are affirmatively chosen. This is unacceptable in an Enterprise environment.

Based on the logs it looks that the scan was able to be cancelled via the "Stop Scan" button. Your feedback indicates that you would prefer the option to skip the scan (which it currently does not allow), but I assume the "Stop Scan" allowed you to cancel the scan once it started correct? Did it still hang once you selected the "Stop Scan"?

thanks,
[SQL Server Team]

Thanks, we will have dev take a look.

thanks,
[SQL Server Team]

Just posted logs. Logs included original CTP3 install and RCO upgrade logs.

Hi Erland, are you able to attach logs for this issue?

thanks,
[SQL Server Team]

It is not a user-triggable step - but it is a user-cancellable step. There is a checkbox you can uncheck. The only problem is that Setup wants to talk with the Windows Update Service, so that setup hangs for five minutes until it gives up.

I will submit my on Connect item so I can attach my logs.

Hello SQLCraftsman,

Thank you for taking the time and reporting the issue to us. Would you kindly send us the full setup logs found under <SQL Server Folder>\Setup Bootstraper?

Thanks,
[SQL Server Team]