Beekeeper Patch Automation: Checking Exchange DAG health before a patch cycle

Before using Beekeeper for your patching cycle for Exchange DAGs, you should make sure the servers are healthy and ready to be patched.  We have developed a script to assist you.

Check disk space

Within Beekeeper, the default setting for disk space minimum is 2GB.

The script checks for at least 2GB.  This can be modified on line 57 of the script.

Check for Exchange Maintenance Mode

If an Exchange DAG node is in maintenance mode, Beekeeper will not patch that node and fail the execution job.

SCCM Agent is running

The SCCM must be running to apply software updates

WinRM is running

WinRM is used to remotely call services and commands when patching an Exchange DAG.

If not an IPless DAG, check Windows Failover Cluster status

A regular Exchange DAG uses the Windows Failover Cluster service for an Administrative Access Point. 

To run the script, you supply the DAG name.  The output is in a formatted table and shows status of each checked item per DAG node.

Regular DAG:

The first two nodes are in Exchange Maintenance mode, so they are Paused in their cluster configuration.

IPless DAG:

This IPless DAG is ready for patching.

The script is in our Github repository: https://github.com/green-house-data/BeekeeperScripts/blob/master/BK_DAG_PreCheck.ps1