Do not schedule automatic reboots of Evo middle tier Windows systems!
From time to time, customers (or their IT people) will set up a Windows scheduled task to automatically reboot the server at a regular interval, perhaps weekly or perhaps every day in the wee hours. This is usually done in the hopes of resolving stability or performance issues with Evolution, and is not an unreasonable thing to want.
However: DO NOT DO THIS!
Though the reboot itself is a fine idea, it causes problems with Evolution because Evo services have to be started in a specific order:
- The Request Broker
- All Request Processors
- Everything else
If the services are started in a random order, as happens on a reboot, it's as likely as not that Evolution will enter a hung state where you cannot login or do anything: from here all you can do is stop all the services and then start them again properly.
In practice, when I have to reboot an Evo system, I mark the Request Broker service as Manual Start so that when all the middle tier machines comes back, the broker won't auto start. Even though everything else (RP, RR, etc.) starts, it's not Evo until the Request Broker is running.
Once all the machines are back, I enter the Evo Mgmt Console and stop all services, then start them in the proper order. Once Evo is up, I mark the RB service back to Auto Start.
This avoids the issue of Evo starting and launching some scheduled tasks before the entire system has come up (perhaps other servers are in the midst of rebooting as well).
Note: if you mark any Evolution service as Manual Start but then perform a version update in the Evo Mgmt Console, this resets all services to Auto Start, including the one you thought was set to manual. Surprise! Always set your service startuptype after any version updates.
You can set this Startup Type in the usual Control Panel "Services" applet, or (as I do), with PowerShell.
Windows Updates
Likewise, Windows updates are important to apply regularly, but do not configure them to install automatically and reboot after, even if it's in the wee hours. This creates the same issues as before: the Windows server starting unattended, with services launching in a random order and possibly hanging Evolution.
Instead, Windows Updates should be applied by hand, in the off hours, when Evolution can be restarted in a controlled manner.