update

It (Almost) Never Hurts to Update

One of the steps that should be on somewhere in the top 5 troubleshooting steps for virtually any problem is ‘download and apply most current update’ for the software or hardware in question (and/or peripheral software or hardware that could be related to the problem).

Another top 5 step would be to Bing (or Google if you prefer) the issue and see what the vast Interwebs might have to say on the subject. It usually helps to be as specific as possible- like copying and pasting the actual error message you are seeing. Often you will find that this step leads to the first step I mentioned as you encounter comment after comment from users who had the same problem until they applied the latest update.

A recent blog post on the OCS Team blog illustrates how sometimes the latest update may even address issues not specifically called out in the knowledgebase or readme text. If you end up calling for support, applying the latest upates is guaranteed to be one of the top 5 steps the custmer service tech walks you through, so you may as well cut out the middle-man and just do that part before you call.

Bottom line- it never hurts to apply the latest updates…except when it does. There are occasionally patches and updates that break more than they fix, but those are fairy rare these days (at least from estabished / major vendors). The odds of a corrupt patch are probably significantly lower than the odds that applying the latest upate could solve your problem.

Cisco Patches CUCM Security Flaw

Cisco is preparing to launch the next release of their Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) product - CUCM 7.0. But, last week they released an update for the current CUCM release. Actually, they released a total of 12 security updates or patches, but 11 of them deal with Cisco’s IOS and only 1 of them is related to CUCM.

The CUCM threats have been rated by Secunia as ‘moderately critical’. Vulnerable systems may be exposed to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks from a successful exploit. You can get more information from the Cisco Security Advisory and download the appropriate updates directly from Cisco.

OCS 2007 R2

There is a rumor in the blogosphere that Microsoft may release an update to Office Communications Server 2007 this fall. The next major release of Office Communications Server is expected to be OCS 2009. However, according to at least one blog, Microsoft may release OCS 2007 R2 in Q4 of this year to update OCS 2007. As quickly as the unified communications landscape changes, an R2 of OCS 2007 would make sense. There are a variety of features and functions that customers want and need, and if Microsoft makes them wait until 2009 or later for the next major OCS release, those customers might invest in alternative solutions that meet their needs now. There is no confirmation of the rumor from Microsoft, and no details currently available regarding what updates or features might be included in R2.