Ability to get "out of band" updates in ProPlus

[Alistair Gillespie]

We need a critical fix which MS have made available for Skype for Business

It was released in December for Current Channel as a “Feature Update”

(although oddly it’s not in the list of Feature Updates here Office 365 client update channel releases)

Most of our clients are (/ will be) on the Deferred Channel, which means we wouldn’t get it until June 2017!

We want the ability to deploy a patch “out of band”.

Does anyone know if there are precedents for this happening already?

So far MS advice is :

"move to the First Release for Deferred Channel until the update comes out then switch back"  

ironically the advice here http://www.deployoffice.com/preferred-practices/#!/manage#manage_channels says

“Switching Channels is not advised unless required as it is not a small task, and will be a100% file delta install”

Thanks in advance

-AL

[#2]

You cannot really update a specific component of C2R install, and that's one of the major issues with this model. I can recall numerous cases where upgrading to a new build in order to fix say issue with Skype resulted in hitting a new issue in Outlook, introduced with the new build. They might release a fix for specific issue in and out-of-band branch update, but those are tied in to specfic channel usually, which I guess is what the above MS statement means.

There is a standalone SfB client (with MSI or C2R version), which might give you a bit flexibility here. Though I havent played with the update settings there so I'm not sure if you can force it to use a different channel, while keeping Office on the Deferred.

Otherwise, switching to FR for Deferred isnt that scary, but yes, it will require some preparation and planning due to the update size. Anyway, let's see what others have to say about this, I'm not really dealing with Office updates lately.

[#3]

I may have misunderstood but If the fix is in the First Release for Deferred Channel now, that's version 1609, which will become the next Deferred Channel to be released on February 14, 2017. If they are saying it will be in the next First Release for Deferred Channel (1702?), that indeed would be released around June.  

I don't know how big your fleet is but switching channels for your whole user base doesn't seem much of an option to me and may introduce other issues.  Maybe Microsoft will release the fix sooner as a non-security update (despite what you have been told and depending how many reports they get).

[#4]

I am grappling with this myself.  Features set aside, I see that non-security fixes come out monthly for the Targeted Channel.  But you wait up to 6 months  for them if you are on the Deferred Channel.  With all the mess involved with bouncing between Channels, I wonder if it doesn't make sense to only deploy the Targeted Channel, 'which is a supported Channel', as the only Channel for end users?

If the Targeted Channel is supposed to be used for testing, and many if not all the fixes make it into the next monthly release, then how do you balance risk?

Is it risk to release fixes each month to your entire workforce, and is that risk greater than the risk of waiting for those non-security fixes for up to 6 months along with the added complexity of managing 2 Channels?  Let alone the complexity if users wish to migrate between them in order to obtain a certain fix they do not wish to wait for?

Just raising this question to see if others are seeing this the same way I am?

[#5]

I hear you with this question.  I too am trying to understand what the balance is between the risk and reward of using the FRfD (Targeted Channel) as the only Channel at our company.  I understand waiting for features, but the non-security fixes I believe hold a lot of value to the end user, and to our support staff if they are deployed monthly. 

[#6]

Hi Robert, this is quite an old discussion and a lot has changed since that you might be aware of already: 

Overview of the upcoming changes to Office 365 ProPlus update management

This is what's recommended for all the deployment scenarios (enterprise, cloud and locally managed)

• 1% get Monthly Channel
• 10% get Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted)
• 89% get Semi-Annual Channel

I'd broadly stick with something similar to above unless there are good reasons to do something different.  I'd also possible add Insider Fast or Monthly Channel (Targeted) into the mix if required, to get the earliest access to new features for a few staff, like in IT.

[#7]

Thanks Cian,

What I understand with all of this is I wait 4 months for fixes that are not security or urgent fixes.  I can go and see what the issue is, relate that to something our support folks are wrestling with, and then I would wait 4 months for the fix, or call MS and ask to get that now if possible.  Now Monthly gets fixes as does Targeted, both being different Office versions much like Targeted and Semi-Annually are till we hit the Feature release time.  I do understand the wait time for features, which really makes sense.  I just can't wrap my head around waiting for fixes unless they are deemed urgent?   I don't see bouncing people around Channel to Channel as I think that can add quite a bit of risk on its own.  Does that make sense?

[#8]

Based on my experience working with large customers , I would say it is not a "either or" question. (Leaving the Monthly Channel out for a minute), both Semi-Annual and Semi-Annual (Targeted) are going hand-in-hand. If you're deploying Semi-Annual only and your discovering an issue which would require a non-security fix, you're basically too late to the party to get a fix in the easy way.

It is when a new feature release of Semi-Annual (Targeted) comes along, that you're time window for testing, raising issues to Microsoft and requesting non-security fixes opens till the this feature level hits Semi-Annual. With the arrival of Semi-Annual, this time window closes (and only the most urgent non-security fixes are brought in).

So I would recommend to adopt both channels, deploy Semi-Annual (Targeted) to a good sample set of your users (not only IT) and make sure that when one of the users raises an issue, that this is triaged, analyzed and if needed brought to Microsoft's attention as soon as possible. It needs close collaboration between IT, help desk and your Microsoft representative to make this a smooth process, but then your chances are far better, that you will get the fixes in, that YOU need before the ship sails away and you have to go through all the escalation tiers, trying to get a backport approval for a non-security fix to a Semi-Annual Channel.

On your idea on only adopting Semi-Annual (Targeted): I haven't seen other customer deploying Targeted only, as most value code stability higher then having all the latest fixes in. Semi-Annual (Targeted) was made for testing, so there is a slight chance of a lower stability compared to Semi-Annual. At the end it is your decision, there will no "Channel police" ring at your door and check if you stick to Microsoft best practices :D But I would first try to optimize and automate my internal deployment, testing and issue triage process before moving everybody onto Targeted.

[#9]

Thanks Martin,

We will more than likely go with the Targeted channel for testers for a while and see what that looks like in our environment.  No harm no foul as MS recommends that scenario.  It will be interesting to see what this actually looks like after 6 to 8 months.