Deploy Project Server 2007 updates

This Office product will reach end of support on October 10, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see , Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

This document provides a detailed overview of the different software updates that are available for Project Server 2007. Read this article before you attempt to install a Project Server 2007 public update.

There are five different types of Project Server 2007 updates that are described in this article. In order to properly maintain and update your Project Server 2007 deployment, you need to understand each type, the relationships among the types, and important things to know about them.

  • Hotfixes

  • Cumulative updates

  • Critical on-demand hotfixes

  • Service packs

  • Infrastructure updates

Hotfixes

A hotfix is a single cumulative package composed of one or more files used to address a problem in a product. A hotfix addresses a specific customer situation and is distributed by Microsoft Customer Service and Support. Customers may not redistribute hotfixes without written, legal consent from Microsoft.

Individual hotfix releases are no longer available. Hotfixes are released to customers by Microsoft Customer Service and Support through cumulative updates. A cumulative update is a downloadable package of current and previous fixes released on a scheduled basis. To address a hotfix request, Microsoft gives a customer the cumulative update that contains all the corresponding fixes that are required for the problem. It also contains additional hotfixes that are bundled with that release of the hotfix. More information about cumulative updates is contained in the following section.

Cumulative updates

A Cumulative update is a method of providing hotfix releases on a scheduled delivery basis for Office Server products, including Office Project Server 2007. Through this model, Office hotfixes are released every two months in the form of a downloadable package of current and previous hotfixes. The primary goal is to deliver high-quality fixes on a predictable schedule. The updated releases are accompanied by a Knowledge Base article describing the contents of the update. For example, the Knowledge Base article for the December 2008 Project Server 2007 cumulative update is Description of the Project Server 2007 hotfix package (Pjsrvapp.msp, Pjsrvwfe.msp): December 16, 2008. The first Project Server cumulative update was released in August, 2008. Cumulative updates must be requested through Microsoft Customer Service and Support, either by phone or by using the View and request hotfix downloads link in the Knowledge Base article that describes the cumulative update. (For an example, see Description of the Project Server 2007 hotfix package (Pjsrvapp.msp, Pjsrvwfe.msp): December 16, 2008).

The hotfixes found in a cumulative update include:

  • Fixes for issues that meet Office hotfix acceptance criteria. These criteria include workaround availability, customer impact, reproducibility, the complexity of the code that must be changed, and other criteria. These criteria have not changed.

  • Any critical on-demand hotfixes released to date.

  • Any critical security or non-security updates released publicly to date.

Install a Project Server cumulative update to fix a specific problem you may be experiencing in your Project Server deployment. As Project Server cumulative updates are released, we recommend that you review the Knowledge Base articles about them to determine whether any of the issues that are fixed are affecting your environment. Note that Project Server cumulative updates contain fixes from any previous cumulative update packages. Therefore, if you install the latest cumulative update to fix a problem you are currently experiencing, then you are also applying hotfixes from previously released cumulative updates.

Although Windows SharePoint Services cumulative updates are not a requirement for installing Project Server 2007 cumulative updates, you should consider applying them to your environment as well if you are experiencing any problems. You can install cumulative updates for Windows SharePoint Services or Office SharePoint Server at the same time as the Project Server cumulative update, eliminating the need to rerun the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard more than once per server. (For more information, see the "Installation steps" section of Deploy cumulative updates (Project Server 2007).)

For Project Server 2007 farms deployed with Office SharePoint Server 2007, rollup cumulative updates are now available to help eliminate the confusion associated with the installation order of various Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 cumulative updates. Rollup cumulative updates consist of a package that contains the latest of every hotfix patch that Microsoft has released. You would simply need to install the latest Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 rollup cumulative update and the latest Office SharePoint Server 2007 rollup cumulative update for the installation to be complete. The Office SharePoint Server 2007 rollup cumulative update contains the latest Project Server 2007 cumulative update, so there is no need to install anything other than those two rollup updates.

The following are important things to know about Project Server cumulative updates:

  • Office Project Server 2007 Service Pack 1 is a prerequisite for installing any Office Project Server 2007 cumulative updates. Microsoft highly recommends that you install Project Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) prior to installing any Project Server 2007 cumulative updates dated April 2009 or later. (Office Project Server 2007 SP1 fixes are also included in Office Project Server 2007 SP2). For more information about installing Project Server 2007 service packs, see the Service packs section of this article.

  • Cumulative updates for Office Server products cannot be uninstalled. Make sure to back up the farm databases before you start the installation. This allows you to return to your previous deployment by restoring the backed up databases.

    Note

    Cumulative updates for Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007 can be uninstalled.

  • Prior to installing Project Server cumulative updates, disconnect all users from the farm to ensure that all servers in the farm are in the same state before applying the update. You can do this by stopping the Queue Service on all application servers in the farm, or by stopping the World Wide Web Publishing Service on all Web servers.

  • When you are installing Project Server cumulative updates, all servers on the farm must have the cumulative update installation files installed before the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard is run on any servers on the farm. Once the binary files have been installed to all servers, you need to run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard on each server to complete the installation.

  • If you are installing a Windows SharePoint Services cumulative update as well as a Project Server cumulative update, it is a best practice to install the Windows SharePoint Services cumulative update first.

  • If a cumulative update contains a hotfix that is already installed on the computer, it will not attempt to reinstall the hotfix. It is a best practice to read the Knowledge Base article for the specific cumulative update you are installing to know what is contained in the hotfix.

  • Make sure to refer to the specific cumulative update’s knowledge base article for important information. For example, a hotfix within a Project Server cumulative update may have dependencies on a Project Professional 2007 cumulative update in order to work correctly. You will find this type of information in the Knowledge Base article.

Important

Make sure to read the TechNet article Deploy cumulative updates (Project Server 2007) before attempting to install Project Server cumulative updates.

Critical on-demand (COD) Hotfixes

A critical on-demand (COD) hotfix is available to address critical problems that cannot be handled by the cumulative update delivery cycle. COD fixes are limited to emergency situations such as one in which the issue is blocking critical business operations for the customer, and for which there is no effective workaround. Critical on-demand (COD) hotfixes are also included in the next cumulative update that is released.

Service packs

A service pack is a tested, cumulative set of all hotfixes, security updates, critical updates, and updates. Service packs may also contain additional fixes for problems that are found internally since the release of the product and a limited number of customer-requested design changes or features. Microsoft service packs are public updates that are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center. They are accompanied by a Microsoft Knowledge Base article describing the fixes and enhancements that they contain.

Project Server 2007 currently has two service packs available for update — Project Server 2007 Service Pack 1 and Project Server 2007 Service Pack 2.

Project Server 2007 Service Pack 2 can be downloaded from the 2007 Office Servers Service Pack 2 (SP2) (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=148351).

Important

Make sure to read the TechNet article Deploy Service Pack 2 for Office Project Server 2007 before attempting to install Service Pack 2.

The following are important things to know about Project Server 2007 Service Pack 2:

  • The Project Server 2007 Service Pack 2 update is contained within the 2007 Office Servers Service Pack2 update. The 2007 Office Servers Service Pack 2 update contains SP2 updates for Project Server 2007, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007. When you apply the 2007 Office Servers Service Pack2 update, it will automatically determine whether any of these applications are installed, and then it will attempt to install the corresponding SP2 updates to the computer.

  • Before installing the Project Server 2007 Service Pack 2 update, you must first install the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 2 update. This is required because Project Server 2007 is built on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Instructions for installing Windows SharePoint Service 3.0 Service Pack 2are in the Deploy Service Pack 2 for Office Project Server 2007 article.

  • If your Project Server 2007 deployment contains language packs, you can also install Service Pack 2 updates for them as well. Information about installing Project Server 2007 SP2 language pack updates can be found in the Deploy Service Pack 2 for Office Project Server 2007 article.

  • Make sure that you are able to back up and restore your databases before applying the Service Pack 2 update.

  • When you install a service pack, disconnect all users from the farm to ensure that all servers in the farm are in the same state before you apply the SP 2 update. You can do this by stopping the Queue Service on all application servers in the farm, or by stopping the World Wide Web Publishing Service on all Web servers.

  • Make sure to install the binary files for the Service Pack 2 update to all servers in your farm before running the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard on any servers in your farm. Note that you can install the Service Pack 2 binary files for both Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Project Server 2007 before running the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard.

Important

Make sure to read the TechNet article Deploy Service Pack 2 for Office Project Server 2007 before attempting to install the update.

Project Server 2007 Service Pack 2 can be downloaded from 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 2 (SP2) (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=148351). For information about Project Server 2007 issues that are fixed with this update, go here (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=149621).

Infrastructure update

The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers is a set of public updates to improve platform performance and also contains several customer-driven fixes. The updates are applicable to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft Search Server 2008 and Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express, Microsoft Office Project Server 2007, and Microsoft Office Project 2007. The Project and Project Server 2007 enhancements and fixes include:

  • Reporting Data Service (RDS) optimization for custom fields

  • Queue Management improvements

  • Usability improvements to timesheets and My Tasks

  • Project Professional ActiveCache improvements

  • Project Professional cost resourcing improvements

Note

Details of the Project Server 2007 enhancement and fixes that are available through the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 are described in the TechNet article Project Server 2007 Infrastructure Update Release.

The following are important things to note before installing the Project Server 2007 Infrastructure Update:

  • The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 files are contained within the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers. The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers contains the infrastructure updates for both Project Server 2007 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. When you apply the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers, it will automatically determine whether either of these applications are installed on the computer, and then it will install the corresponding Infrastructure updates to the computer.

  • Before installing the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007, you must first install the Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. This is required because Project Server 2007 is built on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Instructions for installing the Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 are in Deploy the infrastructure update for Office Project Server 2007.

  • Before applying the infrastructure update, disconnect all users from the farm to ensure that all servers in the farm are in the same state. You can do this by stopping the Queue Service on all application servers in the farm, or by stopping the World Wide Web Publishing Service on all Web servers.

  • Project Server 2007 SP1 is not a prerequisite for installing the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007. Although we strongly recommend that you install both, one is not required before the installation of the other.

Important

Make sure to read Deploy the infrastructure update for Office Project Server 2007 before attempting to install the update.

See Also

Concepts

Checklist for deploying Project Server 2007 updates
Create an installation source that includes software updates (Project Server 2007)
Extract Project Web Access site data to a new content database