Does ISUS support the downloading and installation of multiple (critical) updates in a single update session? Specifically, if a workstation is running version A, can/will versions B, C, and D be downloaded/installed (in that order) if the "AutoUpdate" method is called?
First, lets get your initial question answered: AutoUpdate can only download and install one update per session.
But lets talk more about your scenario. It sounds like you have a product that has versions (a, b, c, d) and your patches are not cumulative. Mearning...version a must go to version b then version c and finally version d.
One alternative to that scenario is to always build cumulative patches: the patch for version d can take a, b or c all the way to d. The downside is that the patch may be larger than required for customer c.
Another alternative is a make two matches available: 1 - cumulative patch (sent to customers on a or b) 2 - sequential patch (sent to customers on c)
That way, customers who are keeping current will download the smallest patch possible. Those who aren't current, can download one cumulative patch to take them to the latest release.
With regard to the patches, you are correct -- they are not cumulative, primarily because of the patch size(s) and the desire to keep the update time to a minimum.
Until we can decrease the patch size and implement cumulative patches, do you see any reason why we couldn't fire off another "AutoUpdate" call at the end of each patch and, in effect, chain them together?
You would have to wait for the first patch to be installed before the second would be available....
version a sees patch b version b sees patch c version c sees patch d
But at the end of the installation of patch b, you could certainly fire off another autoupdate to see if patch c exists. It would work as long as the installation of patch b is complete.
BTW- if your patches are large, you may want to look at using background downloading / bandwidth throttling. It doesn't solve the problem of sequential updates, but it does do the download with the ability to download over mutiple internet sessions. You would use the following APIs. More information is available in the help.
