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Server restarts

After you first install Sophos protection software on a new server we recommend you restart the server as soon as possible.

  • If you've removed competitor software, you usually need to restart the server to complete the removal. If you restart the server promptly it reduces the risk of software conflicts.
  • Some protection options, such as exploit mitigations, are loaded as processes start. You need to restart a server to ensure all processes, including system processes, have loaded the protection.

When you update Sophos protection software on a server, you may need to restart the server. You typically don't need to do this immediately. Your servers remain protected. You can usually wait until the next time you restart the server manually or you restart it as part of an operating system update.

Operating system updates

We recommend that you install any operating system security patches on your servers promptly.

If you do this then you shouldn't get alerts for pending restarts for Sophos protection software updates. The frequency of operating system updates should mean that you're restarting your servers frequently enough to cover Sophos software updates.

We don't plan to add options to remotely trigger restarts. For business critical servers you should have existing maintainence processes to cover operating system updates.

Events and alerts

We create restart required events to indicate that an update needs a restart. We create alerts when a restart has been pending for 2 more weeks.

Queued updates

Note

If you don't restart a server after an update for an extended period, typically months, you can have a subsequent update queued pending a restart from the first update. The second update will run after the first restart takes place, and it may in turn require a second restart to complete it.

If you restart your servers infrequently you may want to plan for a second restart cycle, allowing time for the updates to take place between the restarts. For servers with reasonable performance, you may want to plan for an interval of 20 minutes after the first restart to allow any updates to complete.