You must turn off the "Enable automatic synchronization" option on all members of an Application Center 2000 server cluster before you install the .NET Framework or .NET Framework updates

You may install the Microsoft .NET Framework or a .NET Framework service pack or hotfix on a Microsoft Application Center 2000 cluster member server. When you do this, you must turn off the Enable automatic synchronization option for the cluster until all members of the cluster have the same .NET Framework updates applied.

After installation is complete and the .NET Framework has passed testing on all the members of the cluster, you can turn on the Enable automatic synchronization option for the Application Center cluster. Then, Application Center 2000 replicates the metabase information from the cluster controller to all members of the cluster.

You must turn off the Enable automatic synchronization option in an Application Center 2000 cluster before you install the .NET Framework or any .NET Framework updates because the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) metabase is updated when you install the .NET Framework.

If synchronization occurs before the same .NET Framework updates have been applied to all the members of the Application Center cluster, the .NET Framework may not function correctly on one or more of the member servers.

If you have installed the .NET Framework or .NET Framework updates on an Application Center cluster and you did not stop automatic synchronization, you may experience the following symptoms:

• If you have installed the .NET Framework or .NET Framework updates the cluster controller only, the .NET Framework may not function correctly on the other member servers in the Application Center cluster.
• If you have installed the .NET Framework or .NET Framework updates on only one member server in the cluster, the .NET Framework may not work correctly on that member server.

Note In both cases, .aspx pages do not work correctly. However, .asp pages are not affected.

To turn off the Enable automatic synchronization option on an Application Center cluster before you apply the .NET Framework or any .NET Framework updates, follow these steps:

1. Log on to the computer that is running Application Center 2000 by using an account that has administrative permissions.
2. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Application Center.
3. In the Microsoft Application Center 2000 MMC snap-in, right-click the cluster name, and then click Properties.
4. In the Cluster Properties dialog box, click the General tab.
5. On the General tab, click to clear the Enable automatic updates check box, and then click OK.
6. After the .NET Framework has been updated on all members in the Application Center cluster and the updates have been tested to make sure that the installation is successful, you can turn on automatic updates by repeating steps 1-4. Then, go to step 7.
7. On the General tab, click to enable the Enable automatic updates check box, and then click OK.