How to Identify the Version and Service Packs installed on a SharePoint 2013 Server

In many cases, we may not be bothered about the Version, Service Packs installed on our Server when we do the development. It is obvious that, when we get the requirement, immediately we will start analysis the requirement.

But recently there was a situation that one of our client wants to move on to the new Service Pack which released on this April. In that case, we may also have to analyze the impact of the new Service Pack. Before knowing that, I just wanted to know, what are the things installed on our Dev environment first. Then on top of it, what needs to be installed and what would be the impact after installation.

To answer all these questions, First we need to know what is the version installed on our Farm. Use the following command to get the Version of the product installed using PowerShell script.(Get-SPFarm).Products.

First Run ISE as below :

Then after selecting the Commands of “Add.PSSnapin” output of the above command will be something like,

By seeing the GUID, we will be able to identify the Product. These GUIDs will not change. On all the environments, and all the machines, the GUIDs will remain same.

Here are all of the product GUIDs:

GUID : 35466B1A-B17B-4DFB-A703-F74E2A1F5F5E Product : Project Server 2013

GUID : BC7BAF08-4D97-462C-8411-341052402E71 Product : Project Server 2013 Preview

GUID : C5D855EE-F32B-4A1C-97A8-F0A28CE02F9C Product : SharePoint Server 2013

GUID : CBF97833-C73A-4BAF-9ED3-D47B3CFF51BE Product : SharePoint Server 2013 Preview

GUID : B7D84C2B-0754-49E4-B7BE-7EE321DCE0A9 Product : SharePoint Server 2013 Enterprise

GUID : 298A586A-E3C1-42F0-AFE0-4BCFDC2E7CD0 Product : SharePoint Server 2013 Enterprise Preview

GUID : D6B57A0D-AE69-4A3E-B031-1F993EE52EDC Product : Microsoft Office Web Apps Server 2013

GUID : 9FF54EBC-8C12-47D7-854F-3865D4BE8118 Product : SharePoint Foundation 2013

And to know about the Service Packs, there is no need of any PowerShell Commands. That we can directly go to the Central Administration and find.

Go to Central Administration.

Click on “Upgrade and Migration” on the Quick Links.

Click on “Check Product and Patch Installation Status”

This will tell us the current Patches Installation. By seeing the Version column we can identify. On the screen shot above shared, there is no SP installed.

Determine upgrade approach (SharePoint Server 2010)

While looking for the best approach for upgrading i came up with this content and wanted to share it with others, in the reference links more details are present, with Pros and Cons of each approach and techniques.

Choose an upgrade approach

There are two basic approaches to upgrade: in-place and database attach. In addition, there are various techniques you can use to combine aspects of these basic approaches to mitigate downtime or potentially improve performance.The following table compares the in-place and database attach approaches.

Approach	Description
In-place upgrade	You can install SharePoint Server 2010 on the same hardware. You can also upgrade the content and settings in the server farm as part of a single process.
Database attach upgrade	You can upgrade the content for the environment on a separate farm. The result is that you do not upgrade any of the services or farm settings. You can upgrade the databases in any order and upgrade several databases at the same time. While each database is being upgraded, the content in that database is not available to users.

For more information about how in-place and database attach upgrades work, see Upgrade process overview (SharePoint Server 2010).The following table lists the downtime mitigation techniques that you can use during upgrade to reduce the amount of time that users cannot access their content or to potentially increase upgrade performance.

Technique	Description
Parallel upgrade	You can attach and upgrade multiple databases at a time to speed up the upgrade process overall. The maximum number of parallel upgrades depends on your hardware. This technique works for either in-place or database attach upgrades.
Hybrid approach 1: Database attach with read-only databases	Lets you continue to provide read-only access to content during the upgrade process. For this approach, you set the databases to read-only while the upgrade is in progress on another farm. This method reduces perceived downtime for your users.
Hybrid approach 2: In-place upgrade with detached databases	Lets you take advantage of an in-place upgrade’s ability to upgrade content and settings, while adding the speed of a database attach upgrade. For this approach, you use an in-place upgrade to upgrade the farm and settings, and to detach and upgrade multiple databases in parallel (on the same farm or a separate farm).

Be aware that you can also combine these techniques. For example, you can set your original farm to read-only mode, create a copy of the farm and upgrade it without the content databases, use parallel upgrade to rapidly upgrade all the user content, and then finally switch users to the new farm after upgrade is completed. For more information about these downtime mitigation techniques work, see Upgrade process overview (SharePoint Server 2010).

Another option to consider if you are facing an overly long outage window is to use Alternate Access Mapping URL Redirection with a database attach approach, so that you temporarily redirect users to an existing farm while you upgrade the content on a new farm. This is an advanced method and should not be used unless other downtime mitigation techniques are not sufficient. For more information, see Using AAM URL redirection as part of the upgrade process (SharePoint Server 2010) (white paper).

Reference : Determine upgrade approach (SharePoint Server 2010)

Also Find this Useful Picture for see the bird-eye view  “Upgrade and Migration for SharePoint Server 2010”

Upgrade planning and Upgrade approaches