Windows Server Update Services
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Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) provides a software update service for Microsoft Windows operating systems and other software. WSUS is a central managed alternative to computer's Microsoft Update system. By using Windows Server Update Services, administrators can fully manage the distribution of updates released through Automatic Updates to computers in a corporate network.
WSUS originated as Software Update Services (SUS), which only updated operating-system hotfixes and patches. WSUS builds on SUS by expanding the range of software it can update. The WSUS infrastructure allows automatic downloads of patches and updates to clients in an organization from a central server(s), instead of using the Microsoft Windows Update website. This saves bandwidth, time and HD space, as the individual computers in a network do not have to connect to an external server themselves, but connect to a local central server.
Microsoft has made WSUS available on their web site as a free download. Microsoft also plans on including WSUS with Windows Server "Longhorn".
Administration
Windows Software Update Services comprises, collectively, a repository of update-packages from Microsoft, an instance of MSDE, a service that takes retrieved updates from upstream servers, and an IIS virtual site. As with many of Microsoft's newer server products, administration of WSUS takes place via a web interface. It allows administrators to approve or decline updates before release, and to obtain extensive reports on what updates each machine requires. System administrators can also configure WSUS to approve certain classes of updates automatically (critical updates, security updates, service-packs, device-drivers). One can also approve updates for "detection" only, allowing an administrator to see what machines will require a given update, without also installing that update.
Administrators can integrate WSUS with Active Directory group policy for client-side configuration of the Automatic Updates client, ensuring that end-users can't disable or circumvent corporate update policies. WSUS does not require the use of Active Directory, however.
Version history
- March 22, 2005 - 2.0 Release Candidate
- June 6, 2005 - 2.0 Release (build 2340)
- May 31, 2006 - 2.0 Service Pack 1 (adds support for Windows Vista clients, additional client languages, and using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 as a database backend, as well as performance improvements with the web-based user interface)
Supported software
As of January 2006, Windows Software Update Services supports updating the following Microsoft operating systems and software:- Windows 2000
- Windows XP (32-bit, IA-64 and x64 Editions)
- Windows Vista
- Windows Server 2003
- Windows Small Business Server 2003
- Exchange Server 2000
- Exchange Server 2003
- SQL Server
- SQL Server 2005
- Office XP
- Office 2003
- Microsoft ISA Server 2004
- Microsoft Data Protection Manager
External links
- [WSUS] at Microsoft's web site
- [Deploying Microsoft Windows Server Update Services]
- [WSUS Product Team Blog] — regular updates and information from WSUS developers
- [wsus.info Forums] — a SUS/WSUS-centric support forum for system administrators
- [WSUS Wiki] — contains many detailed documents on WSUS operation, known issues, and troubleshooting
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