Games - Windows Server Update Services

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Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) is a software update service for Microsoft Windows operating systems on a large scale. It is an alternative to Microsoft Update. Administrators can apply new updates to Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. By using Windows Server Update Services, administrators can fully manage the distribution of updates that are released through Automatic Updates to computers in a corporate network.

WSUS was previously called Software Update Services (SUS), which updated operating system hotfixes and patches. WSUS builds on SUS to include operating system service packs and other software updates. The WSUS infrastructure allows automatic downloads of patches and updates to clients in an organization from a central server or servers, instead of using the Microsoft Windows Update website. This saves bandwidth and time as the individual computers in a network do not have to connect to a distant server themselves but connect to the corporate 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 is, 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. Like many of Microsoft's newer server products, administration of WSUS is performed through a web site. It allows administrators to approve or decline updates before they are released, and to obtain extensive reports on what updates are required for each machine. WSUS can also be configured to automatically approve certain classes of updates (critical updates, security updates, service packs, device drivers). It is also possible to only approve updates for "detection", allowing an administrator to see what machines will require a given update, without also installing that update.

WSUS can be integrated 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. Active Directory is not a requirement, however.

Version history

March 22, 2005 - 2.0 Release Candidate
June 6, 2005 - 2.0 Release (build 2340)
2006 - 2.0 Service Pack 1, currently in beta testing

Supported software

As of January 2006, Windows Software Update Services supports updating the following operating systems and software:

Windows 2000
Windows XP
(32-bit, IA-64 and x64 Editions)
Windows Server 2003
Windows Small Business Server 2003
Windows Defender
Exchange Server 2000
Exchange Server 2003
SQL Server
Office XP
Office 2003

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Windows Server Update Services ]

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