14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has released the second Service Pack for Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0, tailoring the solution to the latest iteration of the Windows client and server platform. As of August 25th, 2009, customers having deployed WSUS in their environments can download Windows Server Update Services 3.0 SP2. WSUS is a server solution set up to streamline the delivery of updates from Microsoft Update to corporate environments. With WSUS 3.0 SP2 RTM, Microsoft delivers a variety of management, stability, reliability and performance enhancements, revealing that it has integrated customer feedback into the service pack. In addition, SP2 brings to the table new features and fixes for bugs discovered since the previous release.
“Administrators will see improvements in several areas including: Reports - new Update and Computer Status reports provide the ability to report on only the updates you’ve approved for installation. You can run these reports from the WSUS console or use the API to incorporate this functionality into your own reports. Auto-Approval Rules - auto-approval rules now include the ability to specify the installation deadline date and time for all computers or specific computer groups,” revealed Cecilia Cole, WSUS PM.
Following the deployment of WSUS 3.0 SP2 RTM, admins will be able to service additional clients, beyond what was possible with the previous release of the solution. Microsoft informed that, in addition to Windows 7 client and Windows Server 2008 R2, WSUS 3.0 SP2 RTM came with support for Windows Server 2008 SP1 or later; Windows Server 2003 SP2 or later; Windows Vista; Windows XP Professional; Windows XP Professional SP1; Windows XP Professional SP2 Windows XP Professional SP3 or later; and Windows 2000 SP4.
As far as server operating systems are concerned, WSUS 3.0 SP2 features support for Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 SP1 or later and Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later. The Redmond company indicated that WSUS admins could install the release either as a standalone product or as an upgrade to an existing SP1 installation.
Additional improvements include “Update Files and Languages - Improved handling of language selection for downstream servers includes a new warning dialog that appears when you decide to download updates only for specified languages. Easy Upgrade - WSUS 3.0 SP2 can be installed as an in-place upgrade from earlier versions of WSUS and will preserve all of your settings and approvals. The user interface is compatible between WSUS 3.0 SP1 and SP2 on the client and the server,” Cole added.
With SP2, Microsoft did not only extend the list of Windows OSes that the solution now plays nice with, but also brought to the table support for IPV6 addresses. Additionally, the service pack is capable of having computer groups sorted alphabetically in the approval dialog. And WSUS admins will certainly welcome the small detail of functioning computer status report sorting icons even in 64-bit environments.
“A new release of Windows Update Agent is included with WSUS 3.0 SP2 that provides improvements in reliability and faster client scan times, the ability to perform ‘scoped’ scans, improved update organization, more clarity on update value and behavior, plus improved display of imaged machines,” Cole said.
WSUS 3.0 SP2 RTM is available for download here.