Anyone who has used WSUS 3.0 for software updates and then switched to the Essentials 2007 (SCE) software update functionality may be looking for some missing features in the integrated interface. Because SCE was designed for the mid-market (read smaller environments), the interface for patch management is somewhat simplified, and some WSUS 3.0 functionality was left out.

What you may not realize is that SCE actually?relies on WSUS 3.0 for?update management (and several other functions for that matter, but thats for another day).?Over a couple posts, I want to touch on some workarounds you can use in?safely in enhancing your update management experience with Essentials. First, let’s cover what is missing or different?in Update Management.

• Nested groups - All computer groups created in SCE are children of the All Computers group, and you cannot nest one computer group within another in the SCE Console.
• Patching Workgroup Computers - In the RTM release, a SCE server cannot apply software updates to a workgroup computer, because you cannot install a SCE agent on computers that are not domain members. Likewise, computers in an AD forest other than that where SCE is located are also ineligible.

NOTE: It has been announced on a couple of blogs that workgroup support is coming in SP1, so this limitation is temporary. (In this interview, for example). Until SP1 arrives, I recommend you patch workgroup computers through Windows Update.

• Update Applicability Reporting - Review of the various update states, including declined, not applicable, etc. for a given group cannot be easily reviewed in the SCE interface as?they can be in the WSUS console.?We have to go to the SCE reports to see “not applicable”, and viewing the “declined” category seems to be altogether absent in SCE.

It’s update reporting I’ll touch on here today.

WARNING: Do NOT modify, add or remove computer groups in the WSUS 3.0 Admin Console.?Essentials actually?synchronizes computer groups with the WSUS instance on the Essentials Server. You can cause yourself some serious grief if you add any groups through WSUS directly.

TIP #1 - If you favor the features of native WSUS 3.0 Reporting , you can use it!

While It’s hidden from the Start Menu, you can actually find the WSUS 3.0 in the following location.

“C:\Program Files\Update Services\administrationsnapin\wsus.msc”

Just create ?shortcut on your desktop. ?This will give you access to the full reporting functionality in WSUS 3.0.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 12:44 am and is filed under Essentials 2007, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.