28 May 2007

WSUS3 and DCPROMO Problem

I recently installed WSUS3 and then decided I wanted my server to be a domain controller. This however broke the WSUS3 installation. I managed to find some work arounds and isolate that the DCPROMO command makes some rights changes to certain folder in IIS and others. The following articles helped me solve my problem with file system rights.

After I had changed the settings above I was still getting some errors about the database and it would appear that the Windows Internal Database would not start. I added all rights to the folder %SystemRoot%\SYSMSI\SSEE\MSSQL.2005\MSSQL\DATA for the Network Service group.


25 May 2007

WSUS 3

WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) is a Microsoft tool that allows you to provide Microsoft updates to your computers from a single interface. The new WSUS3 that was recently released provides the administrator with an MMC Console to manage all the updates for your computers. A WSUS Server downloads updates from Microsoft Update or from another WSUS server and then the client machines are forced to download the updates from the server via a Group Policy.

The Benefits of WSUS
  • Save bandwidth, because only one machine downloads your updates and distributes them instead of each computer downloading updates individually.
  • Save Time, because you manage all of your computers from one place instead of going from computer to computer.
  • Better Security, with WSUS your control over the updates will be vastly improved and therefore your network will be more secure.
Improvements from WSUS2 to WSUS3
  • MMC console instead of Web interface
  • Better reporting tools
  • More options and settings
Drawbacks of WSUS3
  • You can't sync a WSUS3 Server with a WSUS2 server
  • The MMC console is terribly slow over a WAN connection.
  • There is no web interface, so you have to install the MMC snap-in and the Microsoft Reporting tool in order to manage your server from another computer.