setting WU clients to a MONTHLY (not weekly) schedule

[Guest yzzazz76@gmail.com]

Hello all and thanks for taking a moment to review my post.

 

My organization has several hundred Windows 2000 and 2003 servers that

we currently patch manually because of application considerations.

Each application has a dedicated maintenance window where the systems

engineer assigned to it logs on and visits Microsoft's update site.

 

I hope to install a Windows Update Server to manage these patches. All

of the features we need for this solution seem to be present with a

single (but very important) exception.

 

I need to have the clients downloading and installing their patches on

a once-a-month basis and it appears the only option is to have them

look for new updates every day or on a given day of the week. I am

concerned that if I allow the servers to download and install updates

every Thursday for instance, it will lead to as many as 4 reboots a

month.

 

Does anyone have recommendations or a method to demand clients look

for these updates on my WSUS server once a month? It sounds like a lot

of overhead to manually turn on and off servers in the WSUS console...

 

 

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

J

[Guest Shenan Stanley]

yzzazz76@gmail.com wrote:

> Hello all and thanks for taking a moment to review my post.

>

> My organization has several hundred Windows 2000 and 2003 servers

> that we currently patch manually because of application

> considerations. Each application has a dedicated maintenance window

> where the systems engineer assigned to it logs on and visits

> Microsoft's update site.

>

> I hope to install a Windows Update Server to manage these patches.

> All of the features we need for this solution seem to be present

> with a single (but very important) exception.

>

> I need to have the clients downloading and installing their patches

> on a once-a-month basis and it appears the only option is to have

> them look for new updates every day or on a given day of the week.

> I am concerned that if I allow the servers to download and install

> updates every Thursday for instance, it will lead to as many as 4

> reboots a month.

>

> Does anyone have recommendations or a method to demand clients look

> for these updates on my WSUS server once a month? It sounds like a

> lot of overhead to manually turn on and off servers in the WSUS

> console...

 

While it is *possible* that you could have as many as 4 reboots/month - that

means you are likey doing something incorrectly (approval, etc) or that some

critical patch was released out of schedule and you would want to apply it

to all machines for security reasons anyway.

 

The clients *check* for updates daily/on a given day - they do not

necessarily install anything. With WSUS - you control what updates will be

offered to the clients and since you approve them - when. Microsoft

releases patches the second tuesday of every month - with the occassional

exception of more critical patches they feel it would be wise to release

more quickly. So - you would check your WSUS server once per month (perhaps

the wednesday after the second Tueday of each month) and approve the updates

you feel you should. The machines would be on a schedule to check for and

install said updates and would actually have something to do after you

approved said updates. Once they install it - each time they check AFTER

that install - they won't have anything to find UNTIL you approve again the

next time.

 

--

Shenan Stanley

MS-MVP

--

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

[Guest yzzazz76@gmail.com]

Shenan,

 

Thank you for clarifying that for me. While it was my intention to

"automatically approve" the updates, I understand after reading your

answer that the best solution is to only allow the patches to go out

on my terms.

 

Thanks again for your time!

J

[Guest PA Bear]

Forwarded to WSUS newsgroup via crosspost:

microsoft.public.windows.server.update_services as a convenience to OP.

 

On the web:

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/list/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windows.server.update_services

 

In your newsreader:

http://news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windows.server.update_services

 

--

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)

MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)

AumHa VSOP & Admin DTS-L.org

 

yzzazz76@gmail.com wrote:

> Hello all and thanks for taking a moment to review my post.

>

> My organization has several hundred Windows 2000 and 2003 servers that

> we currently patch manually because of application considerations.

> Each application has a dedicated maintenance window where the systems

> engineer assigned to it logs on and visits Microsoft's update site.

>

> I hope to install a Windows Update Server to manage these patches. All

> of the features we need for this solution seem to be present with a

> single (but very important) exception.

>

> I need to have the clients downloading and installing their patches on

> a once-a-month basis and it appears the only option is to have them

> look for new updates every day or on a given day of the week. I am

> concerned that if I allow the servers to download and install updates

> every Thursday for instance, it will lead to as many as 4 reboots a

> month.

>

> Does anyone have recommendations or a method to demand clients look

> for these updates on my WSUS server once a month? It sounds like a lot

> of overhead to manually turn on and off servers in the WSUS console...

>

>

> Thanks in advance for any ideas!

> J