Hey Gang,
I'm getting to the point where I want to start using WSUS. Not only for ease of updating, but also for my MCSA/MSCE studies and just because I'd like to learn how to. Anyways....
Would there be any real reason why I should not put WSUS on a domain controller?
I have 5 windows 2003 servers (1 DC, 1 exchange, 1 SQL dedicated and 2 other file servers). I know my exchange and SQL are pretty heavily used, the two file server get used some. My DC is the newest server and is very fast (2 CPU's, 2 GB RAM, lots of disk space). While I normally don't like to put anything on my DC i don't have to, I think this would make sense.
Anything else with WSUS that I should look out for? Do's/Dont's/gotcha's?
Thanks in advance
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WSUS would be ok on a domain controller. We have several Small Business Servers running WSUS. There is a lot of customization and organization you can do with it. Pretty much everything I know about it I learned from playing around with it. Unfortunately I have not been able to find very good documentation on the features of WSUS. Good Luck.
I ideal way to handle TheCapedPlodder's issues would be through Group Policy and seperating your servers from the rest of your clients PC's. Do not auto update servers as it will cause reboots. If you separate your severs from your PC's you can set different policies on your servers. It does use a SQL or Windows Internal Database and I would recommend using SQL Express 2005 over Windows Internal Database. You can install SQL Express then point your install of WSUS to the instance you installed. Other than that it is not a very resource intensive program.
You can't get around the fact that WSUS should ideally automatically update itself.
In small environments where you use SBS and don't have budget for dedicated equipment then fair enough but in a larger space you should separate your services to maintain up-time.
Furthermore we use WSUS to patch over 500 servers and through intelligent use of Group Policy we implement patches as part of our standard maintenance cycle.
Our WSUS server is currently using 90GB of disk space.
If your DC's are important to you I would recommend placement elsewhere. If you simply want to play with WSUS put Windows 2003/2008 on a PC and get your feet wet.
Agreed, it won't but then you have a WSUS server that does not keep itself upto date which is a little bit self defeatist if that is your strategic patching platform.
I think this can be summarised in one of two ways. If you have the budget for spare tin and intend to use WSUS strategically then buy a dedicated server for it.
If you don't plan on using WSUS permanently or you are currently undecided then install it on a spare desktop until you have evaluated.
Installing WSUS on a DC is the option of last resort for those environments that don't have the infrastructure to support it. However I tend to find that in those environments WSUS is somewhat irrelevant anyway, just enable each device to update itself and leave your DC to perform its intended function.
TheCapedPlodder How you manage your 500 with WSUS servers ,
I have 500 mahcines too but they are ususally test servers not production but want to keep them updated with patches
- how you have set the servers to restart after updates since they are usaully unattended ( i know you can do it thorugh GP but how
- How you have exempt your Domain controller from this policy as i dont want it to be updatyed and restarted automatically
- what are you IIS settings for this to get updates from WEB
0- And you GP for WSUS looks like
please share this information as it will be of great . thanks
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by: TheCapedPlodderPosted on 2008-05-09 at 10:11:27ID: 21534803
Hi,
I wouldn't put WSUS on a DC personally. If you start using it to it's fullest it will take up a lot of resources and a significant amount of disk space. It requires IIS, ASP, MS Report Redistributable and a local SQL database.
This is really not a candidate for a DC even if we ignore the best practice of not installing on a DC. Furthermore WSUS should ideally automatically updated itself so you will find your DC restarting on an infrequent basis. Not ideal.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
TCP