Question

Run a report on SMS 2003 for Installed/Not Installed updates against a particular collection

Asked by: uxtico

I've been tasked with reporting the status of Windows Updates of our Windows server farm.  I would like to use SMS 2003 SP3 to first:

Generate a report that tells when was the last time each server was updated
 -or-
Generate a report that tells the number of servers that have a particular update (on a specific collection)

Then I'd like to create groups/sub-collections to automate/semi-automate the patching of the servers, depending on their role, department, etc.

Has anyone had a similar experience?

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Asked On
2009-10-12 at 09:51:51ID24805112
Tags

sms 2003

,

windows server

,

windows updates

,

updates

,

reports

Topics

Windows 2003 Server

,

Windows 2000 Server

Participating Experts
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Answers

 

by: Netman66Posted on 2009-10-14 at 16:04:07ID: 25576082

You'll need the ITMU pack for SMS to patch.

You can do what you're asking, certainly.  

Honestly though, WSUS is free and will do exactly what you want - including setting up scopes to separate patching duties, and it far, far easier to deal with.  You can also run reports.

 

by: uxticoPosted on 2009-10-14 at 18:03:46ID: 25576523

OK yes, we do have the ITMU and it seems that it already has some windows updates downloaded.

Until now I've primarily used WSUS, which is very easy to use.  I'm having some difficulty finding the parallels on SMS 2003 (if they even exist)

For example, how do I tell SMS to download new updates from MS?  Does it do it automatically?

Also, how do I report the various types of updates (critical, security) against my server farm?

See, both of these functions take me seconds to do in WSUS, but in SMS I don't see a readily available solution.

Thanks.

 

by: Netman66Posted on 2009-10-14 at 18:13:45ID: 25576550

ITMU syncs the catalog with Microsoft then scans.  It can be setup to get content from MS.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sms/bb676783.aspx

Under the Reports node there should be some "canned" reports of what updates and their status was delivered to each collection, etc.  You may need to build your own report if one doesn't do enough for you.

SMS wasn't really (initially) designed for patching, but more for package installation, software metering and OS deployment.  It can and does patch, but IMHO it doesn't quite compare to WSUS with this task.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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