Configuring WSUS 3.0 on Windows Server 2008 - Installing WSUS
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This article is a sequel to our Windows Server 2008 two-part series. This means that we are going to assume that your Windows Server 2008 is already alive and kicking. And if you are reading this article, chances are you are going to want to set up WSUS 3.0 on that new server of yours. As you have probably noticed, right now, the latest release of WSUS 3.0 already comes with SP1. It fixes most of its previous bugs.
Let’s discuss the pre-requisites in terms of WSUS. First of all, the central server ought to have the following services installed: IIS 7.0 (with ASP.NET, Windows Authentication, 6.0 Management Compatibility, IIS Metabase Compatibility), Microsoft Report Viewer Redistributable, and SQL Server™ 2005 SP1. The .NET Framework 2.0 and BITS 2.0 are included in the Windows Server 2008 installation already.
Before running the WSUS 3.0 SP1 installation, you should verify the existence of the components listed above. You can check for them either from Add/Remove Programs and Windows Components or from the Server Management Console. Furthermore, you should also make sure that you match the necessary disk space requirements. But let’s assume that everything is fine and download WSUS 3.0 from Microsoft.
Once you start the setup, the installation welcome screen pops up. Next, you are asked to select the installation mode. We’d advice picking “Full server installation including Administration Console” because it is the most comprehensive suite. Moving on, read and accept the license agreement, and then you will see the Select Update Source screen pop up. You should tick the box to store the updates locally and select the path.
The next screen concerns the Database Options. There are three options; use the first option if the server on which WSUS is installed doesn’t have any other database management service already running, and you don't want to use a remote database server. This option simply installs Windows Internal Database on the server and links WSUS through that.
The next dialog box asks you to pick the website for WSUS. You can either make the recommended choice, that is, using the existing IIS Default Web Site (http://server) or set up a different web site dedicated just to WSUS (http://server/site_goes_here). The first option uses the default HTTP port (namely 80) while the latter creates a site on the 8530 port. Both choices are fine as long as you keep in mind which one you're using.
Finally, the installation begins, and you should see the progress bar increase. Once it is done, the WSUS Configuration Wizard pops up. You can always launch WSUS Configuration Management via the MMC Snap-in as well. This wizard leads you through the steps of configuring WSUS for the first time. Don’t worry if you make a mistake and do something wrong while using the wizard, since you can reconfigure everything later.
You should carefully configure the network connection for the WSUS server. If you have a proxy server through which the outbound connections travel, then do configure that in the Proxy Server window. The wizard will also ask whether you want to synchronize directly from Microsoft Updates Server or some other WSUS server. Chances are you don’t have another WSUS repository, so pick the first one—Microsoft.
Once these tasks are done, you should start synchronizing for the very first time. This does take a while. You can now take your lunch break—we’ll continue on the next page.
Next: Configuring WSUS >>
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