Microsoft Windows Server Update Services Reviews

I have a long history with Microsoft and the products they provide. Typically, they are hesitant to provide good service when a competitor offers better service. That's been my experience with WSUS; it is way more complicated than it needs to be.

Patch management is a big thing, and I can't say they don't provide that basic service. The issue is what you need to do to get there. That's the problem. Patch management is indeed valuable, however, the process to achieve it could be improved.

My primary use case is deployment. I use it for operating system management, specifically for updating service packs, hotfixes, releases, and general updates of Microsoft products.

The simplicity of the configuration is a valuable feature for me. I can configure a few small things, and it becomes operational within some hours. The reporting is good. Many organizations may not see direct improvements, however, the ease of use and efficient reporting contribute significantly to my overall productivity.

The primary use case is for managing the distribution of updates within a corporate environment. However, SCCM remains the major tool for patching.

In the current era of heightened cybersecurity concerns, ensuring that your systems are consistently updated and well-protected is imperative. This solution becomes particularly crucial for services accessible to the public, especially those exposed to the internet—a condition that is increasingly prevalent for most entities today. It stands as one of the essential measures for safeguarding against potential cyberattacks.

As a system administrator at my organization, I use Microsoft WSUS to manage the updates for all the Microsoft products that we are using. Since WSUS is a service that handles the Microsoft updates and their deployments to a group of servers, you could technically call it patch management software.

Just like IIS, it comes built-in with the version of Windows Server that you are using, and we are currently using WSUS on Windows Server 2022 to efficiently manage the updates on all the other servers in our organization.

When you're working in the IT department of an organization, you will often have to set policies regarding what users can and cannot download from the internet, especially when it comes to updates. Most updates are binary files and programs, and these are types of files that can sometimes be harmful, so an organization needs a way to prevent the downloading of these files.

Instead of leaving each server to download their own updates, with WSUS you have a centralized management tool for all the updates alongside a log for all the servers. By creating and deploying a WSUS server that will download the updates from the internet and dispatch them to the other servers, you can have control over the entire deployment process.

Essentially, it's like a Windows Update proxy that you absolutely need to have, as the IT department grants the WSUS server an exception to download files of any type from the internet. This is the only server with such an exception so that you can control what is entering or exiting the network with regard to updates.

The advantage that is offered by WSUS is not only that you can manage all updates (e.g. critical updates, essential updates, feature updates, driver updates, etc.), but also that you can manage the updates per type of operating system; for example, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, and so on. It provides you a way to create classifications of types of updates per type of operating system. And all this, you can do from a single management console.

In our network, we have configured two methods. One is Symantec's GUP server on the graph of the server, which is directly updated with OSHS and server update packages. The second method is the WSUS server, which is connected to Active Directory and is a client within our network. It automatically updates Windows patches and services.

Operationally, our team in Haridwar updates the Windows services and critical patches on their end. We monitor the Windows Server patches to ensure they are updated and functional, minimizing operational disruptions and enhancing network performance.

The solution can be used to update PCs and servers.

The tool is not good for managing updates across the organization. It doesn't update the clients as well as it should. We end up going through things manually to ensure that everything's right. We can't rely on the product.

I don't think there's anything we can do to make it any better. It's a really poor product. It doesn't work. The product must identify machines on the network and add them to the system. At the moment, we can't add a machine to the system. We have to wait until the tool finds it.

We use the solution for the internal server. We use the tool to push Windows updates to the computers. It is mainly for internal patch management. We use the tool to manage updates across different server environments.

We can track the updates of the PC and servers. The reporting features are good. The testing and reporting processes are better than those of other tools.

We use the solution primarily for patching. It is a very crucial activity in terms of maintaining up-to-date images and safeguarding the operating system from different bugs and avoiding crashes. We keep everything updated, including security patches. We have multiple servers based on different flavors of Windows Server and different versions also from 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019, and 2022.

Based on the policy, we deploy patches on whichever particular Windows Server on the required schedule.

Patch and security management is a very crucial activity. It is actually periodical and it should be done on a monthly basis or a weekly basis, depending on the requirement. Maintaining the patching to the latest version is a very crucial and difficult task. It's helped us to maintain patch management cycles.