Windows Server Update Services is Microsoft’s free patching solution for Microsoft networks. It patches the OS and applications. If you’re not patching then please check this product out … NOW. The new release adds support for Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7 and features of the new OS’s, e.g. BranchCache. That would allow for a central WSUS server with clients directly accessing it over the branch office network. The first client in the branch office would cache the updates and it’s neighbours would access the downloads from the cache rather than needlessly hitting the WAN.
BranchCache is a feature of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 Enterprise (Software Assurance)/Ultimate only. Odds are most of us will continue to run branch office WSUS servers.
“Windows Server Update Services 3.0 Service Pack 2 (WSUS 3.0 SP2) delivers updates to corporate environments from Microsoft Update. This release adds new features and fixes issues found since the release of the product.
WSUS 3.0 SP2 delivers important customer-requested management, stability, and performance improvements. Some of the features and improvements include the following:
- Integration with Windows Server 2008 R2.
- Support for the BranchCache feature in Windows Server 2008 R2.
- Support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 clients.
- Compliance Report
- Windows Update Agent (WUA) offers a collection of performance enhancements, user experience improvements, and bug fixes software updates.
WSUS 3.0 SP2 can be installed alone, or as an upgrade of WSUS 3.0 SP1.
This package installs both the WSUS 3.0 SP2 Server, WSUS 3.0 SP2 Administration Console components and WUA client for down-level operating system. You must install the server components on a computer that is running on Windows Server 2003 SP2 or later versions. You may install the Administration Console on a remote computer that is running one of the supported operating systems, see below the Supported Operating Systems section.
WSUS 3.0 SP2 Server Installation on Windows Small Business Server 2003
If you are installing the WSUS 3.0 SP2 product on Windows Small Business Server 2003, follow the instructions in Installing Windows Server Update Services 3.0 on Windows Small Business Server 2003.”