Re: wsus 3 local publishing tools

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Andreas Moroder wrote:
> Hello,
>
> the new wsus API supports local publishing.
> According to the documentation at
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...70(VS.85).aspx
> it is possible to add certificates and create packages to distribute.
> The strange thing is that microsoft create no tools to do this jobs. I
> am not a .net programmer so I can't compile the samples myself.
>
> Are there free tools available to do the job ?
>
> Thanks
> Andreas

> Andreas Moroder wrote:

>> the new wsus API supports local publishing.

>> According to the documentation at
>> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...70(VS.85).aspx
>> it is possible to add certificates and create packages to distribute.
>> The strange thing is that microsoft create no tools to do this jobs.

Well, actually it does. And it's free.... sort of.

Microsoft publishes a freely downloadable tool called "System Center Updates
Publisher", which is used to create packages for distribution. However,
strictly speaking, the licensing of the tool requires that the user also
have a licensed instance of System Center Configuration Manager or System
Center Essentials.

>> I am not a .net programmer so I can't compile the samples myself.

Correct.. and this would be the other way, and really was the way in which
Microsoft intended this capability to be used. The publishing features were
built into the API, but not the WSUS console, with the expectation that
=vendors= of products would build catalogs of their own updates that could
be published to WSUS for distribution. Of course, this would have also
required them to build a UI to manage those updates, since the WSUS console
cannot even see them if they are published.

There is a third-party product, not free, that provides the capability to
manage and deploy locally published updates, but creation of those packages
is still a limiting factor.
See http://www.eminentware.com




--
Lawrence Garvin, M.S., MCITP:EA, MCDBA
Principal/CTO, Onsite Technology Solutions, Houston, Texas
Microsoft MVP - Software Distribution (2005-2009)

MS WSUS Website: http://www.microsoft.com/wsus
My MVP Profile: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/pro...awrence.Garvin

Hello Lawrence,

> Correct.. and this would be the other way, and really was the way in
> which Microsoft intended this capability to be used. The publishing
> features were built into the API, but not the WSUS console, with the
> expectation that =vendors= of products would build catalogs of their own
> updates that could be published to WSUS for distribution. Of course,
> this would have also required them to build a UI to manage those
> updates, since the WSUS console cannot even see them if they are published.

So other companies can create the packages ( adobe, OOO ecc. ), but
everyone has to reinvent the interface to show the packages ?

Compared to the linux package management ( even RPM ) this is antidiluvian.

>
> There is a third-party product, not free, that provides the capability
> to manage and deploy locally published updates, but creation of those
> packages is still a limiting factor.
> See http://www.eminentware.com
>
I saw this yesterday but we have 700 pc and a license for 700 is all but
cheap.

Bye
Andreas

"Andreas Moroder" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hello Lawrence,
>
>> Correct.. and this would be the other way, and really was the way in
>> which Microsoft intended this capability to be used. The publishing
>> features were built into the API, but not the WSUS console, with the
>> expectation that =vendors= of products would build catalogs of their own
>> updates that could be published to WSUS for distribution. Of course, this
>> would have also required them to build a UI to manage those updates,
>> since the WSUS console cannot even see them if they are published.
>
> So other companies can create the packages ( adobe, OOO ecc. ), but
> everyone has to reinvent the interface to show the packages ?

Yep.. that was the "master plan"... :-/

> Compared to the linux package management ( even RPM ) this is
> antidiluvian.

Hey... what can I say.. I can only report what they did and what the plan
was. The motivation was to allow orgs the ability to remove the desktop
updaters. To that end, the design works -- as it moves the updating to the
WSUS infrastructure. It just has the weakness that it still requires a
server-side tool to actually approve the update(s).

>> There is a third-party product, not free, that provides the capability to
>> manage and deploy locally published updates, but creation of those
>> packages is still a limiting factor.
>> See http://www.eminentware.com
>>
> I saw this yesterday but we have 700 pc and a license for 700 is all but
> cheap.

I guess that depends on how bad you want to do Local Publishing.

$8/node (one-time) isn't really expensive as far as systems management
products go.

To be honest, it's probably the *best* solution you're going to find for
update publishing, and just in case you missed this "gem" on the website...
the forthcoming update will include a tool to *create* packages as well.

https://www.eminentware.com/cs2008/media/p/231.aspx



--
Lawrence Garvin, M.S., MCITP:EA, MCDBA
Principal/CTO, Onsite Technology Solutions, Houston, Texas
Microsoft MVP - Software Distribution (2005-2009)

MS WSUS Website: http://www.microsoft.com/wsus
My MVP Profile: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/pro...awrence.Garvin