Updates Mannagement - best practices

Hi!

I have just deployed WSUS.

There are abou 500 client hosts (servers and workstations) already visible
in the WSUS console. They are already organized in groups.

For the servers, we decided that the updates will be installed manually.
WSUS will be just the monitor for servers updates. So, they are in a group
called SERVERS.

For the workstations, we decided that we must try it in some workstations
before deploy them to all computers. So we have 2 groupws: WORKSTATIONS and
TEST-WORKSTATIONS.

To control what updates we can aprove for installation, we'd like to do the
following:

1) Aprove all needed updates to TEST-WORKSTATIONS group and log it to a xls
file, with the columns:

- UPDATE CODE
- DESCRIPTION
- APPROVAL DATE FOR TEST-WORKSTATIONS
- APPROVAL DATE FOR WORKSTATIONS

2) Next week, we can check the updates that were approved in the past week,
aprove them for the WORKSTATIONS group and them log to the same xls file,
but filling the last column.

3) next week, again aprove the new updates for the test group, and so on.

The problem is how can I have a list of actual updates that are already
approved for my test group?
My boss realy want to control the updates in a xls file or something
similar. Is there any best practice that I can get on managing updates?
Is there any tool that I can make some sql queries? (I don't use SQL
Server).
How do you do this kind of task?

Thankyou

"Fabio Martins" <> wrote in message
news:...
> The problem is how can I have a list of actual updates that are already
> approved for my test group?

Create a Custom Update View, in Step #1, select "Updates approved for a
specific group" and define the view to contain your TEST-WORKSTATIONS view.

> My boss realy want to control the updates in a xls file or something
> similar.

You'll never "control" the updates in an XLS file.. but you can *document*
the decisions made regarding what is approved, when it is approved, and who
actually approved the updates. With appropriate security credentials this
information can also be obtained from the WSUS Change.Log file contained in
%ProgramFiles%\Update Services\Logfiles.

> Is there any best practice that I can get on managing updates?

Test the ones you're interested in.
Approve the ones that work.

Patch Management is not a new science, nor is the idea of applying updates
to Windows machines. There's nothing new to using WSUS as the methodology
than there has been for the past ten years, since Automatic Updates was
introduced in Windows 98.

> Is there any tool that I can make some sql queries? (I don't use SQL
> Server). How do you do this kind of task?

Everything you need for *basic* update management functionality is available
from the WSUS Administrative console. Advanced functionality is available by
writing applets against the WSUS API, or by purchasing third-party add-on
products.



--
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 Websites: http://www.onsitechsolutions.com;
http://wsusinfo.onsitechsolutions.com
My MVP Profile: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/pro...awrence.Garvin

Thankyou Lawrence, for answering me in 10 minutes!

I'll try the custom view and post here if I have any difficulty.

When I said "control" i mena "just to log", my vocabulary in english is not
so good. I hope you understand me! This xls file is just to control the
dates and who approved.

Do some sql queries would be just for curiosity, but anyway, i think i'll
have no time to do this for a while.

Thankyou!

FM


"Lawrence Garvin [MVP]" <> escreveu na mensagem
news:...
> "Fabio Martins" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> The problem is how can I have a list of actual updates that are already
>> approved for my test group?
>
> Create a Custom Update View, in Step #1, select "Updates approved for a
> specific group" and define the view to contain your TEST-WORKSTATIONS
> view.
>
>> My boss realy want to control the updates in a xls file or something
>> similar.
>
> You'll never "control" the updates in an XLS file.. but you can *document*
> the decisions made regarding what is approved, when it is approved, and
> who actually approved the updates. With appropriate security credentials
> this information can also be obtained from the WSUS Change.Log file
> contained in %ProgramFiles%\Update Services\Logfiles.
>
>> Is there any best practice that I can get on managing updates?
>
> Test the ones you're interested in.
> Approve the ones that work.
>
> Patch Management is not a new science, nor is the idea of applying updates
> to Windows machines. There's nothing new to using WSUS as the methodology
> than there has been for the past ten years, since Automatic Updates was
> introduced in Windows 98.
>
>> Is there any tool that I can make some sql queries? (I don't use SQL
>> Server). How do you do this kind of task?
>
> Everything you need for *basic* update management functionality is
> available from the WSUS Administrative console. Advanced functionality is
> available by writing applets against the WSUS API, or by purchasing
> third-party add-on products.
>
>
>
> --
> 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 Websites: http://www.onsitechsolutions.com;
> http://wsusinfo.onsitechsolutions.com
> My MVP Profile: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/pro...awrence.Garvin
>