Enhancements to WSUS integration in VMM 2012 SP1

Enhancements to WSUS integration in VMM 2012 SP1

While working with the Beta bits of VMM the other day, I encountered a great enhancement in the Fabric space.

Previously, in System Center 2012, you had to do the following to integrate with WSUS to get the benefits of an on-demand orchestration of updates to your servers:

(To get an overview of what you can do when integrated with WSUS, check this blog post - http://kristiannese.blogspot.no/2011/09/patching-your-fabric-with-scvmm-2012.html )

 

·         Install WSUS 3.0 SP2 – either on the VMM management server or a remote server

·         Install the WSUS console on the VMM management server

·         Restart the SCVMM Service

·         Add the WSUS server to VMM.

Now, in System Center 2012 SP1, you only have to do the following when dealing with Windows Server 2012 OS’s.

·         Install WSUS Role – either on the VMM management server or a remote server

·         Add the WSUS server to VMM

The API of WSUS is updated to .NET Framework 4.5 and has several new enhancements

·         Inclusion of Windows PowerShell cmdlets for management

·         Security enhancements with SHA256 hash capability

·         Client and server separation which means that versions of Winduws Update Agent (WUA) can ship independently of WSUS

 All in all, the WSUS integration is a critical component to support the life-cycle of your servers in the private cloud fabric, and it's great to see a more streamlined deployment and configuration experience in SP1.